Long Holland Strategies helps organizations and leaders unlock opportunities, power creativity, and catalyze social change.

Sarah Long Holland is a fundraiser, communicator, and strategic thinker.

As principal of Long Holland Strategies, Sarah helps her clients distill clarity from complexity, tell compelling stories, and generate transformative funding. Based in Chicago, Sarah serves clients nationwide.

Drawing on Sarah’s cross-sector experience in the arts, public health, higher education, corporate finance, and foundation philanthropy, Long Holland Strategies offers scalable services tailored to each client’s needs.

Sarah is equally dedicated to practical planning and thinking outside the box. She delights in turning problems on their heads and finding the opportunities amidst the challenges. With insight, vision, and pragmatism, Sarah supports powerful transformation that generates new capacity for growth.

white graphic element
abstract yellow pattern
Sarah Long Holland headshot

I am endlessly curious to find the connections between great ideas and the resources to bring them to life. I believe that listening is a fundraiser’s—and indeed any leader’s—most powerful tool. Listening awakens curiosity. Curiosity awakens possibilities.

Photo credit: Sean T. McGill Photography

HOW WE WORK

Long Holland Strategies came into being in 2021, to help arts organizations tap into emergency funding and stabilize their resources amidst major pandemic disruptions. As the practice has grown to encompass fundraising strategy, organizational change management, writing projects, and advisory services, these questions drive the work:

  • How do we articulate vision when the landscape is rapidly evolving?

  • What skills are needed to cultivate agility that unlocks opportunity?

  • What drives our success?

Long Holland Strategies helps you hone your vision, crystallize your plans, and tell stories that sing.

  • Fundraising plans succeed in the context of effective organizational strategy - an essential tool as we navigate an ever-evolving environment. I help clients develop strategic plans, logic models, and other tools to help them articulate and communicate how they execute their missions, change the lives of the people they serve, and create broader impact in their communities.

  • The stories we tell unlock opportunities. The words we use matter. I help clients tell compelling stories and illuminate their impact in long- and short-form writing, including grant proposals, donor briefs, campaign case statements, individual donor appeals, funder reports, web copy, social media posts, and more. Every organization has a unique and powerful impact. I help you shine a light on yours.

  • Raising more money is not just about writing good proposals. It’s also about finding new funding opportunities, understanding alignment with donors’ priorities, and developing relationships. For grants, capital campaigns, and major gifts planning, I help clients organize existing leads, discover new leads through in-depth prospect research, build relationship cultivation strategies, and craft step-by-step action plans to achieve fundraising success.

  • Nonprofit leaders work hard, and fundraising is hard work. Sometimes you need a thought partner and a sounding board. I coach nonprofit leaders and teams, provide fundraising staffing assessments, offer trainings for staff, board, and other key groups, and collaborate to help organizations understand their strengths, build their capacity, and generate momentum to accomplish their goals.

  • "Insightful. Precise. Holistic. Sarah has enabled us to uncover opportunities for synergy in transformative ways, sharply elevating our organization’s points of strength and differentiation, while engaging strategically with our challenges.”

    Andrés Holder
    Executive Director, Boston Children’s Chorus

  • "Sarah is one of the most talented development professionals with whom we have had the pleasure to work. She works directly with her clients to build a strong vision, with proven success. I cannot recommend working with Sarah highly enough."

    Dr. Ciyadh Wells
    Executive Director, Castle of our Skins

  • “Sarah’s counsel as a board member and trusted advisor has been invaluable. Her understanding of the funding landscape, both micro and macro, combined with her strategic vision, has significantly shaped our approach to securing sustainable funding.”

    Sallyann Kluz
    Executive Director, Shiftworks Community + Public Arts

  • “From fundraising strategy to project management to copy editing, cat-herding, or graphics review, Sarah is as expert at crafting the big picture as she is at managing the nuances. She's an absolute pro and I would work with her 10 out of 10 times!”

    Cyrus P. Dahmubed
    Board Member, Boston Children's Chorus
    Director of Research, Utile, Inc.

Clients and Collaborators

purple and navy pinwheel graphic element

Let’s get started.