Illyse Kaplan
Nonprofit Development Executive & Advisor
I help nonprofit organizations strengthen fundraising, navigate complex funding opportunities, and add seasoned development capacity when the need exceeds what current staff can absorb.
$90M+ raised · 30+ years in nonprofit development · New York & New Jersey
Experienced judgment
Development problems are rarely solved by simply asking an already-busy team to do more.
Sometimes the challenge is a major RFP. Sometimes an organization needs a more realistic fundraising plan. Sometimes the development staff has the capability but not the capacity. And sometimes leadership needs an experienced outside perspective on what can—and cannot—reasonably be accomplished.
That is where I am most useful.
I bring decades of experience across government funding, foundations, events, development strategy and nonprofit leadership to help organizations decide where to focus, organize the work and move it forward.
How I can help
I help nonprofit leaders assess current development capacity, identify immediate priorities and create a practical path forward—whether the organization is building its fundraising function, strengthening an existing one or preparing for its next stage of growth.
My experience includes foundation and corporate grant research and writing, as well as New York City and New York State RFPs, with particular depth in supportive and affordable housing. For major government opportunities, I help coordinate the full process: reviewing requirements, briefing leadership, building the timeline, aligning program and finance teams, developing the narrative and managing the submission.
Organizations often need senior capacity during a transition, while recruiting a new leader or when existing staff simply cannot absorb another major responsibility. I am open to consulting, fractional, interim and select full-time development leadership opportunities.
This may include a major grant or RFP, foundation and corporate prospect research, grant writing and management from research through closeout, development planning, board development, a significant fundraising event or another time-sensitive priority. A consulting engagement can solve an important short-term need without requiring an organization to add permanent staff before it is ready.
Comunilife · Life is Precious
Life is Precious provides suicide-prevention services for Latina teens at risk of suicide.
During my years at Comunilife, I helped support the program’s growth from two sites to eight, including its expansion beyond New York City. Public funding and major foundation support helped make that growth possible, including a $480,000 Direct Relief grant that supplemented new New York State funding.
Over my 15 years at Comunilife, more than 1,200 Latina teens received academic, art and case-management services through the program.
For me, that is what the money represents.
The dollars matter because of what they allow an organization to do.
Funding landscape
Over the course of my career, my work has included funding from public agencies and major philanthropic institutions including:
Point of view
One of the hardest responsibilities in development leadership is telling an executive team or board that a goal cannot be achieved as currently imagined.
Experience teaches you the difference between ambition and wishful thinking.
My job is not simply to promise that every opportunity can be won. It is to help leadership understand what is realistic, what needs to change and where the organization has the strongest chance of succeeding.
Best-fit organizations
My deepest experience is with community-based organizations working in areas such as:
I work most naturally with organizations in New York and New Jersey, while remaining able to support clients remotely throughout the United States.
Start a conversation
You may need help with an immediate funding opportunity. You may need more experienced development capacity. Or you may simply need a realistic view of what the organization should do next.
The first conversation is about understanding the situation.
