Business Impact NW client builds consulting firm with a fundraising focus
Successful fundraising events require careful, strategic planning from idea to execution. When you attend, your experience should be seamless and make you feel valued, and you should see how the hosting organization’s mission and vision fit into every part of the event.
That’s where SEG Consulting owner Samantha Gotkin comes in. For more than 15 years, she’s worked in fundraising for nonprofit organizations. In June 2015, she decided to use her talents to make a difference for more organizations. She quit her job and dove in.
“It was a big step, because I didn’t really have a solid plan,” said Samantha. As the main support for her family, she quickly decided she needed expert advice on how to build a business.
Samantha found Business Impact NW’s Washington Women’s Business Center (WWBC) through a web search. After attending an orientation session, she began to work with Jennifer Teehan, WWBC director and business coach.
“Jennifer helped me further develop my business plan and define my scope of work more concretely,” said Samantha. “She asked the right questions to get me thinking more specifically about my service model, fee structure and branding.”
SEG Consulting officially launched in July, just a month after that first big step and now serves a variety of nonprofits and corporations.
“I develop and manage a wide range of events,” said Samantha. “I typically support organizations to develop their revenue streams through sponsorship campaigns. I also direct the event planning process from start to finish to build a great guest experience.”
Samantha works to help her clients build a long-term strategy to meet fundraising goals. That includes analyzing needs and resources, assessing the organization’s capabilities, and building volunteer and board capacity.
That capacity building is important to Samantha. “It’s rewarding to work with organizations to help them be more effective. I love to work with numbers and timelines, so helping people use those tools is a big part of increasing their capacity.”
Recently, Samantha worked with the Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County, a repeat client, to produce the annual Economic Forecast Conference. She’s currently working with Business Impact NW to plan a 10-year anniversary event for WWBC. She’s again working with Jennifer, but this time, Samantha is the adviser.
As SEG’s first anniversary approaches, Samantha said, “I love that I get to deal with a wide variety of events and clients. It’s still scary, and there are never-ending business development tasks, but I feel like I’m in a place where I can be creative and have a good work/life balance. I have the freedom to schedule work so I can spend time with my seven-year-old son.”
Visit the Women’s Business Center for more stories and information: https://www.businessimpactnw.org/wbc/
About the author
Tina Christiansen
Fueled by large amounts of coffee and driven by the need to make communication clear, Write as Rain founder and wordsmith Tina Riss Christiansen is fulfilling her destiny. Long known for her voracious reading, Tina has turned a life-long love for words into a career. A graduate of the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in communications, Tina has also earned certificates in integrated marketing communications and in nonfiction writing, both from the University of Washington.