Conversations with Paul D’Alessandro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul D’Alessandro.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My career started in international tax law after finishing law school. I was developing compensation and benefit plans for US expatriates and third-country nationals, which gave me great insight into people with wealth. During that time, I was traveling around the world with US multinationals as clients and was looking for something to keep me home more. At the same time, I got a call from the University of Notre Dame’s Advancement Office about whether I would be interested in working with a team to raise over $350 million for a capital campaign. Given my knowledge of wealth and my personal experience with Notre Dame, I thought I would give that a chance. What came from that was meeting some amazing philanthropists who cared about making a difference in other people’s lives.

At the end of the campaign, I joined a company of colleagues who left the university’s Advancement Office to form their own company. We took what we learned and created a successful fundraising model for educational institutions around the country. A short time thereafter, I started my own company in 1994 to do the same. It’s been an incredible journey in the last 30 years, and it’s taking me to do work in over 100 communities in the US and some international work helping charities and people globally. Along the way, I’ve continued to meet amazing people. I’ve seen abject poverty and disasters like Haiti’s earthquake, Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans, and apartheid villages in South Africa.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?

I doubt there’s ever a smooth road for anybody. If you get into a business and you survive for as long as I have, there are going to be periods of great joy, and there are going to be struggling. It’s inevitable. The economy and global events are just two things that impact donor thinking. When I started working with the University of Notre Dame, the market crashed in 1987. Since then, we’ve seen a lot, including the IPO bubble burst., 911, the Great Recession, and most recently, the pandemic.

I tell my clients that we problem-solve our way to the goal. There will always be something unforeseen that inevitably arises, and we have to address it. But it’s the ability to navigate through the storms of life that count and knowing that you will reach the goal you set for yourself as long as you stick to it and never give up.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I set out to become a lawyer, and by the age of 25, I was licensed to practice law in three states and had the idea of becoming a US congressman. Sometimes life does a course correction, and you find yourself doing something that you never knew was a career until you get involved with it. Most people in the fundraising consulting business never studied nonprofit work or fundraising. It is something that is learned through experience—at least in terms of relational fundraising.

I had a great corporate career path and thought long and hard about the nonprofit sector and what it meant for my future. I called a friend, and his counsel on doing for others and the greater good convinced me that this is the path I should take. My business started with three clients in three states and me traveling constantly. I first began helping educational institutions and built my business to the point where we did a roll-up with the company called Changing Our World. Another company purchased that company, and I exited and continued to build my consulting practice.

We have served organizations in the country’s educational, health, human services, faith-based, and arts sectors. I personally have been on over 4,000 donor visits and our firm has helped our clients collectively raise over $4 billion for charities.

I never stepped away from the practice of law entirely, and I continue to do legal work for a select number of clients with specific needs.

Lastly, I wrote a book on the future of fundraising and how the changes in technology, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and impact investing are changing how philanthropy will look in the coming years. The book is called the Future of Fundraising: How Philanthropy’s Future is Here with Donors Dictating the Terms. We’ve also created a playbook for nonprofits to understand the fundamentals of nonprofit fundraising and what donors are looking for in today’s environment.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?

The most important lessons that I’ve learned along my journey are:

1. Never give up. 2. There is a path forward, but it may require a course correction. 3. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. 4. Don’t listen to the naysayers who will tell you that you can’t do it. 5. Surround yourself with good people you can trust, and 6. Have fun with your work with the understanding that there will be some hard days, but there is always a rainbow at the end of every storm. Be encouraged.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.highimpactnonprofit.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highimpactnonprofit
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-d-alessandro-a737341/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/Future-Fundraising-Philanthropys-Donors-Dictating/dp/1736664700/