Fractional & Interim Leadership
Talk to us about the seat you need filled.
A vacancy in fundraising leadership is not a staffing problem. It is a revenue problem.
A good search takes months, and fundraising does not pause while it runs. Renewals come due. Major gift conversations stall. Campaigns lose momentum. Relationships that take a year to close sit and wait. The cost of an empty seat never shows up on the org chart. It shows up in next year’s results, long after the new leader has started.
Organizations call us in three situations. The role is open and a search is running. The role is stretched across someone who already carries a full portfolio. Or the plan is ahead of the team, with a campaign or a new revenue goal in place before the people to deliver it are hired.
At Relate Group, interim leadership is not a résumé we send over. It is a seat we sit in.
Accountable, not advisory. Dan Thorpe holds the role. He carries the revenue goal, leads the staff and volunteer structure assigned to it, and sits in the meetings where the work actually gets decided. The engagement is measured on what the function produced, not on recommendations handed back for someone else to execute. That is the difference between a consultant and a leader, and it is the whole reason organizations call.
One person in the seat, a firm behind them. Grant writers, prospect researchers, development operations and database staff, and budget modeling all come with the engagement. Capacity comes from the firm rather than from one calendar, so submission volume holds, deadlines stay covered, and the work a single interim hire would have to triage simply gets done. You are not buying one person’s hours. You are buying a function that keeps running.
Built to hand off. The engagement is designed to end. The role is documented as it is actually run, so the relationships, the opportunities, and the calendar are recorded for whoever comes next instead of leaving with us. What you keep is a function in motion rather than a report about one. We are glad to help vet and interview candidates, and to spend time with the incoming leader so their first month starts warm.
How the first ninety days run. Days 1 to 30 are about taking hold: every open commitment accounted for, from renewals to solicitations in flight to near-term deadlines, and every staff member, volunteer leader, and key relationship holder met, with nothing in progress dropped in the handoff. Days 31 to 60 are about getting it moving: the people, the opportunities, and the revenue picture documented, plans and timelines staffed, and every large ask ahead given a plan and an owner. From day 61 the function simply runs. Revenue is tracked against goal week over week, asks and deliverables stay on schedule, and reporting arrives ready to use rather than rebuilt by your staff.
Interim, fractional, or both. Interim means we carry the full role through a transition or a search, typically four to nine months. Fractional means senior leadership on an ongoing basis where a full-time appointment is not the right fit, whether that is a market, a region, a program portfolio, or a single function. Many engagements begin as one and become the other, and there is nothing to settle before we talk.
How we think about the seat:
“Today, Relate Group is an extension of my executive team, supporting virtually every area of our rapidly growing organization. This C-suite level of talent consistently delivers fresh ideas, takes initiative, and leverages deep industry experience with an extensive network of relationships to create meaningful results. They are true self-starters who require little direction while remaining focused on our mission and goals. They don’t simply provide advice. They share ownership of the outcomes and are fully invested in our success.”
Maureen Luna — Chief Executive Officer, The Pantry of Broward · Ft. Lauderdale, FL