About Us
Dan Kirsch
Dan has spent more than 20 years as resource development specialist, manager, consultant and volunteer for education, the arts, and social services. He has planned and managed capital campaigns with goals from $12 million to $112 million, built and mentored fund raising teams, restructured fund raising operations, managed portfolios of high net worth donors, and coached nonprofit executives and senior volunteers. Dan specializes in working with organizations in transition to establish or revitalize their donor programs. He has also launched entrepreneurial ventures to serve nonprofits’ fund raising and hiring needs and to help professionals transitioning to new careers in the nonprofit sector.
Dan has served in executive development roles for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, School of Education, New England Conservatory of Music, Pine Manor College, Treehouse Foundation, and Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. His consulting clients have included Northeastern University, Treehouse Boston/Imagine A Future, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Safe Passage, Community Partners, Inc., and Pine Manor College.
Dan serves on the board of the Friends of Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. He has also worked with the Pioneer Institute’s Development Initiative capacity building program for new charter schools and was a member of the founding board of KIPP Boston Academy Charter School. Dan received his Bachelors degree from Dartmouth College.
Ellen Leuchs
Ellen’s 20-year career in development and fund raising has encompassed work in social services, higher education, and health care. She has managed multi-million dollar campaigns, bringing in hard-to-reach donors, cultivating and soliciting new major gift prospects, and stewarding long-term supporters. She specializes in rejuvenating the individual giving programs of small, mid-size, and large organizations by developing donor relationships of integrity and instituting appropriate infrastructure and planning. Ellen has extensive experience working with philanthropic individuals and organizational leaders to strategize effective giving programs.
Ellen has held senior management positions in development and advancement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Antioch University New England, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and Safe Horizon (Victim Services, Inc.) in New York. She also played key fund raising roles at the Minority Task Force on AIDS and Henry Street Settlement, both in New York.
Ellen has consulted with an array of not-for-profits in New England and New York including Tapestry Health, Community Partners, Inc., the Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Love Heals: The Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education. She holds a Bachelors degree from Columbia College of Columbia University.