Where Wisdom Meets Expression
Your campaign’s story demands both strategy &
soul
Great campaigns do more than raise money. They clarify an institution’s purpose, unite its people, and compel donor investment in a shared future. And that makes communications and fundraising equally important.
Why hire the firm that blends strategic counsel with fundraising communications?
Because when strategy and storytelling are woven together from the start, campaigns move faster and build clarity, consensus, and donor commitment without the friction of translation.
Campaign partner to leading nonprofit institutions:
What We Deliver
Campaign counsel that leads, and communications that carry your case to every donor.
Campaign Counsel
Senior counsel at the table from the first planning question through the public launch. We help you plan the campaign, test it with the people who will fund it, set its priorities, and shape the strategy for your leadership gifts. The result: a campaign plan your leadership believes in and your donors can follow.
Build the Case
Every campaign we partner on starts with one question: why should a sophisticated donor care about this initiative, at this institution, at this moment? We distill institutional complexity into a compelling narrative (why now, why here, why this), then give it a campaign theme and a creative platform grounded in advancement strategy. The result: donor conversations that start from strength, not explanation.
Make the Case
Your gift officers, deans and volunteers will make the case in hundreds of conversations. Through immersive workshops and real-scenario practice, we prepare them to make it in their own words, not scripts, and adapt it to any donor. The result: a team that makes the case without calling for backup.
Campaign Materials
Leadership cases for support, unit brochures, proposals, campaign websites and video, all built from the same case and designed by people who understand gift tables and donor journeys. When you need to reach more donors than your team can meet, we add personalized digital experiences through Ovrture, our sister company. See the DePaul work. The result: materials that move donors to action, not just admiration.
Lasting Capacity
When we leave, the case, the fluency and the tools stay. We measure success not by launch day, but by what remains after the celebration ends: teams who can do this again, systems that endure, and momentum that compounds. The result: your next campaign launches faster, stronger, and from higher ground.
Proof in the Work
Three campaigns, three sectors, one team from counsel to every donor.
Bringing Mission Forward
Restoring Higher Education as Societal Catalyst
Mission: Forward
DePaul’s $650M “Mission: Forward” campaign needed unified messaging across 11 colleges and units, and permanent organizational fluency. Foster Avenue delivered strategic discipline that transformed how 200+ ambassadors articulate purpose-driven philanthropy.
“Foster Avenue strengthened our work and benefited our entire team through their deep nonprofit experience and understanding of DePaul’s institutional goals, transforming how we articulate our purpose through ‘Mission: Forward.'”
Sarah Wagoner, Associate Vice President, Development & Campaign Operations
$650M
Campaign Goal
200+
trained in campaign fluency
11
unit cases developed
Where & How Breakthroughs Begin
A $1 billion campaign to accelerate the future of pediatric medicine.
Two Identities, One Story
CHOP had become two things at once: Philadelphia’s beloved community hospital and a global force in breakthrough pediatric medicine. The $1 billion campaign needed a narrative that could honor both dimensions, and create urgency across every audience.
Foster Avenue developed “For Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs”, a campaign rationale that unified four ambitious priorities under one future-focused theme, giving leadership language that worked in any room, with any donor.
$1B
Goal Met
4
Priorities Unified
Minutes
to build a donor microsite
Positioning Public Space as Civic Inheritance
Stewarding What Belongs to Everyone
From Park to Purpose
When Oglebay Foundation launched its first-ever comprehensive campaign, they faced an unexpected challenge: their century of self-sufficiency had convinced the community the park didn’t need philanthropic support at all.
Foster Avenue reframed the narrative, transforming Oglebay from a beloved amenity into a living endowment that builds family, community, commerce, and pride. The “Forever Yours” theme gave donors language to understand why operations sustain, but only philanthropy propels.
“Foster Avenue helped us articulate a case we’d never made in 100 years: why a self-sustaining park still needs the community’s investment. The campaign messaging transformed how donors see their role in Oglebay’s next century.”
Foundation Leadership
FIRST-EVER
COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN
160+
Capital Projects Funded
100 years
Of Community Impact
$40B+
RAISED BY OUR TEAM
125+
CAMPAIGNS
40+
YEARS EXPERIENCE
One
TEAM, START TO FINISH
Experience Without Complacency
We’ve practiced since 1982 by refusing to stand still. When the industry kept campaign counsel and campaign communications in separate firms, we brought them into one team, and we keep rebuilding how we work as campaigns change.
Two Firms, One Team
Many campaigns come to us through the campaign counsel firms we work alongside. When you already have counsel, we learn their framework, adopt their terms, and present unified work together. Foster Avenue, not you, carries the coordination.
When you don’t, we serve as your campaign counsel and your communications team. Either way, one team holds the thread from the president’s office to the donor’s inbox.
Comprehensive Fundraising Services
Campaign counsel and campaign communications, from one team. Whether you need a single deliverable or a full campaign partnership, every service draws on more than 40 years of advancement experience and is delivered by the same team from start to finish.
- Capital Campaign Strategy
- Priority Articulation
- Case for Support Development
- Campaign Communications
- Donor Engagement Strategy
- Feasibility Studies
- Major Gift Messaging
- Organizational Fluency Training
- Advancement Consulting for Higher Ed
- Healthcare Philanthropy
- Cultural Institution Fundraising
Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding Foster Avenue’s approach to transformational fundraising.
How do I know if my organization is ready for a comprehensive campaign?
Campaign readiness requires three foundations: strategic clarity, donor capacity, and compelling urgency. You’re prepared when you have a clear strategic plan with defined priorities, leadership stability, board members ready to lead with significant gifts, and a validated pipeline of 20–50 major gift prospects capable of six- or seven-figure commitments.
Warning signs include recent leadership transitions (president less than 1 year), unresolved internal conflicts about priorities, untested major gift capacity (no recent gifts over $100K), or advancement teams too small to manage campaign intensity.
Foster Avenue offers Campaign Readiness Assessments, a 4–6 week diagnostic evaluating your strategic positioning, donor capacity, and messaging clarity to build the foundation for successful campaigns.
What should I look for when selecting a campaign partner?
Look for advancement-native expertise: partners whose principals have led campaigns themselves, not just marketed them, with deep understanding of donor psychology, gift tables, and solicitation strategies. The best partners offer integrated counsel and creative, eliminating the coordination burden of managing separate consultants and agencies.
Evaluate whether they build lasting capacity through team training, not just deliverables. Verify deep sector experience: higher education differs fundamentally from healthcare or cultural institutions. Ask: Will we work with senior partners throughout? How do you approach post-campaign support? Can you provide references about team transformation?
Foster Avenue’s principals bring decades of advancement experience, including leadership at traditional consulting firms and on staff with major institutions. You get senior counsel and experienced creative leadership from the same team.
How does integrated campaign counsel differ from traditional consulting?
Traditional consultants provide pre-campaign planning and strategic counsel but don’t create messaging or materials; you separately hire a creative agency. Creative agencies excel at design but lack front-end planning expertise. This fragmentation creates timeline delays (6–12 months longer), messaging gaps, and coordination burden.
Foster Avenue integrates senior fundraising counsel with strategic creative execution; we call this “counsel-led communications.” Our principals bring decades of advancement experience, so we plan the campaign and create its messaging and materials. One partner, one timeline, one unified message.
It works best when you want one team to plan the campaign and build its case, training and materials. If you already have campaign counsel, we fit their plan and coordinate with them, so you never manage two vendors.
What’s involved in building our team’s capacity during a campaign?
Most engagements deliver materials. Foster Avenue equally prioritizes Organizational Fluency, ensuring that your advancement team can confidently articulate your campaign in their own words, not scripts. At Foster Avenue, you’re not just investing in beautiful materials, but in fundraisers who can adapt your messaging to individual donor interests.
Our capacity building is embedded throughout: stakeholder interviews that double as team alignment, strategic messaging developed collaboratively, fluency workshops with real practice scenarios, and ongoing coaching on high-stakes solicitations. We train your people, rather than just delivering tools.
Unlike deliverables that age out in 3–5 years, team fluency lasts decades. Organizations report sustained annual fund growth, improved retention, and faster future campaign launches.
How does Foster Avenue work with existing fundraising consultants?
Foster Avenue often works alongside campaign counsel firms, and many engagements come to us by their referral. When you already have counsel, we fit their plan: they lead the parts of the campaign they own, and we build the case, the materials, the presentations and the fluency training that carry it.
We coordinate proactively: learning your consultant’s framework, adopting their terminology, establishing monthly touchpoints, and presenting unified concepts together. Foster Avenue, not you, takes ownership of coordination logistics.
If you don’t have campaign counsel yet, Foster Avenue can serve as your counsel and your communications team, from campaign planning through the public launch.
What types of institutions does Foster Avenue serve?
Foster Avenue serves three sectors conducting major comprehensive campaigns: education (colleges, universities, and independent schools), healthcare (health systems, hospitals, and medical centers), and cultural institutions (museums, performing arts centers). Campaign scale typically ranges from $20M to $2B.
Our specialization means we speak the native language of advancement: feasibility studies, gift pyramids, quiet phase versus public launch, major gift solicitation psychology, donor stewardship strategies. We don’t serve enrollment marketing or general institutional branding; our entire focus is campaign-intensive advancement work.
Practicing since 1982, our team brings the experience of more than 125 campaigns that together raised more than $40 billion.
When should institutions engage a campaign communications partner?
Foster Avenue typically engages 6–12 months before the quiet or nucleus phase, when your campaign structure is being defined, leadership prospects are being identified, and you need compelling materials for high-stakes solicitations. This timing means your messaging framework guides leadership solicitations from day one, fundraisers enter confident and fluent, and materials are prepared before first asks.
We continue through public launch (campaign microsite, collateral, events, video) and include a distinctive Wrap/Pivot Phase, preventing post-campaign decline. We also join campaigns mid-stream when institutions experience stalled momentum, need creative partners after consultant planning, or face messaging inconsistency.
Ideal timing is 6–12 months before the quiet or nucleus phase, but we work flexibly across all campaign phases.
We should talk.
Tell us about your institution’s ambitions, and we’ll share how we can help you reach them.