Exploring Life & Business with Leah Goss of Good Cause Solutions, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Goss.

Hi Leah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Leah Goss has spent her entire career raising money for good causes! She has led college foundations in Colorado, Louisiana and Texas. In Louisiana, she provided leadership and fundraising training to all the 2-year institutions in the State, transforming their ability to develop local community support for their programs and facilities. She led campaigns to raise millions of dollars through capital campaigns, special events, employee giving drives, and project-based efforts.

Throughout her career in education, her leadership in community-based non-profit agencies, and in national advocacy organizations, she successfully engaged and inspired Boards of Directors, grew fundraising, built endowment, promoted planned giving, planned record breaking galas and executed other unique and memorable fundraising events.

As a consultant, Leah has written feasibility studies, directed capital campaigns, conducted Board of Director retreats, led strategic planning, and presented locally, regionally, and nationally on nonprofit leadership, governance and fundraising. She is a member of the Colorado Nonprofit Association and speaks often for their conferences and other fundraising training webinars and in-person programs.

Leah earned an associate degree in liberal arts from Adirondack Community College in upstate New York, a bachelor’s degree in communications from Regis University in Denver, and an MBA from Regis with an emphasis in marketing. She is passionate about the work of nonprofit organizations that transform lives every day in America and around the world.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Leah married not long after graduating from high school and started a family. She was involved in various ways with nonprofits and fundraising in those early years, and she eventually realized that this was a career she would love. However, she also realized that if she wanted to pursue a career as a nonprofit executive, she would have to complete college, which wasn’t easily done as a young mom of 4 children. But she hung onto that dream, and the day came when she had the opportunity to go back to school. Although she was already working fulltime, she managed to enroll at Regis University in Denver and in less than three years she completed both a bachelor’s degree and an MBA. That move paid off and her fundraising career quickly advanced.

As she entered the fundraising field, Leah found that one of the biggest challenges she faced was figuring out ways to fundraise with limited staff and resources, which is typical of most nonprofit organizations. She learned to identify “low hanging fruit” and consistently found ways to grow the organizations’ resources and impact.

As she learned and grew in her own knowledge, skills, and abilities, Leah found herself in demand as a nonprofit speaker. That led to multiple requests for consulting and training, and she found that work to be extremely rewarding. While fundraising is hard work, and most fundraisers burn out in less than three years, Leah thrived and consistently implemented strategies that allowed her to exceed expectations in the fundraising campaigns and events she planned.

However, she also discovered how essential it is to work for a boss that supports her and trusts her enough to have her back, even when she made mistakes. In the jobs where that relationship was not present, her ability to succeed was hampered and, in some cases, the only real solution was to look for another job. Those were hard experiences, but they motivated her to be a supportive boss with her own direct reports as she moved along in her career.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Good Cause Solutions, LLC?
I specialize in helping nonprofit organizations scale their fundraising – meaning finding ways to grow fundraising revenue without necessarily increasing fundraising costs. It’s a combination of education and coaching. I take a very affirming approach with my clients, while also helping them find their best fundraising opportunities and optimizing them. I’m known as a practical and inspiring coach. One exceptional skill I have is to facilitate planning workshops to help my clients more deeply understand the challenges they are facing and make a plan to overcome them. They are able to come together in agreement, make decisions, and execute the plan. I’m also generous with my time, always willing to go the extra mile to ensure my client’s success. I am an excellent writer and often support my clients by helping them to write their case for supports, appeals, social media, and website content. My services are also priced very flexible and modestly, making my support accessible to many small organizations who are ready and willing to scale. And, because I was a solo, or nearly solo, nonprofit director in multiple jobs, I deeply understand what it’s like to wear all the hats and I help them figure out how to carve out some time and make the best use of it to ensure fundraising growth.

How do you think about luck?
I was lucky early in my career to have a boss that believed in me and trusted me. He was honest with his feedback and helped me discern the best way forward to reach my goals, preventing me from making a lot of mistakes. He became a mentor and also a friend, even though it’s been years since we worked together. And his enthusiastic references for me helped me get more than one great job!

Pricing:

• Consulting is available on an hourly basis and is customized to the biggest needs and challenges of the organization.
• Pricing packages are also offered for ongoing contracts that delve deeply into fundraising practices and processes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goodsolutions.com