You don’t need a vendor.
You need a partner.
Nonprofits are mission-driven organizations doing important work — often with lean teams, tight budgets, and no room for error. The last thing you need is a designer who misses deadlines, ignores brand guidelines, or delivers work that makes your organization look like less than it is.
I’ve spent years working alongside nonprofits — on branding, publications, annual reports, event materials, fundraising campaigns, and multi-year design relationships. My wife has worked in the nonprofit sector for over a decade. I understand this world from the inside — the stakeholder dynamics, the budget conversations, the mission-first mindset — and I bring that understanding to every project.
What I hear most from nonprofit clients: they found someone they can finally trust to get the job done. Clearly. Correctly. Without the drama.
Finding good design help shouldn’t be this hard.
The design landscape is crowded with practitioners who are self-taught, underqualified, and willing to charge aggressively for work that doesn’t hold up. Nonprofits, often working without dedicated design staff, end up cycling through unreliable vendors, rebuilding brand assets from scratch, or settling for work that undersells the mission they’ve spent years building.
I’ve seen what that looks like firsthand — inconsistent brand materials, poorly prepared print files, missed deadlines that derail event timelines, designers who disappear mid-project. Every project at Northern Toad, regardless of size or budget, gets the same level of attention and craft. A small event flyer and a multi-year publication both reflect on me. I take that seriously.
What working with me
actually looks like.
I’ve navigated the full range of nonprofit organizational structures — from nimble two-person communications teams to multi-stakeholder environments with board oversight and executive approval processes. I know how to move a project forward efficiently without steamrolling the people who need to be part of the decision.
Reliability
Deadlines aren’t suggestions. If I commit to a timeline, I deliver on it. Clear communication throughout, no chasing required.
Brand Fluency
I can pick up your existing brand guidelines and run with them immediately. No lengthy onboarding, no relearning your visual identity from scratch every project.
Real-World Skill
17+ years of professional design experience across print, digital, packaging, and publication. Not a side hustle. Not a hobby. A career.
Genuine Investment
I care about the broader nonprofit ecosystem — and the missions behind it. This isn’t just a market segment to me. It’s work that matters.
A full range of design services —
whatever your mission needs.
Nonprofits rarely need just one thing. They need a designer who can show up across every touchpoint — from the annual report that goes to major donors to the event program printed the week of the gala.
- Brand identity and rebranding
- Annual reports and year-in-review publications
- Educational publications and book series
- Event materials — programs, signage, advertisements, invitations
- Newsletters and donor communications
- Fundraising and capital campaign materials
- Digital assets for web and social
- Print collateral — brochures, postcards, signage
Whether you need a long-term design partner or support on a single project, I can meet you where you are. No project is too small to be done well.
A multi-year partnership
in publishing.
One of my most meaningful nonprofit engagements was a multi-year collaboration to design, layout, and produce an entire educational book series — delivered across standard print, large-print, and digital ebook formats. The project required deep consistency across a growing body of work, meticulous typographic detail, accessibility considerations for large-print production, and the kind of long-range thinking that only comes from a designer who’s genuinely invested in the outcome.
It’s the kind of project that only works when trust is established early and maintained over time. That’s the relationship I aim to build with every nonprofit client I work with.
Design help that
respects your budget.
I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all pricing — and I especially don’t believe in taking advantage of organizations doing important work on constrained budgets. For nonprofit clients, I offer adjusted rates that reflect the reality of mission-driven work without compromising the quality of what gets made.
Every engagement is scoped individually. Whether you need a single deliverable or an ongoing design partner, we’ll find a structure — hourly, project-based, or retainer — that works for your organization.
Your mission deserves design that honors it.
If you’ve been burned by unreliable designers, frustrated by work that missed the mark, or simply exhausted from managing vendors who require more than they deliver — I’d like to have a conversation.
I’m not the right fit for every organization. But if you need a seasoned, responsive, genuinely invested design partner who will show up for your mission the way your team does — let’s talk.
Not sure what you need yet? That’s what the first call is for. No pressure, no pitch — just a conversation.
Start the Conversation