Support that fits your stage.
A volunteer-run organization and a newly grant-funded one need different things. We match the support to where you are, price it on a sliding scale, and grow with you.
Three levels of support
For volunteer-powered organizations
- Good standing and yearly filings
- Board setup and core policies
- Simple bookkeeping and a real budget
- Your first grant applications
- A seat in the free Academy
For organizations with first paid staff
- Everything in Foundations
- Payroll, HR, and handbooks
- Financial policies and controls
- An active grant pipeline
- Regular executive partner time
For grant-scaled organizations
- Everything in Operations
- Full fractional executive partnership
- Government grant management and compliance
- Audit readiness
- Program data and outcome reporting
Clear pricing that fits your budget.
One team costs less than five separate vendors, and for many partners, grant funding covers the cost. We work three ways.
Monthly retainer
Ongoing back-office support for a fixed monthly fee. This is how most grant-funded organizations work with us, and it can be written directly into a grant budget.
Project fee
A set price for a clear result: board policies, a first budget, audit preparation, or a grant application.
Advisory hours
Expert help when you need it, billed hourly at our standard rate.
We carry the machinery. You carry the mission.
Every partnership has a clear division of labor, so nothing falls through the cracks and nobody burns out.
The machinery
- Bookkeeping and monthly financial statements
- Compliance calendar and filings
- Grant research, writing, and reporting
- Budgets and budget changes
- Policies, handbooks, and HR paperwork
- Data systems and outcome reports
What only they can
- Community and funder relationships
- Program sites, staff, and delivery
- Leading the team
- The relationship with the board
- Decisions and approvals, on time
Oversight
- Approving the budget
- Supervising and paying the executive director
- Adopting policies
- Giving and opening doors
What working with us looks like
Checkup
We start with the Grassroots Checkup and a free strategy session about your goals.
Take the CheckupStabilize
We get your books, filings, and board basics in order, usually within the first 90 days.
How we workBuild
We put the systems your next stage needs in place: controls, data, policies, and a grant pipeline.
Talk with usEverything a nonprofit back office does. All of it, here.
Most organizations piece this together from a bookkeeper, a grant writer, an HR consultant, an evaluator, and a facilitator. We are all of them, and the work is built to fit together.
Finance & accounting
Bookkeeping, reconciliations, monthly financial reports, budgeting, cash-flow planning, and audit support.
Grants & fundraising
Grant writing, grant management, grant reporting, fundraising strategy, and donor systems.
Compliance
IRS, state, insurance, and grant requirements, including GATA and ICJIA, tracked on one calendar.
HR & payroll
Payroll, worker classification, handbooks, job descriptions, hiring, and required trainings.
Data & evaluation
Data collection, program evaluation, dashboards, and the accounting, donor, and program systems behind them.
Board development
Recruitment, orientation, policies, and meetings that work.
Program design
Theory of change, logic models, outcomes, and launch readiness.
Strategy
Strategic planning, sustainability, and the growth decisions in between.
Good questions, straight answers.
How do you get paid?
On a flat monthly retainer, priced on a sliding scale. For grant-funded partners, that retainer is written into the grant budget as the operations line, covering finance, payroll and HR, compliance, data, and reporting, and it is approved by the funder like any other cost. It is never a percentage of the award and never contingent on winning. Grant writing is included in the partnership so smaller organizations can afford the back office in the first place.
How much does it cost?
Less than a bookkeeper, a grant writer, and an HR consultant hired separately, with one point of contact instead of five. Most grant-funded organizations work with us on a monthly retainer written into the grant budget. Smaller organizations pay on a sliding scale.
Do you write grants?
Yes. We research prospects, write applications, and build budgets, then manage the grant after it's awarded: reporting, compliance, and reimbursement requests.
Do you work with organizations outside Chicago?
Yes. We're based in Chicago and work with grassroots nonprofits across Illinois, including state grant management for organizations anywhere in the state.
Do you help with Illinois state grants like R3?
Yes. State grants such as ICJIA's R3 and i2i come with GATA prequalification, reimbursement-based payments, and detailed reporting. We've won and managed them from application through closeout, and the free Checkup includes a state grant readiness check.
We're all-volunteer. Is it too early to talk?
No. The free Checkup and a free strategy session are built for exactly that stage. You'll leave with a plan, whether or not we work together.
The first conversation is always free.
You'll leave with a plan, whether or not we work together.