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Jun 16, 2026
From Nonprofits to Consulting with Christina Martin-Kenny
From Nonprofits to Consulting with Christina Martin-Kenny
00:00
20:14
Transcript
0:00
Today we are welcoming Christina Martin Kenney. Christina is the founder of Guava Tree Strategies and a mom to two.
0:08
She is a recovering development director turned nonprofit fundraising strategist, helping small to mid-size nonprofits build sustainable fundraising strategies and strong supported teams.
0:19
Christina launched her company because she believes nonprofits have the power to create impact, but only when the teams are supported and they have the systems and the people in place to fundraise effectively.
0:29
So welcome, Christina. We're so happy to have you. Thanks, Rachel. It's great to be here. So you made the leap from being a development director to launching your own nonprofit advisory.
0:39
What inspired that shift, and what did the transition look like for you? So in the nonprofit world, staff retention is honestly an epidemic.
0:51
Um, there are studies that show that 70% of nonprofit employees are looking to leave their jobs within a year.
0:57
Um, in the fundraising space, the average development director turns over every 16 to 24 months, and that has absolutely played out in my career. I have always been a nonprofit fundraiser.
1:13
It's what I started my career in. And for a sector that relies so heavily on revenue and fundraising, it's pretty remarkable how little understood what it actually takes to fundraise well requires.
1:28
And there's just an enormous burden placed on fundraisers to raise an, an organization's entire revenue on their own. And there are, you know, really heavy pressures.
1:40
Like, if we don't make our revenue goal, or if we don't make budget, you know, salaries are gonna have to be cut, or we're gonna have to lay people off.
1:47
It's a really, um, demanding and high pressure scenario for the nonprofit space, a sector where we really just want it to do good. And I've definitely seen that play out in my career.
2:01
Um, and I was at an organization, I had been there only a year, almost exactly a year, when the organization decided to shut down, uh, largely because of, um, federal government cuts and the current administration.
2:14
There was a lot that went into it, but it shut down, and I had only been there for a year. And when they made that decision, I just could not look for another job. It, it felt like a trauma response.
2:27
I really liked the role. I was building something great. I had an amazing team. But before that, I had been in a really high pressure situation while going through postpartum depression.
2:38
The likelihood of walking back into another situation like that seemed...
2:43
It seemed more likely that that would be the case than to walk into another comfortable role where I was, you know, respected by my team and trusted to do the work that I needed to. And I had consulted before.
2:55
I had worked at a big DC-based consulting firm. I had always just done some consulting on the side, honestly, to pay daycare bills. [chuckles] It would be a friend of a friend who would say, "Can you do this for us?
3:07
You know, you're a fundraiser. Can you help us with this?" I had always thought that if I needed to make a change again, I would look into going into full-time consulting.
3:17
But when I did that, I knew that I didn't wanna just be another fundraising consultant. There are a lot of us out there, um, and there's a need for them, right?
3:26
Every fundraising consultant I know is fully booked and has a wait list or is referring to other folks. But I really wanted to look at what's driving fundraiser staff retention.
3:40
And so my consulting firm focuses on supporting nonprofits in building long-term sustainable fundraising strategies and addressing this plague of staff retention. How do you hire fundraisers?
3:54
What are their expectations and responsibilities?
3:56
How do you onboard them to an organization and measure their performance in ways that doesn't tie their entire existence or worth in your organization to revenue, and actually looks at how they can contribute to your team and support your organization's goals in growing as opposed to just raising more money?
4:15
So at the transition, um, you know, I was really lucky to have a severance package, and I took a couple of months to just talk to other people I knew in the nonprofit space and figure things out and really was able to land on a business strategy that, um, when I officially launched it in May of this year, just was overwhelmingly had a positive response.
4:38
People were like, "Yes, we need this." And, you know, clients started coming to me saying, "Well, we've had three, four fundraising directors in the last three or four years. Like, can you help us figure out why?"
4:51
So it's been a good transition. I feel very aligned that this is what I should be doing. Um, but it was... You know, there was a lot that went into making that change because I've always worked in nonprofits.
5:03
I've always wanted to work in nonprofits, but I really just could not see myself going into another in-house role and, and continuing to work in the space in that capacity. I think it's so interesting
5:17
how you express your decision to start your own venture because it's, you are in a good place, but it's not just about the experience that you're currently having.
5:27
We're making calculations based on the probability of finding another good place, and that factors in our, the totality of our work experience.
5:35
Uh, and I think that that often is a motivator to go out on our own as particularly as women. At least, you know, for me, I, I kind of had a very mixed bag of work experience.
5:45
So it certainly impacted my decision to go out on my own as well, where I was like, "I don't really wanna work for anyone else." It's a, that in and, in and of itself is a risk.
5:53
When you're, when you're really factoring in starting your own versus going to work for someone or something else, there's risks on both sides, and I think that's important to acknowledge. The other, uh-...
6:05
thing I, I was thinking about when you were talking was you found a creative solution to differentiate yourself in the market. I, I do like to highlight when women
6:15
identify gaps and then create solutions to fill those gaps. And, uh, what I'm hearing you say is that the turnover is so high for fundraisers, but building long-term relationships is essential for fundraising, right?
6:27
Or for sales even. It's, it's really not something that happens overnight, and you really have to develop that network over time.
6:34
It's really interesting to hear you talk about your approach and how you help firms do that. I'm curious to hear, as you were starting Guava Tree, what was the most challenging and what was, uh, the most rewarding?
6:48
You said there was a lot went into the decision to start it, so if you could tell us a little bit more about what actually went into it, I'd, uh, I'd love to hear it. You know, first and foremost, I'm a mom of two.
6:58
There's the narrative that women are leaving the workforce.
7:00
There's also the narrative that women are starting their own businesses because they want more flexibility and crave and need more flexibility so that they can show up for Halloween and be more present with their kids and in their kids' lives.
7:11
And I agree with all of that. I also recognize... You know, I wanted to do this five years ago, and it just was not possible, right?
7:20
Financially, from what, you know, what was happening with my family, I could not set off on my own. The things that really made this possible were having a severance package,
7:32
having the f- the option to get health insurance through my partner, and having him be at a place where if I didn't start making money right away or had a slow month, you know, that when you're on your own, your salary, your revenue isn't necessarily consistent when you're first starting out.
7:52
Um, and so it took a lot, and I'm always really cautious at this narrative that if you wanna be a more present mom, just start your own business, because there is no just, right?
8:03
There's a, there's a lot that goes into this.
8:05
And so this had been years of having those conversations of what would it take, and I was lucky that the right scenario just kind of fell into my lap, that I was able to take some time where I wasn't working, but I was still getting paid, and could build a business and think about what that would look like.
8:27
So many women are building in the 5:00 to 9:00 after their 9:00 to 5:00 because they want that and they need that.
8:34
And you're, you're doing this to create more flexibility, and then you're working 80 hours a week, essentially trying to start a business that will give you more flexibility, right? And that's just not always feasible.
8:47
Um, so that was a, a huge part of it, of what went into that, was just making sure that my family would be okay if I went out on my own.
8:57
Your point is so dead on, which is like getting things up and running is really hard, um, because you're establishing a business and also trying to attract clients.
9:08
Can you tell us a little bit more about attracting and retain, uh, retaining clients in the nonprofit space?
9:15
It's interesting because I've seen a lot of things that say if you are building a business, you don't need a website or a presence, you just need to start.
9:24
I started talking a lot on LinkedIn about fundraiser staff retention and how nonprofits grow by focusing more intentionally on their staff, and I grew a, a really large presence of folks on LinkedIn who resonated with everything I was saying and felt like I was calling attention to something in the sector that people have wanted to talk about for a long time, but were afraid to talk about.
9:49
Because how do you talk about fundraising staff retention without calling out your employer or making it seem like you're talking about your employer? I was able to start just building an audience that way.
10:01
And so when I actually launched my business, I did it by launching on LinkedIn and said, "This is the shift I'm making.
10:07
You've heard me talk for two years about fundraising staff retention, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that I can't see myself going back to in-house role, and I wanna help other organizations do that."
10:19
Within a week, I had people knocking on my door asking, "Can I hire you?" Which was awesome. Um, so LinkedIn has really been tremendous for me. I'm really active on there.
10:30
It's a huge part of my business development strategy. I have a website and things like that.
10:34
I have a newsletter that I'm slowly starting to grow, but being able to just focus intentionally on LinkedIn and connecting with people...
10:43
And I think it helps that I was connecting with people without trying to build a business at first. You know?
10:50
I was just connecting with people one-on-one as fellow nonprofit professionals, or, you know, exe- executive directors and CEOs would say to me, "Hey, I, I saw your post and this is what I'm seeing in my organization.
11:02
Can we talk about that?" And there was no, "Oh, I don't wanna talk to this person because they're gonna try to pitch me their services," 'cause at the time I was just one of them.
11:10
But then suddenly I was a consultant, and I was in a position, and I had built these relationships with people who now saw me as a trusted, you know, expert who knows what I'm talking about and were interested and wanting to have a, a deeper conversation about how I could actually help them beyond just 30 minutes over Zoom coffee.
11:31
I really appreciate you going into detail about your usage of LinkedIn because it's so accessible, right? Most people are on there, and when you're thinking about starting something like you did,
11:43
it gives you an access to easy market data collection.
11:47
So not only are you kind of flexing your expertise, you're putting feelers out in a way where you can actually see, all right, are people interested, and get real data on interactions and engagement with different types of content to guide your services and your focus areas.
12:04
So I, I really appreciate you being specific about how you made that work for you and eventually it turned into a business development tool. There's a high percentage of women in the nonprofit space, right?
12:13
So it's like disproportionately women-centric, and I'm
12:19
I'm curious if you have any thoughts for women who are coming from the public space, particularly in our area, where a lot of my friends, for example, were working on government contracts for international development, and they really would like to transition into more non-profit space.
12:37
I wonder if you have any advice or guidance about that type of transition, or people thinking about moving into a non-profit space or translating skills that they have, uh, from working in government.
12:50
The number one thing that I think is a misconception is that non-profits are businesses. The whole non-profit name is really just a tax status.
13:01
But just like a major corporation that's, uh, service-based, you have a need for marketing, and operations, and finance, and leadership, and that's something that people often miss, is that, "How can I translate my skills?"
13:19
And I'm like, "Well, you work in finance. Every non-profit needs a finance team." And so I think that the skills for most sectors are pretty translatable.
13:29
I'm in DC, and so I absolutely hear what you're saying, and I think the challenge for folks who are losing government contracts right now is they, like, deeply want to continue work in the international space.
13:40
And there's a lot of room for folks with that kind of experience to come to a non-profit and say, "I've spent extensive time working on government contracts in this country.
13:54
I see that you're working in this country," right? "I would love to talk to you about what I've seen and see how I can lend my experience." You know, and, and working on the program side,
14:06
especially for program staff, a lot of what non-profits are doing are the same kinds of things that USAID was doing, just on a bigger, larger scale.
14:15
Um, and so the non-profit space is definitely one that I think it's a very easy space to transition into.
14:23
I think it's a harder space to transition out of because there is this assumption that non-profits are charity, and it's, it's a little bit patronizing.
14:34
And I think that this goes to the fact that it's a largely women-led industry.
14:38
I've been doing this my whole career, and when I tell people I work for non-profits, they're like, "Oh, that's great," and it's like this cute side hobby, not this career that I've built and require experience and, you know, have become an expert in my field at.
14:53
Um, and that's something that I really wish that we could shift out of, right? This assumption that non-profit work is just charity, as if charity isn't important.
15:05
I mean, right now we're recording this 30-something days into the government shutdown, and who is filling the gaps in the government shutdown right now?
15:15
Food pantries, health clinics, all of which are non-profits, right, that are just filling the need that is not being filled. And that doesn't... That's not just because the government is shut down.
15:28
I mean, in the early 1940s, when the government really started funding non-profit work, that was largely during World War II when all of the men were off to war and there was this huge need in, in the community.
15:41
Government actually started funding work that met community needs, right? They realized that the women now had to work, and so wh-wh-where are the children gonna go, right? And that's...
15:52
When we talk about affordable and accessible childcare, we did that in the '40s with no problem because women had to work, but the government stepped in. That's where the history of government grants comes from.
16:03
I'm going on such a tangent here, [laughs] but I think it's important to talk about how, you know, the non-profit space has always been the one to fill the gaps that the government is not filling or that don't exist in our society.
16:16
It's also important to highlight the people who are motivated to do this work.
16:19
Particularly in the DC area, so many people are here because they are motivated to make an impact in the community, in the country, in the world.
16:26
I think that's very unique to our geography and, uh, I never wanna be in a place where we're degrading any contribution where, that comes from that place of purpose.
16:38
I do appreciate the history and, and sort of understanding how we've got to where we are and the role non-profit plays, um, to this day, importantly, in our communities.
16:49
And I think it's also gonna be helpful for women who are thinking of... who have never been in non-profits, but are very much aligned with this impact, uh, and mission, and they wanna stay there as much as possible.
16:59
So the last question we wanted to ask you was, what attracted you to FemFactor?
17:04
Uh, we know that we came across you in a LinkedIn ad, and we are very excited to get some feedback from you and, and hear what piqued your interest. I mean, first of all, I love spaces that only attract women.
17:18
I'm at this point in my life where I'm just like, "Yeah, I don't need to network with men."
17:22
Um, I, I completely say that in joke, but when I first came across you on LinkedIn and went to your website, the whole goodbye old boys club, like, sign me up, right? Yes, this is, this is what we need.
17:35
And it's funny because I don't feel like I've ever actually been in the old boys club. The non-profit sector is overwhelmingly women.
17:43
The last non-profit I worked at, there were, I think, nine folks on staff, and we only had one male. Um, the one before that, there were no men on staff.
17:53
So I haven't actually ever been part of an old boys club, and I kind of love that. I'm, like, more intentionally trying to create spaces for myself where I can just be surrounded by other women.
18:06
You know, I have never had a mentor. I, you know, I was... I'm a first-generation American. I was the first in my family to go to college. I had to figure a lot of life out on my own.
18:19
And even now, like, nobody in my family has ever been an entrepreneur or started a business, and I'm finding myself looking for spaces where I can ask the questions that feel like they might be dumb questions, but I need safe spaces where I can ask them, and people will say, "Oh yeah, I had to figure that out, too."
18:40
And, you know, because there are no dumb questions, especially when you're learning something entirely new.
18:44
Going out and becoming an entrepreneur, starting my own business, has been the first time I've really ever engaged outside of the non-profit community.
18:53
The people that I'm learning from are women who have started their own businesses in completely different fields.
19:00
You know, finance and, um, SAS and just so many other areas, but we're, we have this we're building businesses together and somewhat in public.
19:11
And so I'm really loving finding more community with other people who are doing this and just learning so much about the world outside of non-profit, because it's really all I've ever done and known.
19:24
I really appreciate hearing you mention reaching out beyond yourself and your own industry, because Rachel and I have had a very similar experience with starting FemFactor, is that it pushed us to engage beyond our circle, beyond our areas of expertise, and to meet some incredible, generous women in their own industries who are experts, who are willing to talk to us, to talk to people that we meet, and just like a chain reaction of extending our network was set off by starting FemFactor and, like, bringing it out into the public eye.
20:00
Christina, thank you so much for your time and insights. Can you let people know where they can find you? Yeah. I am at guavatreestrategies.com, and on LinkedIn, Christina Martin Kenny. Awesome. Thank you so much.
20:13
Thank you.
FemmeFactor
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