Results & Impact from Our Clients

At Let’s Build Hope, we’re highly results-oriented. With our hands-on, embedded approach to partnership, our consultants take on client goals as our own. And in over a decade of business, 99% of our clients hit, and surpassed, their fundraising goals.

See what our clients have to say about their results and experience.

“I have never left a training that contained SO much information but still presented it in a way that was digestible and progressive. I am blown away.”

— Annual Fundraising Training Camp Participant

“I adore LBH! The trainings are exceptional and I always feel so invigorated in my work after taking a course with them. I will absolutely be back to repeat sessions when I need inspiration!”

— Major Gifts Boot Camp Participant

“A solid overview of fundraising that was digestible for fund development professionals at every level.”

— Shannon Bodenschatz, Manager of Annual Fund & Engagement, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri

“LBH has taught me more about true fundraising in 5 days than I have learned in the last 25 years.”

— Lisa Luebkemann, Marketing and Admission Director, Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School

“The Grants Boot Camp was super informative, well organized, and professionally presented. I highly recommend you attend it to hear from the many years of experiences and tips and tricks from the many presenters.”

— LaTanya Ivy, Development Director, STL Mutual Aid

“I have had the pleasure to work with Let’s Build Hope for several years. … Their guidance was instrumental in turning around our development philosophy to help us achieve our development goals. … They have the ability to learn our individual agency strengths and challenges and to turn many of those challenges into opportunities. Their genuineness and burning desire to really help us achieve our mission through improved development strategies was a game changer for us.”

— Marian McCord, Executive Director and Founder (retired), CHADS Coalition for Mental Health

“Before training camp, I felt like I had a general idea how to fundraise. Now that I’ve completed camp, I’m empowered to help others practice their philanthropy through the science of fundraising.”

— Annual Fundraising Training Camp Participant

“Let’s Build Hope’s Grants Boot Camp was an enlightening experience that provided invaluable knowledge and tools that I am confident will help my team craft compelling proposals and open doors to funding opportunities. Thank you, Beth and the LBH Grants for Growth team!”

— Heather Kemper, Director of Development, Miriam School and Learning Center

“Linda and the LBH team are awesome. They have extensive experience in the area of philanthropy and attending their seminar allowed our organization to leverage their teachings into some new and efficient development programs. We have transformed our individual donor approach with tools and techniques we learned from Linda and her team. I would recommend LBH to any organization. Their seminar is built to enhance philanthropy efforts from beginners to experienced development professionals. They include a diverse list of subject matter experts as guest speakers to provide a comprehensive perspective of the current development environment. Their curriculum is second to none, well organized, and packed with actionable approaches to fundraising.”

— Paul B. Anderson, Board Chair, Loyola Academy of St. Louis (retired, BNSF Railway)

​”Linda Haley started giving me informal advice on fundraising when I came to my position at St. Vincent. In 2015 we formalized our relationship with her as coach to help us build new and more effective processes in the Development Department. These efforts resulted in 2015 revenues raised from contributions, foundations and trusts at 99.7% above budget and 12.8% over 2014’s record-breaking year in the same categories. Linda has consistently demonstrated her expertise with advice honed to our unique situation and needs, and her dedication to and support of ​our mission of helping youth with challenging life circumstances is unparalleled. ​THANKS, Linda, for all you do for St. Vincent!”

— Carla A. Monroe-Posey, PhD, LCSW, MSHA, Executive Director (retired), St. Vincent Home for Children

“I attended annual fund training camp three weeks into my new position as director of development. This training should be prerequisite education for all those in the development field. Not only did Linda and Dawn generously share their years of experience, they provided valuable tools to ensure that we are planning for a successful future. As a bonus, Linda and the team make themselves available for ongoing coaching and mentoring for those who attend the training. Thanks to Let’s Build Hope, I feel confident that we can build an efficient AND effective development team to advance the mission of Almost Home.”

— Tyronica Dowdy, former Director of Development, Almost Home

“As a young professional, I found the Annual Fund Training Camp to be incredibly valuable! It was an invigorating week and I left with tools, insight, and connections that span across each aspect of philanthropy. I would highly recommend the opportunity to anyone at any level in the field.”

— Candace Schwartzkopf, Grants Manager, Memory Care Home Solutions

“Linda and Dawn at Let’s Build Hope impressed me from day one when they started working with one of our Catholic Charities federated agencies. That initial involvement and the opportunity to attend the boot camp in July 2019 prompted us to engage them to conduct a boot camp for our eight agencies in 2020. They are experts with proven methods at a strategic and tactical level. Learning from them has made us a stronger federation! Thank you!”

— Theresa E. Ruzicka, CPA, President (retired), Catholic Charities of St. Louis

“After being in my executive assistant position for 10 years, I gained the confidence to be truly effective as a development associate in my work after I spent a week learning from the Let’s Build Hope team. Linda and Dawn helped our department come together as a team and coordinate our efforts so our fundraising could be more impactful. They were generous with their time and knowledge even after training. And they helped us create an online 24-hour campaign called #Safe4aNight ​that was a new source of revenue. It blew away any expectation our team and our board had. I can’t thank them enough for their expertise and especially their friendship!”

— Julie Rudden, Development Associate, Good Shepherd Children and Family Services

“I heartily recommend Let’s Build Hope to any nonprofit that is ready to take its development work to the next level. Linda Haley is a professional who makes the work fun! She helped transform our organization’s understanding of the importance of development in support of our mission by educating both our board and staff. The LBH boot camp is one of the best educational opportunities I have come across on the topic and well worth the time and financial investment. From building an achievable but aggressive plan, to training and coaching us along the way, LBH provided the knowledge and experience we needed to be successful. Linda was with us every step of the way and exceeded expectations.”

— Deborah Grossman, ​Community Volunteer and Board Chair

“​The Missouri Baptist Healthcare Foundation turned to Let’s Build Hope to develop a program to retain and upgrade low and mid-level donors through more intentional solicitation and stewardship. The resulting “Champions For Care” program has been very successful in all respects. This first year, we’ve exceeded our projections at the upper levels of our gift table. Donors have liked the concept of making a gift that is directed to a particular major project that is achievable through collective giving with other MoBap donors. Linda Haley has been great at coaching us through this program and has good fundraising instincts. She made this program clear and exciting. We are a small shop. We needed simple and achievable and Linda delivered.”

— Debra Victor, Vice President / Nancy Burchfield, Foundation Gift Officer / Sylvia Manewith, Major Gifts Officer, Missouri Baptist Hospital Foundation

“Working with Linda Haley has transformed our organization’s development and stewardship efforts. Her expertise and guidance enabled our organization to increase our contributed income by over 20% and to exceed our development goals. During the first year, Linda provided coaching to our development director, our board, to me, and to our staff as a whole. As a result, our work with individual donors grew by leaps and bounds. As a musician, I had very limited experience in fundraising. Through the year of consulting and the Development Boot Camp, Linda gave me an entirely new perspective and an organized approach to stewarding donors. This training gave me the confidence to reach out to individual donors and secure major gifts that were beyond what I had thought possible! Linda is an incredible teacher and terrific development coach. I would recommend her enthusiastically to every non-profit organization!”

— Barbara Berner, Artistic Director/CEO (retired), The St. Louis Children’s Choirs

“After 13 years of being an Executive Director of a nonprofit, I learned more in one week of Annual Fundraising Training Camp than in all of my other trainings combined! ​Linda and Dawn are phenomenal and full of knowledge!”

— Tina Meier, Executive Director, Megan Meier Foundation

“As a startup nonprofit, ​Girls in the Know turned to Let’s Build Hope to develop an annual fundraising plan in 2016. We weren’t large enough to hire staff but were at a critical stage of growth with our first 3 figure, multi-year gift. To help us properly steward our gifts and build a sustainable plan, LBH stepped in to function in our development director role and together we built and executed the plan that has resulted in 264% growth over the past 4 years. We developed our “I Am Enough” giving club aimed at paying the girl power forward and acquiring program graduates as lifetime donors. Linda also led a board retreat to help us develop our 10-year Impact Statement that drives our strategic planning and answers the question, Where are we headed?’ We exceeded our goals in year one and have maintained our relationship for 3 years. Linda Haley and Dawn Miller are a unique combination of brilliance and heart. They have been an instrumental part of our success and growth. We are a small shop. We needed someone to hold our hand and LBH delivered.”

— Gina Marten, ​former Executive Director, Girls in the Know

“I am new to development, and attending this training 3 months into my new position was just the right timing to be able to think about the very practical tools and guidance LBH offered in the context of my own organization. I left the training feeling as if I know what my organization does really well, and with ideas about how I might support the development team in strengthening even more. In addition to the practical tools, I loved learning from the wealth of experience Linda, Meredith, the guest presenters, and other fundraisers attending the training shared! The AFTC was a great experience all around.”

— Casey Locey, ​Development and Stewardship Coordinator, Queen of Peace Center

“Training camp left me feeling energized and excited about my future in development! Linda and her amazing team of professionals have gone above and beyond to help me feel supported and confident. The knowledge I gained and the relationships I formed that week are invaluable.”

— Hanne Hawkins, Director of Development The Center for Autism Education

“I left with tangible tools and templates to analyze metrics and develop strategies. I also expanded my network and learned from experts in foundation/corporate giving, creative design, event planning and online marketing. The connections I’ve made from Training Camp have opened new doors and gave me the confidence to successfully solicit a major gift, the value of which more than exceeded the cost of training. Using Let’s Build Hope tools and resources, I have crafted a strong ‘case for support’ and now know how to implement a plan to make our fundraising efforts successful. Being able to share this information effectively with ​Board members and prospective donors is part of a healthy giving strategy.” ​

— Annual Fundraising Training Camp Participant

“The LBH Grants Boot Camp is a great resource and opportunity to learn about grants and streamline your grant writing practice. The instructors were very knowledgeable.”

— Ani Kramer, Grant Reporting Coordinator, St. Patrick Center