Search Assist
You need the right people in the room. A senior thought partner plus a network for fundraising and leadership searches, without retained-search overhead. This is not a staffing service. It is a structured thinking partnership for a high-stakes hire.
Pathway 1 is Prospect Mapping, Search Assist, and Premium: a $1,500 to $5,000 flat fee. The organization runs the search. Qualified candidates are sourced into the pipeline.
Pathway 2 is Full Search Management: 8% of placed salary, on contingency. No fee unless someone is placed.
The difference is a decade of nonprofit and higher-ed advancement, the Freeman Philanthropy Collective and Executive Thought Partner network, pattern recognition, and no junior associates. Fit and readiness, not only credentials.
Community and nonprofit foundations seeking a chief development officer or executive director. Arts, cultural, and civic organizations hiring advancement or leadership roles in the $80,000 to $200,000 range. Higher education. Boards in transition. Organizations that have already paid for an overpriced retained search.
It is not a traditional retained search firm. It is not Executive Thought Partner work, and it is not fractional fundraising filling the gap until someone starts. A search is often the inflection point that brings a leader into thought partnership. They can sit side by side. They are not the same offer.
Four shapes. The organization keeps the hire. Dan brings the network and the judgment.
Pathway 1
$1,500 flat
Boards running the search in-house.
Pathway 1
$2,500 to $3,500
Small to mid-size nonprofits with limited bandwidth.
Pathway 1
$3,500 to $5,000
Higher roles and urgent timelines.
Pathway 2
8% of placed salary
Full-service, contingency. No fee unless placed.
Flat fees are billed 50% at engagement and 50% on delivery of the prospect list. Full search is invoiced on successful placement.
Fit, role, timeline, and which pathway actually serves the hire.
The work is named. The fee and the deliverable are named with it.
Sourcing from the network, LinkedIn, and databases against the ideal-candidate profile.
The prospect list, and for Premium and Full Search, the guidance that sits around it.
Premium and Full Search include advisory calls after the list is in the room.
Every offer is a different shape of the same practice: senior judgment, held quietly, in Charlotte, NC, and Remote.
No. It is a senior thought partner plus a network, not a retained search firm. Pathway 1 sources qualified candidates into your pipeline while the organization runs the search. Pathway 2 is full search management on contingency: 8% of placed salary, with no fee unless someone is placed.
Prospect Mapping is $1,500 flat. Search Assist Standard is $2,500 to $3,500. Search Assist Premium is $3,500 to $5,000. Flat fees are billed 50% at engagement and 50% on delivery of the prospect list. Full Search Management is 8% of placed salary, invoiced on successful placement.
Community and nonprofit foundations seeking a chief development officer or executive director; arts, cultural, and civic organizations hiring advancement or leadership roles in the $80,000 to $200,000 range; higher education; boards in transition; and organizations that have already paid for an overpriced retained search.
If this resonates, the next step is a complimentary 45-minute discovery call to determine whether the hire, the pathway, and the chemistry make sense. If they do, we proceed. If they do not, we part cleanly.
