“When Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue (HNF&R), a not-for-profit corporation providing fire fighting and emergency medical services to the mainland portion of Harpswell, recognized the need to raise hundreds of thousands dollars for the purchase of capital equipment, the Board of Directors turned to Ronnie Weston for guidance and assistance in running a Capital Campaign. Ronnie’s advice and coordination of the campaign was fabulous over the year-long effort that netted over $280,000 from a community of just 1700 people. This capital fund continues to grow to insure HNF&R personnel are fully-equipped to continue to provide their vital services to the community!”

“It was amazing working with Bull Moose Group during our scholarship campaign for asylum seekers to raise $2 million to establish a long-lasting investment. This was the largest campaign we had ever run, and I wasn’t sure how to begin. We set a goal of $1 million, but as soon as we identified the Bull Moose Group team, we doubled the goal to $2 million—and in the end, we exceeded it by $200,000. I don’t have any doubt that you were the right group at the right time for our project. I would recommend anybody looking for a consultant for fundraising or any campaign to reach out to Bull Moose Group.”

“It is a pleasure for me to tell you of my experiences working with Ronnie and Evan Weston (Bull Moose Group) on the $4 Million capital campaign for 317 Main Community Music Center. Some of the highlights of their work:

• They approached the task with an eagerness to understand what 317 Main was all about, and quickly identified with our mission and objectives.
• They have helped us organize our limited resources to maximize effectiveness, recommending tools that have been very helpful as the campaign has progressed.
• They have never been reluctant to tell us what we needed to do better and insist on working one-on-one with individual solicitors to help them hone their skills.
• They both have well-developed senses of humor which have come in handy on several occasions!”

“Ronnie Weston and Evan Weston are seasoned professionals in a consultancy niche – fund raising for non-profit organizations, and their capital campaigns, in particular.

They can take a group of well-meaning, but sometimes naïve “cats” and herd them into a savvy, smooth running fund raising machine.

As a business owner, consultant and veteran Board member of many organizations . I am watching this unfold before my eyes. I thought I knew my way around asking for money. BMG is showing me and my colleagues how it’s done; Humanely, Methodically and Effectively. They are extraordinary at what they do.

BMG does whatever it takes, to enable an organization to:

1. begin to discover itself
2. get to really know itself
3. enthusiastically like itself
4. behave so as to be more worthy of itself and its client communities thus
5. believing itself worthy of the support, and in particular the financial support, of individuals, foundations and corporations.

Ronnie and Evan have complementary interpersonal and organizational skill sets. They work their magic by imbedding themselves amongst the staff and the Board and all of the stakeholders. They roll up their sleeves. They are brutally frank and honest, always with utmost discretion. They make us better at what we do. Without any reservation, I say: “Hire these guys! You won’t regret it.”

“Ronnie has the ability to grasp the organization’s mission at its deepest level and help members build a development plan that reflects and promotes that mission. She quickly learns the external and internal contexts, then educates the leadership and committee members, increasing everyone’s awareness of both challenges and opportunities ahead. While being outstanding at conceptualizing the global challenge, she’s also adept at managing the details that can support or sink a campaign or ongoing development plan. She is smart, sophisticated about dealing with diverse others, and fully accountable. An additional benefit is that working with her is always fun!”

“Working with Bull Moose has dramatically accelerated the progress of our tiny nonprofit, allowing us to achieve a level of fundraising competence, and mission ambition, that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. They taught us how to make new friends and make the most of our reliationships.

From the beginning, Ronnie’s feasibility study and follow-up coaching was critical for our board and staff to understanding the organization’s readiness to undertake our first-ever capital campaign. She trained the team we had, and most critically helped us engage our network to assemble a strong capital campaign cabinet to lead the fundraising.

Halfway through the campaign, we had an unexpected leadership change at the top. At a moment of great uncertainty, Ronnie responded with sensitivity and dedication. She provided lots of structure and consultation to me as the new Executive Director so I could develop skills and confidence. She absolutely had my back. And in the end, we not only met our fundraising goal but exceeded it by a substantial amount.

Ronnie and Evan understand Maine’s philanthropy landscape very well and share their knowledge generously. Ronnie led our team repeatedly through the process of using our networks to secure introductions to leading prospective supporters. She was alert to emergent funding opportunities through foundations, and fed us a steady stream of leads to pursue. She always wanted us to do the work for ourselves, but she was a superb editor not only for her skill with language but her focus on the nuanced goals of each publication, and the mindset of the audience.

Critically, Bull Moose Group brought to our campaign the communications skills to help us attract savvy prospective supporters. We relied on their creative talent for graphic and web design that would make a great impression, as our in-house capacity was still quite limited. Ronnie also assisted us in designing a new staff position to take the baton and maintain high communications and development standards after the campaign.

Thanks to Bull Moose Group, Tedford Housing has transformed from a mom-and-pop nonprofit to an abundance-mindset agency. As we celebrate the accomplishment of raising $9.2M to build Tedford’s new home with expanded emergency shelters, we are deploying a new array of fundraising strategies to sustain our growth, and enable further safety net investments that are desperately needed in Maine’s southern midcoast region.”