{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Build Your Own Boat","title":"How to Start a Nonprofit Consulting Business After 50: Ashley Kasprzak on Building Partners for Purpose","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2205,"description":"Episode Summary\nWondering whether decades of nonprofit experience can become a business you own? This episode answers that directly. After 25-plus years leading healthcare philanthropy, arts, and community development organizations, Ashley Kasprzak launched her own nonprofit fundraising consulting practice, AK Consulting / Partners for Purpose, in late 2023 — and this conversation walks through exactly how she did it.\nHost Janine Vanderburg and Ashley cover the practical mechanics most people skip: finding a first client through old professional relationships, setting up an S-Corp and payroll through QuickBooks, projecting cash flow, handling late-paying clients, and getting free bookkeeping through a Small Business Development Center partnership. They also talk honestly about self-doubt, the temptation to go back to a \"real job,\" running a solo business through a health crisis with no paid leave, and why AI cannot replace an expert who knows what documents a nonprofit is missing. Ashley also shares Purpose Framework, the SaaS product she is building with her son to help nonprofits store policies and follow best practices.\nKey Takeaways\nYour first client often comes from your existing network, not marketing. Ashley announced her new practice on Facebook and a former client from 15 years earlier reached out to become her first customer — a reminder that relationships built over a career are a founder's most reliable pipeline.\nSet up the \"boring\" financial infrastructure early. Ashley recommends forming an S-Corp, putting yourself on payroll through QuickBooks, projecting cash flow weekly, and budgeting for estimated taxes so a year-end tax bill never catches you off guard.\nAI cannot replace expert judgment in nonprofit fundraising. Ask AI to build a fund development handbook and it may return 3 of the 20 policies a nonprofit actually needs (gift acceptance, in-kind donation, term limits, and more). Expertise is knowing what is missing — \"you don't know what you...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/bQsbNia0IsmMmK-_EAZWTPLH0_5ooXLhZABkhXi9Cis/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zMjY3/NTllZmQ4ZTljNzVj/NTZmNzZiZTMzMmIy/ODBlNC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}