It falls naturally to the leadership of any organization to decide when and in what areas outside expertise is needed to reach their goals. Many large nonprofit organizations—even those with full-time development staffing—rely heavily on consultants for fundraising and other specialized services. Many small and mid-size organizations feel that they cannot afford such services. The real question is not whether they can afford outside professional help, but rather whether they can afford not to have it, given their needs and goals. A consultant offers advice, perspective, motivation, skills, tools, and time that most nonprofit administrators cannot take to solve their own problems. Beyond all of this, fundraising is a highly technical field, particularly in critical areas such as planned giving. A qualified fundraising consultant not only provides such vital technical expertise, but also generally pays for his or her services many times over with money that the organization can raise above and beyond that which it could raise without professional help. Experience has shown that charities who attempt to raise significant money without professional counsel fall short of their fundraising potential by as much as 40 percent! In the decision to engage a professional consultant, the central question is: “How important is it that we reach our goals?”