Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danielle Locke. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a customer success story with us?
One of the projects I’m most proud of is the $8.5 million capital campaign I led for Neighborhood Alliance, a primary health & human services agency…but it didn’t start as a campaign. It started in 2020, when their CEO, Alicia Foss, asked me to conduct a feasibility study. After interviewing stakeholders and digging into their donor data, I told her the truth: You’re not ready yet. They were doing incredible work, but they didn’t have the internal infrastructure or donor base needed to raise millions — not yet. I recommended nine clear steps to get ready including adding to their development team, improving their technology, cultivating stronger donor relationships, and more.
Alicia didn’t blink. She brought me in to help implement those steps, and together we bootstrapped what would become a transformational campaign. This wasn’t your traditional textbook campaign with a perfectly staged quiet phase. It was a small team turning over every rock — from Bureau of Workers’ Compensation safety grants to a $50,000 gift from St. Andrews Episcopal Church. From $500 match donations to $1 million from The Stocker Foundation (their largest gift in 40 years). We started with only a dozen or so major donors and locked them in quickly. Everything else, we built from scratch.
By mid-2021, Alicia landed the first $1 million in ARPA funds, and that’s when she asked me to stay on and lead the full campaign. I wasn’t trying to become a capital campaign consultant. But I was already in deep. I knew the staff. I knew the donors. And I believed in the mission with my whole heart. That’s actually how I choose who I work with. If I don’t feel connected to the mission, I feel it shows in my work, so I don’t fake it. But with Neighborhood Alliance, it was personal. They support the most vulnerable people in Lorain County — the county I grew up in — from men, women, and families in crisis, to early intervention for kids, to daily meals and support for seniors in every corner of the community.
Four years later, we’ve built a 9,000 sq ft expansion to their family shelter. We transformed an old YMCA locker room into a full commercial kitchen that now produces more than 400,000 meals annually. It wasn’t fancy. We did it through grit, trust and strategy. This is exactly the kind of work my team and I at Locke Step Partners specialize in: helping mid-sized nonprofits with limited fundraising capacity pull off big wins through smart strategy, hands-on support, and a clear roadmap. If you’ve got heart, vision, and a mission worth fighting for, we’ll help you find the dollars to match it!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hi! I’m Danielle Locke, your Nonprofit Success Partner, Founder and CEO of Locke Step Partners — and yes, that’s a real title, because “consultant” never quite cut it. I knew early on I didn’t want to be someone who just delivers a fancy plan that sits on a shelf collecting dust. I walk side by side with nonprofit leaders who are juggling fundraising, staff drama, board dynamics, budgeting, and about 47 other things before noon.
My mission? To empower them to shift from scrambling to scaling. I’ve raised tens of millions of dollars for organizations of all sizes — but more importantly, I’ve walked in their shoes. I’ve navigated the red tape and politics of the Cleveland Clinic, and I’ve also worked for organizations so small I literally built my own desk out of an old door and two filing cabinets. After working for both nonprofits and a funder, one thing became crystal clear: nonprofits don’t need more “shoulds” or “oughtas.” They need hands-on guidance and real support.
I was frustrated watching grant committees question the capacity of hardworking Executive Directors or award scholarships when the request was clearly for operating support. I remember thinking: If I could just take Frank by the hand and show him how to build systems and connect with his donors authentically, he could finally get off the gerbil wheel of grants and events.
That’s why I launched Locke Step Partners in 2018. Since then, my team and I have helped dozens of mission-driven organizations across Northeast Ohio and beyond. I’ve raised more than $8 million in capital funding, secured major grants and donations, built resilient fundraising systems for even the smallest teams, and helped nonprofit leaders finally fund their missions with confidence. My specialty? Helping mid-sized nonprofits with limited fundraising capacity pull off big, unexpected wins. Whether you need to reboot a stalled campaign, build a donor pipeline, or stop duct-taping your budget together — I’m here for it.
But it’s not just me anymore. I’ve built my team to respond to the real-world needs I see every day in the nonprofit sector. We have grant writers you can actually afford who help find and apply for foundation dollars — trust me, there’s more money out there. We have data pros who patiently clean up messy CRMs and get you back on track. And we have operations consultants who can help you strengthen programs, policies, HR, and more.
And here’s the thing: I don’t do fluff. If you’ve listened to my podcast, Fundraising Unfiltered, you know I serve up real talk, smart solutions, and laugh-out-loud stories that make you feel a little less alone. Nonprofit leadership is chaotic, awe-inspiring, gut-wrenching and often thankless. Today’s leaders deserve a partner who gets them and who knows how to get results. At the end of the day, we don’t just help nonprofits raise more money. We help leaders find clarity, build systems that actually work, and bring bold ideas to life. After raising millions for organizations of all sizes, here’s what I know to be true: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to leading your mission. Ignore the BS.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My entire journey — personally and professionally — has been shaped by resilience.
In 2018, I launched my company, Locke Step Partners, with a bold mission to help nonprofits fund their work without fear or burnout. But behind that launch was a whirlwind of personal challenges that tested me in every way. When my husband Bill and I met, life immediately threw us into the deep end. Just three weeks in, my mother’s cancer returned. That first year together was filled with ER visits and hospital runs. When Bill proposed Thanksgiving week 2013, we shared the news with my mom in her hospital room. She passed away that same night.
In 2014, my father was diagnosed with dementia. My sister, Bill and I managed six moves between assisted living and memory care facilities, countless care team meetings, and deeply personal moments, including bathing and changing my father as his health declined. He passed in 2020 from conditions related to Alzheimer’s. We also inherited the care for my younger brother, who was struggling with mental health and substance use.
Amidst all this, I launched Locke Step Partners in 2018. Bill worked two jobs so I could build the company. By 2021 my business was booming, with me leading an $8M capital campaign, directing fundraising teams, and coaching nonprofit leaders nationwide.
2022 hit like a freight train. I found Bill seizing on the kitchen floor. His childhood epilepsy had returned out of nowhere. He lost his ability to work, drive, or be alone. There were days I was producing major events with Bill in my eyeline after a seizure—or taking Zoom calls while holding him steady mid-episode.
Today, Bill is stable and back to work as my COO. Our business employs a team, supports our family, and gives us both purpose. We’ve expanded our work to help nonprofits not only raise money but also build stronger programs, systems, and operations. My brother tragically died of an overdose in 2023, Bill served as executor of the estate, navigating probate with no will.
The challenges didn’t break the dream, they sharpened it. They gave us more time together and as a family, realigned our priorities, and lit a fire in me to lead with heart, resilience, and unapologetic grit. Together, we’ve turned deep personal challenges into a life of meaning, mission, and shared leadership.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A big lesson I had to unlearn was this: doing good work isn’t enough — you have to make sure people know you’re doing it.
For most of my career, I believed that if I worked hard, the results would speak for themselves and I’d be recognized and rewarded. I learned the hard way that that’s not always how it works. In 2017, I was working at a community foundation in the place I grew up — a job I absolutely loved and was damn good at. I helped raise more than $30 million and established over 130 endowment funds in just five short years. My staff (who were more like family) loved me, my board respected me (or so I thought), and I was a go-to leader in the community. I was being mentored by a CEO who had built community foundations around the globe, and I truly believed I was next in line when he retired.
When he stepped down early at age 61, I wasn’t considered for the role. Still, I stayed. I supported the new CEO, continued leading, building relationships, and raising money. During a strategic planning phase, it became clear the organization was heading in a direction I didn’t agree with.
Then came the sucker punch. After a particularly inspiring board meeting. one where I spotlighted our admin team for pulling off a grueling, successful data conversion, the CEO invited me into the conference room. I grabbed my notebook and eagerly joined her. I expected a follow-up to the meeting but instead, I was told that today was my last day.
Two Board members helped me pack up my office: baby photos, books, plants… even my Vitamix. Looking back, I realize now that while I had been doing great work, I hadn’t been seen doing it. I supported my CEO behind the scenes and made sure he looked good. I didn’t advocate for myself or make my leadership visible to the board. I assumed they’d just know. They didn’t.
The idea that quiet competence will carry you. It won’t. You have to tell your story. You have to toot your own horn — not with ego, but with clarity and confidence. Because if people don’t understand what you do or the value you bring, they won’t support it. That experience lit the fire that became Locke Step Partners. Now, I teach nonprofit leaders how to own their impact, communicate it clearly, and never leave their value open for interpretation. It’s not bragging. It’s strategic clarity. And it’s one of the biggest keys to long-term success.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lockestep.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellemlocke/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lockesteppartners
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemlocke/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DanielleMLocke
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/5cIGDVEbK8IQmE8TfCkEI9?si=b92299894c2c48f6 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fundraising-unfiltered/id1828479066
Image Credits
https://www.beccabeephoto.com/
araiphotographyig
https://jadedexpressions.weebly.com/