What clients say about me…

“Ilana has mentored and coached me to shape strong, successful conversations with often stalled donors. I can attribute several thousands of pounds worth of impact to me implementing her advice – thank you!

Ilana is easily approachable with a straightforward communication style but easily adapts different styles when needed to get the best out of me. Ilana is incredibly helpful in problem solving, guiding me to come up with my own solutions which I can then apply to other situations.

It is a privilege to learn and work with Ilana. Her guidance, support and coaching has significantly contributed to my success in my career.”

Radhika Raichura, Development Manager at Kingston University

“I’ve recently worked with Ilana on creating a three year strategy for major donor fundraising at Stonewall and have found her inspiring, knowledgeable and highly strategic. In a short space of time, she has enabled me to lay the foundations for a new cross organisational approach to major donor fundraising, helping to build alliances and develop a sustainable pipeline which in the first two months has already delivered a five figure annual donation. I would highly recommend her as a consultant and hope to work with her again on developing Stonewall’s legacy programme.”

Sarah Jane O’Neill, Major Donor Manager at Stonewall

”I greatly enjoyed working with Ilana at the NSPCC between 2003 and 2009; she is one of the most positive, engaging and creative fundraisers I have had the pleasure of working with. She is very accountable for her work and I could always rely on her to deliver.

Above all, Ilana is a very accomplished major gifts and corporate fundraiser. Between 2003 and 2007, working on the FULL STOP Campaign, she drove the fundraising team to achieve the £15m target for our Helpline. She personally secured many individual and corporate gifts over £100,000. In 2007, in my department, she took a lead consultancy role across the NSPCC supporting £250k+ solicitations, which resulted in £4m. She was recognised through an NSPCC-wide programme for her outstanding fundraising success.

One of the key skills Ilana developed at the NSPCC was her strong strategic approach. For example, she researched into our current £250k+ donors to develop a common understanding of their attributes and journey with the NSPCC. She then set up specific metrics to assess our prospects and was forever linking up opportunities across the organisation to develop relationships. She then shared her learning in an engaging and concise way across major gift departments, and developed and trained a number of fundraisers.

At the heart of Ilana’s approach, was an innate understanding of what prompts individuals to give. Through creative motivational stewardship and relationship building, Ilana was able to ensure one of our highest level donors continued to give. She grew their passion for the project they were funding and demonstrated the impact they were making on children’s lives. This approach to stewardship was just one example of Ilana’s problem solving skills that were recognised by service staff as well as fundraising colleagues.

Her relationship building skills also helped Ilana successfully steer many complex solicitations within the NSPCC. On a regular basis, Ilana was able to guide and direct senior business volunteers, our Trustees and Directors to fulfil donors’ expectations at the highest level. She can also engage with staff at every level, she is excellent at training and coaching fundraisers and volunteers, as her manager I regularly received positive feedback from colleagues.

Lastly, Ilana is able to innovate, she devised and implemented a strategy to secure legacy pledges from volunteers for the first time, raising £3m at the end of the FULL STOP Appeal.

I would recommend working with Ilana if you can!”

Alice Payne, Director of Partnership Giving, NSPCC

“After the ‘ask’ training you did for Yachad staff and volunteers we went to a group of prospects who we had not yet been confident to ask and got them to agree to commit £5k a year for three years. Four people did this immediately off the back of your training, which is a £60k commitment to the org in total.

We have subsequently used that model to secure at least another £30k by asking a number of other individuals to become part of the group of people making that level of commitment. All these people were floating around and had not committed significant sums other than one person who had previously given us a one off donation of £3k. This equates to 22% of entire monies raised in 2012 and it’s a 22% increase on 2011. For return on investment it has been phenomenal, plus it has made my job so much easier! I have also really appreciated your generosity with ongoing ad hoc support whenever I have a question.”

Hannah Weisfeld, CEO, Yachad

 “Ilana has been working with TheGivingLab on strategic consulting projects which share a common theme of researching and understanding donor and beneficiaries needs and shaping charities fundraising and digital strategies to meet those audience needs and charities to reach their strategic objectives.

Ilana brings her considerable experience, intellect and enthusiasm to each of these projects. Her collaborative approach combined with a desire to unpick the most challenging strategic questions using data and other evidence has helped deliver some strong work to our customers, who have gone on to implement the recommendations. The best result of all.”

Dominic Vallely, Director, TheGivingLab

Ilana's approach to teaching about fundraising made this formidable effort incredibly accessible to our members. Her coaching would benefit any organization looking to empower lay leaders and professionals alike with new development skills.

David Singer, National Director of Limmud North America

“In the 8 years I worked with Ilana, she taught me so much about fundraising.

Ilana stands out as a creative thinker, always challenging approaches and coming up with fresh, clever ideas to get results. She understands so well how an organisation needs to work together fundraise effectively, and how to motivate teams to make this happen.

Ilana has an impressive track record of developing and delivering multi-million pound partnerships. This is in large part due to her impressive ability to engage donors with a cause and to keep them motivated and inspired.

Any charity needing, a clear fundraising strategy and an understanding of how to deliver it would benefit from Ilana’s expertise.”

Emma Buttle-Smith, Fundraising Manager, NSPCC

“Clearly extremely experienced in fundraising strategy, Ilana is an excellent workshop leader and consultant. She conducted a thought-provoking, creative and engaging fundraising training session for Tzedek – a charity with quite an original fundraising proposition – that left us all enlighted and inspired. I recommend her highly.”

Frances Fogel, Trustee at Tzedek 

“Ilana presented at an Innovation In Fundraising event hosted by Guess2Give to a group of 40 charity attendees.

She confidently and engagingly presented on Innovation in the Charity sector which resulted in great feedback scores from the group.

I would definitely work with Ilana again and recommend her for her experience and knowledge in the charity sector.”

Mark Chandler, Director & Founder, Guess2Give