Sandi Frost Steensma, President and CEO of, Kennari Consulting, joins the Michigan Business Network to talk about what it takes to successfully guide over 100 non-profit organizations through the COVID pandemic. In the interview, Sandi covers the various services of Kennari which include annual giving, campaigns, grant writing, program and project development, and fundkits.
Kennari focuses on six pillar areas of nonprofit service: arts & culture, healthcare, education, social services, faith-based, and recreations and greenspace. Kennari demonstrates significant expertise, plentiful experience, and consistent success in these particular sectors of the nonprofit world. Fundraising is essential to non-profit survival. – https://kennariconsulting.com/about/overview/
Watch the full interview now!
Kennari Consulting Services
Annual Giving – Implementing best practices by strengthening the board for fundraising, and by ensuring the infrastructure and necessary tools are in place to roll out events and activities needed to recruit, renew, and cultivate donors.
Campaigns – Whether a singular focus or a blend of capital, program and endowment initiatives, campaigns take deliberate and strategic planning and implementation. Though for many organizations campaigns can be daunting, they can also be a game-changing undertaking for nonprofits, catapulting their mission forward.
Grant Writing – Grants can be a significant source of revenue for an organization but also require a lot of work and specialized expertise. Kennari partners with organizations in identifying grant opportunities, researching and writing grant proposals, and managing a calendar of granting cycles and deadlines.
Program and Project Development – Most organizations recognize the need to grow and respond to community needs. It can be tempting to jump into a new program or project when there’s an opportunity. But a program will only have long-term success if the need is accurately defined and the objectives are clear.
Fundkit – Fundkit, powered by Kennari Consulting, is an online learning platform for fundraising professionals. It is an in-depth training and best practices on a specific topic, with action-oriented homework and downloadable tools to help organizations reach their goals. Through a series of videos, Kennari staff and other trusted partners share information that can be implemented right away. Each video session has homework to help users take the ideas out of the conceptual and into the application. The templates also provide great starting points so users can spend their time customizing and implementing, not starting from scratch. getfundkit.com
The company also shared with us, a release of information about their efforts specifically over the past 14 months:
Kennari Consulting Successfully Guided Over 100 Non-Profit Organizations Through the Covid Pandemic
Grand Rapids (May, 2021) – Kennari Consulting has successfully guided 100 plus clients through the Covid-19 pandemic raising millions of dollars in campaigns and grants in hard-hit sectors such as healthcare, education, arts & culture, and recreation. Successful, sustainable philanthropy is not a matter of luck. There’s a deliberate method and a discipline. Kennari’s clients have successfully learned that method, raising more than $450 million through campaigns, grants, and annual giving over the past twelve years with an additional $350 million in campaign goals on contract as of spring 2021.
Bruce Tinker, Executive Director of Grand Rapids Civic Theatre has seen Kennari’s impact first hand this year, “Kennari Consulting has been an invaluable resource in growing our funding capacity. Despite the often overwhelming challenges the 2020-21 pandemic has
presented, Kennari’s quick planning response made it possible for the Theatre to continue our campaign while we also sourced emergency funding.”|
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About Kennari Consulting, is one the largest full-service fundraising consulting firms in Michigan. Sandi Frost Steensma started Kennari Consulting in 2007 because she realized that nonprofit organizations needed more customized, day-to-day, “nuts and bolts” fundraising support as well as campaign coaching. Today, the firm has 13 staff members and serves more than 100 nonprofit organizations with consulting and direct services each year.
Kennari focuses in six pillar areas of nonprofit service: arts & culture, healthcare, education, social services, faith-based, and recreations and greenspace. Kennari can demonstrate significant expertise, plentiful experience, and consistent success in these particular sectors of the nonprofit world. Fundraising is essential to non-profit survival. The Kennari team’s ability to influence organizations for good has helped them not just survive, but thrive.
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