I’m Susan Hanifin, and I started bespoke data & design to bring decades of advancement services, design, and managerial experience to support you and your team whenever you need it.

I specialize in the architecture, optimization, and day-to-day management of complex fundraising ecosystems, with expert-level proficiency in Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge and NXT. My advancement services background provided me opportunities to conduct CRM systems assessments, database implementations, system configurations, and data migrations. I build foundational data structures that maximize fundraising efficiency, including templates for reporting, moves management infrastructure, audience segmentation rubrics, and scaffolding for all strategic programs. I have experienced firsthand how leveraging integrations with partner platforms like Omatic, Red Arc Letterbox, and NetSuite can bridge gaps between finance, stewardship, and operations. Day to day, I’ve cleared some impressive gift-entry backlogs, cleaned up all manner of things in constituent records, and, in the hope of saving some trees, made sure a family with five alumni children received one magazine per household. In Advancement, every byte matters, and your data team is doing God’s work.

During my 23-year tenure working in independent schools, I developed skills in layout and graphic design, audience management, content strategy, writing, and editing. I am proficient in the Adobe Creative Suite and have worked with most web platforms over the years. I love adding user-friendly functionality to traditional web environments or enabling content sharing across multiple platforms.

While most of my data chops complement fundraising strategy, one of my favorite nerdy pursuits is compiling and managing complex data sets. Engaged trustees are often interested in learning how their organization stacks up among its peers and may appreciate receiving a comparative data set and analysis around specific metrics of success.

Apart from the long-winded recap of my professional endeavors, like you, I am a non-profit person at heart. Like the people they serve, every non-profit organization has unique values and failings, superpowers and blind spots, histories and futures, good and bad days. The opportunity to serve them is our version of “soul craft”. I would love to meet and support your talented team.