About — Apollo Advancement

I’ve spent twenty years in nonprofit leadership, communications, and fundraising — and somewhere along the way, I learned something most people find hard to believe: I love fundraising.

At heart, fundraising is the deeply human art of finding people who genuinely care about the mission of meaningful nonprofits like yours, building real relationships with them, and inviting them into the story of how your organization is changing lives.

I came to this work sideways — through philosophy, theatre, teaching, running an independent school. I’ve led teams of up to 30, starred as Hamlet, directed plays, directed choirs, trained in martial arts, gardened, and kept bees. If it’s real and human, I’m interested.

Most recently, as headmaster of a small academy, I built a fundraising program from scratch while also teaching and running the school. In one year, I grew the donor base from 50 to over 300 and more than doubled annual revenue to over $600,000. It wasn’t a strategy exercise — it was an act of love for an institution and the people in it.

That’s the approach I bring to every client: relationships first and stories that matter. Invite people as partners into the story of your mission, and the results follow. It works. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.

How I Work

Listen before I strategize. Write before I pitch. Build things that last.

I am not the consultant who flies in, drops a binder, and bills you for the privilege. I sit at your table. I learn the names of your board members and the stories of your founders. I care about your mission not because you’re paying me to, but because I choose to work with organizations whose missions I genuinely believe in.

I also bring skills that most fundraising consultants don’t. I’m a writer — of fiction, of poetry, of cases for support that people can’t put down. I understand storytelling not as a marketing buzzword but as the oldest and most powerful technology humans have for moving one another to action. When I build your donor communications, they sound like a human being wrote them. Because one did.

Why Apollo?

Named for the god of music, poetry, light, and truth.

The organizations I serve are the ones that make human life richer. Arts organizations that create beauty. Schools that form young minds. Community organizations that hold people together in an age that seems determined to pull them apart.

I believe these organizations matter more now than they ever have. In a world increasingly divided by anger, and mediated by screens and algorithms, it’s the choir rehearsal, the live performance, the classroom conversation, and the community gathering that remind us how to be human. They deserve fundraising that honours that.

The Rest of the Story

A full life makes you better at everything.

When I’m not building fundraising programs, I’m powerlifting, writing fiction, playing piano, singing, or reading whatever I can get my hands on. I’ve trained in multiple martial arts. I’ve performed on stage. I’m a proud father of truly amazing children. I believe that a full life makes you better at everything, including fundraising — because fundraising, at its core, is about understanding people. What moves them. What they care about. Why they give.

I live in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario with my family. I work with non-profits across Canada and the United States.