Poonam Prasad

Founder and President
Prasad Consulting & Research

Poonam Prasad is Founder and President of Prasad Consulting & Research, a national fundraising consulting and prospect research firm based in New York City. Poonam established the firm in the late 1980s, when nonprofits were facing drastic public funding cuts, to help charities attract private philanthropic dollars. Since then, she has helped raise billions of dollars for nonprofits to advance the education, environment, culture, human rights, social services, medicine and other sectors locally, nationally and internationally.

A pioneer in helping organizations craft strategies for individuals and groups with diverse cultural values and sensitivities, Poonam has worked on campaigns targeted specifically to African American, Hispanic, South Asian, Chinese, Dutch American, Scandinavian, Sephardic, Turkish American, LGBTQ,elderly, and female populations.

A highly sought after teacher and author, Poonam is on the Faculty of the Master of Science in Nonprofit Management program at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies and previously served as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University's George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising for 15 years, training and mentoring a vast network of fundraisers, many of whom hold senior fundraising positions across the country today. Curriculum she has developed includes workshops on how to identify and work with prospects and donors of diverse backgrounds. She also edited and contributed to a special issue of Connections, the professional journal of Apra (formerly the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement). Focused on developing Diverse Constituencies, the issue was the only edition ever to be reprinted due to popular demand. She has also written for and been profiled in numerous other professional journals including those of New York University and the international Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and published poetry and prose in periodicals around the world.

Additionally, Poonam is on the board of the Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Nonprofits, which sponsors the Giving USA survey, an annual benchmark in the field of philanthropy. She also serves on the board of the Greater New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Ms. Prasad is a past President of Women In Development, New York, a professional association that during her tenure, soared to its highest membership in more than 25 years in the midst of a recession, contrary to the experience at other membership organizations. A new higher President's Council level was also established and reached its membership goal within the first year. The organization’s annual Women of Achievement Luncheon transformed from its least well-attended, money-losing luncheon to its signature event.

Previously, she was co-chair of National Philanthropy Day in New York, an annual event hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, during which time the net revenue from the event more than doubled. She also initiated the first Prospect Research & Development Track at AFP's annual Fundraising Day New York Conference (the largest one-day conference on philanthropy in the country) and has coordinated it every year since then. She also previously served on the international board of Apra, during which time she launched its first Virtual Seminar series. Additionally, she is a former Board member and Chair of the 25th Anniversary Committee of the New York Women’s Agenda.

Overseas, she has served on and led the boards and committees of numerous nonprofits and associations. She served as Treasurer of the Seoul International Women’s Association in South Korea, was recognized for service to the Rotary Club of Calcutta Midwest in India, and was honored by the US Ambassador while President of the American Women’s Group of Jamaica.

Poonam began her career as an investigative reporter and worked as a magazine editor, advertising copywriter, radio host and news correspondent in India, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Caribbean before transitioning to fundraising for nonprofits. She brings those abilities, including a nose for news hooks, audience, reader and constituency development, as well as the ability to understand, empathize and work with people of every ethnicity and background, to her consulting work with nonprofits.