CauseCortex
Your cause runs on trust.
CauseCortex is BrandCortex for nonprofits, charities and foundations. It reads your whole organization with your cause at the center, from the people who fund you to the people you serve, every part connected both ways.
Sound familiar?
Does this sound like you?
“Donors give once, then go quiet.”
“Most of our money comes from one funder, and that keeps me up at night.”
“Our stories move people. Our reports don’t.”
“We’re doing more than ever, and running out of cash faster.”
“The board hears the good news. I’m not sure it hears the rest.”
“Volunteers come for the cause and leave because of how we run things.”
The problem
A cause is a promise to two groups at once.
A nonprofit promises help to the people it serves, and results to the people who pay for that help. Both groups are watching. A donor who reads a moving appeal, then a thin annual report, starts to wonder. A family promised support who gets a waiting list tells others.
Most charities keep these in separate places: fundraising in one, programs in another, finance and governance in a third. CauseCortex reads them together, so a choice in one place is checked against what it does to the rest.
What it looks at
What CauseCortex looks at
Where your money comes from
How much rests on one funder, one event or one grant cycle, and what happens if it stops.
What donors are told and what the work shows
The gap between your appeals, your reports and what happens on the ground.
Why donors stay or leave
Who gives again, who doesn’t, and what they heard from you in between.
Cash and reserves
How long you could keep going, and which costs grow faster than income.
Governance and records
What your board sees, how decisions are signed off, and where a gap could become a headline.
Partners, suppliers and volunteers
The people who carry your name when you’re not in the room.
Both ways
Trust brings the next gift. A gap between what you say and what you do costs more than one donor: it reaches funders, partners, regulators and the press. Good governance is fundraising nobody sees.
Real case
When this goes wrong
Kids Company
The London children’s charity Kids Company received at least £46 million in public funding, £42 million of it in central government grants. UK officials raised concerns about its cash flow and financial management at least six times between 2002 and 2015, and it never became able to run without government help. It closed on 5 August 2015 and was wound up as insolvent, with the loss of about 650 jobs.
BrandCortex has no connection with the organization named. Sources are linked in the box.
Who it’s for
Who it’s for
Charities and nonprofits of any size
Foundations and grant-makers
Social enterprises
Community, faith and membership groups
School, college and hospital fundraising teams
Every read
What you get from a read
What we found
The problem behind the problem, in plain words.
What to do first
Moves in order, each with what it should change.
How sure we are
Every finding says how strong its evidence is.
What we don’t know
The gaps, in gray, with the data that would close them.
FAQ
Questions
Can a small charity afford this?
It depends on your needs. Book a free 20-minute meeting and we’ll tell you plainly whether we can help, and what a first read would look at.
Is this a fundraising campaign?
No. CauseCortex reads funding, programs, governance and reputation together. A better appeal may come out of it, but it isn’t the starting point.
Will you share what we tell you with our funders?
No. Your data stays yours. We use it only to build your picture, and we never sell it.
Do you work outside the United States?
Yes. We work with clients anywhere in the world.
Where is your trust thinnest?
Start there. In 20 minutes we’ll tell you whether we can help, and what a first read would look at.