Nonprofit Fractional CMO Services
Marketing and Fundraising Leadership, From One Fractional CMO
Most fractional CMOs have never run a fundraising campaign. Most fundraising consultants have never built a marketing plan. With Seven & Associates, you get one leader who has done both.
Seven & Associates · Santa Clarita, California · Serving nonprofits across Los Angeles and the US
Lonna Gibson
MARKETING
Strategy + Messaging
Built to Drive Growth
FUNDRAISING
Donor Strategy + Campaigns
Built to Grow Support
30+
YEARS IN NONPROFIT
Experience from Start-Ups
to Multi-Million-Dollar Organizations
What is a Fractional CMO for a nonprofit?
I work as your part-time senior strategist. I lead your marketing, messaging, and fundraising, ten to twenty hours a month, without another full-time hire. I call it a Fractional CMO+. Most fractional CMOs stop at marketing. In a nonprofit, the two are one job.
A Fractional CMO leads your marketing
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Owns strategy and priorities
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Builds the messaging your team uses
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Directs staff, contractors, and vendors
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Keeps execution aligned to the plan
The + Connects It To Fundraising
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Shapes fundraising strategy and campaigns
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Guides donor messaging and engagement
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Advises development staff and leadership
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Aligns fundraising with the marketing plan
What this is not
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Not another pair of hands waiting for assignments
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Not a marketing coordinator managing daily tasks
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Not an agency selling you a package of deliverables
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Not grant writing, event production, or direct major gift solicitation
This is senior-level leadership that gives your team the strategy, direction, and accountability to execute with confidence.
What working with a Fractional CMO looks like
Month 1
Strategy + Priorities
Clarify where growth is getting stuck, align marketing and fundraising goals, identify the audiences that matter most, and establish the priorities your team will work from.
Month 2
Messaging +
Campaign Alignment
Build the core messaging your organization can use consistently across marketing and fundraising, then align your campaign and donor communication plan around it.
Month 3
Execution + Optimization
Put the strategy into motion with your team, establish the KPIs that matter, review what is working, and adjust priorities based on results.
After Month 3, I stay alongside your team as a fractional strategic leader, keeping marketing, messaging, and fundraising aligned as priorities, campaigns, and opportunities change.
About 2 hours a month from you
Six-month minimum
Most run 12 to 18 months
When a Fractional CMO is the right call — and when it is not
The right call when...
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Marketing keeps landing on the executive director’s desk.
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Your marketing and fundraising teams are working from different plans.
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You have capable people who can execute, but no senior leader setting direction.
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You’re trying plenty of tactics, but they aren’t connected to a clear growth strategy.
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A key marketing, communications, or development leader left, and you need experienced leadership without rushing into another full-time hire.
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Your fundraising has plateaued, and doing more of the same isn’t moving the organization forward.
The wrong call when...
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You primarily need someone to write, post, and execute daily marketing tasks.
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You need grant writing, event production, or direct major-gift solicitation.
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Your leadership team still needs to align on the organization’s overall direction before building a marketing and fundraising growth strategy.
How This is Different...
What You Need | Full-Time Marketing Leader | Fundraising Consultant | Large Agency / Firm | Seven & Associates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Employment model | Full-time employment | Consultant/project | Agency/retainer | Part-time executive |
Senior marketing leadership | Yes | Not typically | Varies by scope | Yes |
Fundraising strategy | Not typically | Primary focus | Not typically | Yes |
Aligns marketing + fundraising | Varies by experience | Fundraising focused | Marketing focused | Core focus |
Leads your existing team | Yes | May advise development team | Varies by scope | Yes |
Builds organization-wide messaging | Yes | May advise donor messaging | Often project-based | Yes |
Works with executive leadership + board | Yes | As needed | Not typically | Yes |
Ongoing strategic direction | Yes | Varies by engagement | Varies by scope | Yes |
The difference is integration: one senior strategist connecting the marketing, messaging, and fundraising decisions your team is already making.
Lonna Gibson
Seven & Associates CEO
Nonprofit Fractional CMO Services
StoryBrand Certified Guide
Duct Tape Certified Marketing Advisor
Veritus Major Gifts Training
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Greater San Fernando Valley Board Member
30+ years in the nonprofit sector
Nonprofit Fractional CMO Services
A Fractional CMO who has run the fundraising campaign too
I spent years inside nonprofits. I know what happens when the strategy isn’t clear and marketing and fundraising aren’t working from the same plan.
The team works harder... more events, emails, campaigns, ideas.
But more activity doesn’t fix a leadership and alignment problem.
That experience shaped how I work with nonprofits today.
I believe the order matters: strategy first, then messaging, then marketing and fundraising working together.
Because when those pieces align, your team knows what to prioritize, your message stays consistent, and your fundraising has a stronger foundation to grow from.
That’s the role I bring to your organization: senior strategic leadership that connects the pieces and helps your team move forward with clarity.
What Nonprofit Leaders Say
About Working With Us.
"Lonna delivered more in a few weeks than another agency had in six months, at a fraction of the cost. She pulled off straight-up miracles. Because of Seven and Associates, we launched with excellence and I finally feel confident in our brand. Their team is knowledgeable, efficient, and they care deeply about their clients. There is genuine strategy, thoughtfulness, and intention behind everything they do. I am so incredibly grateful to have found them."
Laura Tortora, Executive Director
Aid The Way
The conversation is free. We’ll look at where your marketing, messaging, and fundraising are getting disconnected, what needs attention first, and which option fits your stage.
Working with Seven & Associates has felt less like hiring a marketing agency and more like gaining a strategic partner who genuinely cares about the mission behind the work."
Kari Phillipps
Executive Director
RISE SCV Foundation
What Nonprofit Leaders Ask Before They Book...
What is a fractional CMO+?
A fractional CMO+ for a nonprofit is a senior level marketing leader who works with your organization on a part-time or contract basis instead of joining your staff as a full-time executive. But this isn't just another marketing consultant. A fractional CMO+ helps set the direction: clarifying your audience and message, building the marketing strategy, prioritizing what your team should be doing, overseeing execution, and making sure marketing supports your fundraising and organizational goals. That distinction matters. You don't need another strategy deck sitting on a shelf. You need a marketing system your team can actually run, and leadership that helps install it.
How does a fractional CMO+ engagement work, and how long does it last?
A strong fractional CMO+ engagement starts by understanding where you are before prescribing more tactics. At Seven & Associates, the scope is built around your goals, team, and stage of growth. That can include strategy, messaging, marketing, fundraising, team and vendor leadership, campaign oversight, and ongoing accountability. Some organizations need a focused strategy engagement; others need ongoing executive marketing leadership. Across the fractional CMO market, engagements commonly run for several months, with six to twelve months frequently cited, because there needs to be enough time to diagnose the problem, build the system, put it into practice, and improve it.
How much does nonprofit marketing and fundraising consulting cost in Los Angeles?
At Seven & Associates, ongoing fractional CMO+ retainers currently range from $4,000 to $15,000 per month, depending on the level of leadership and support your organization needs. But if that isn't the right investment for your organization right now, the answer isn't to force a retainer, or keep throwing money at disconnected marketing tactics. Sometimes the right starting point is a focused strategy, fundraising, or messaging engagement that solves the highest-priority problem first. The goal is to build the right infrastructure in the right order, so your next marketing and fundraising dollars have something solid to stand on. Seven & Associates currently offers fixed-scope strategy, fundraising, and messaging services in addition to ongoing fractional CMO+ support.
Who is a fractional CMO+ for?
A fractional CMO+ is a good fit for an organization that needs experienced marketing leadership but isn’t ready to hire a full-time marketing executive. Maybe your marketing or communications leader recently left and you need someone to step in and keep things moving. Maybe your team is growing, but no one is leading the big-picture marketing strategy. Or maybe you have great people doing the work, but they need experienced leadership, direction, and support. As your fractional CMO+, I step into that leadership role without the cost of hiring a full-time executive. You get 30 years of nonprofit, marketing, and fundraising experience to help guide your strategy, lead your team, and make sure your marketing supports your fundraising and growth goals. It’s a flexible way to get ongoing senior-level leadership when you need it most.