ABOUT US
Passionate Team. Results Driven.
Founded and led by a second-generation Puerto-Rican Bronx-native with lived experience of the challenges our clients work to address, Lydia Sierra Consulting (LSC) is a full-service firm providing all the administrative, technical, and strategic support of a complete in-house development department. For our annual clients, LSC partners with organizational leadership to assess strategic position; analyze the market and climate within relevant sectors; and execute a multi-year Fund Development Plan designed to meet targeted goals for growth. We help clients create compelling, data-backed grant proposal materials; conduct high-level grant research to identify funders; manage and maintain grant calendars and complex government portals; prepare, package, and submit winning grant proposals; facilitate budget planning and forecasting; support contract navigation at the city, state, and federal level; complete Salesforce customization and configuration projects; strengthen individual and institutional donor cultivation; and more. Our seasoned team has raised tens of millions of dollars in sustaining support for non-profit CBOs founded and run by members of the communities they serve, communities facing long histories of economic, social, racial, and environmental injustice.
Passionate Team. Results Driven.
Founded and led by a second-generation Puerto-Rican Bronx-native with lived experience of the challenges our clients work to address, Lydia Sierra Consulting (LSC) is a full-service firm providing all the administrative, technical, and strategic support of a complete in-house development department. For our annual clients, LSC partners with organizational leadership to assess strategic position; analyze the market and climate within relevant sectors; and execute a multi-year Fund Development Plan designed to meet targeted goals for growth. We help clients create compelling, data-backed grant proposal materials; conduct high-level grant research to identify funders; manage and maintain grant calendars and complex government portals; prepare, package, and submit winning grant proposals; facilitate budget planning and forecasting; support contract navigation at the city, state, and federal level; complete Salesforce customization and configuration projects; strengthen individual and institutional donor cultivation; and more. Our seasoned team has raised tens of millions of dollars in sustaining support for non-profit CBOs founded and run by members of the communities they serve, communities facing long histories of economic, social, racial, and environmental injustice.
Our Team
We are not your average consultants. We create deeply embedded relationships, bringing the value of a fully-staffed development department to your nonprofit organization.
Management Team
Founder and Principal Consultant
Director of Fund Development
Director of Accounts and Administration
Fund Development Specialist
Senior Prospect Researcher/Proposal Writer
Salesforce Administrator
Nonprofit Fund Development Blueprint
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Our Story
It begins with our Founder, Lydia Sierra.
Lydia Sierra Consulting, LLC (LSC) was incorporated by CEO and Founder, Lydia Sierra, in 2016. Lydia’s deep knowledge of the nonprofit landscape is derived from her lived experiences, education, and career path from direct services to the founder of a nonprofit organization in The Bronx. These stepping stones provided her with the solid foundation needed to start LSC, where she leads a dynamic team of professionals to support the growth and development of community-based organizations.
As a young mother in The Bronx who lost her own parents to the dual drug and AIDS epidemics that ravaged her community, Lydia worked her way towards a future where she could lift her family out of poverty and address the challenges and inequalities she saw firsthand in her community. Since then, she has made it her mission in over 30 years of non-profit work to support the essential organizations that allow those communities to thrive.
After five years of working as a freelance proposal writer, in 2010, Lydia created a DBA for LSC with a goal to empower non-profit organizations through development-focused training and systems building, capacity-building workshops, one-on-one coaching, and direct contracted services aimed at increasing government, foundation, and corporate funding, as well as individual donor support.
From 2010 to 2015, LSC established The Capacity Building Institute, a signature program that was a catalyst in its launch and early success. The Capacity Building Institute was a six-month, cohort-based program that helped grassroots organizations develop organizational systems and robust fund development programs to launch, support and expand their visions and missions. It was initially conducted in four cities across the country, South Bronx, San Diego, Syracuse and Albany. A number of those start-up nonprofits continue to be our clients and with our support have grown into multi-million dollar organizations.
Since then, LSC has raised tens of millions of dollars for its clients. Its team and scope of work has grown considerably, experiencing significant growth and expanding its service offerings and geographic reach to nonprofits throughout the U.S. and abroad.
This growth has allowed LSC to build deep knowledge and expertise in areas such as youth and family services, arts education, environmental justice and remediation, community organizing, affordable housing, immigration services, community planning and development, community resilience and emergency planning, re-entry services, community outreach and education initiatives, workforce training, community land trusts, grassroots organizing and movement infrastructure development, early childhood education and Head Start programs, and more.
Our Mission
Our mission at Lydia Sierra Consulting is to enhance the capacity of grassroots organizations to achieve sustainable growth and increased impact. This along with our core values inform how we work with our clients. They orient our beliefs, words, and actions and are a reflection of the way we make decisions and operate on a daily basis.
Our Values
1. Advocacy
Building clients’ long-term strength and capacity is at the center of everything we do. We align ourselves with our clients’ missions, visions, and goals, always striving to uplift and represent them in an authentic, positive, and professional manner.
2. Mutual Trust
At LSC, our goal is to “trust and be trusted.” We have confidence in our clients as experts in their work and communities, and they can always rely on us to deliver high-quality, timely results and keep their information confidential.
3. Authenticity
LSC takes a “Whole Person” approach, and our support goes beyond services and deliverables. We care about the health and wellness of our grassroots leader clients, and by understanding and honoring trauma, our team strives to provide the type of holistic support our clients need when they need it most.
4. Respect
Professional, courteous, and kind, we strive to elevate clients’ voices and actively listen, so they are valued, heard, and respected. We revere lived experience expertise and create the space for that expertise to wield its power.
5. Accountability
The LSC team has a strong sense of responsibility. We prioritize transparency and we are brave enough to say, “I take ownership of this.” We work best with clients that also embrace this same ownership mindset.
6. Love the Impact
Our team is driven by the impact of increased resources on urban communities challenged by generational poverty and social, racial, and environmental injustice. We are committed to achieving equity for the communities our clients’ serve.
Our Impact
We have an extensive track record of winning large government grant submissions to local, city, and federal agencies and entities; major national foundations; local/regional funders; various businesses, including national banks and corporations; and small family foundations accessed through individual donors and Board connections. Some examples include:
Federal
- USDA
- US Environmental Protection Agency
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations
- National Endowment for the Arts
- US Small Business Administration
- US Department of Labor
- US Department of Justice
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development
- and more…
State
- NYS Department of Transportation
- NYS Office of Addiction Services and Supports
- NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
- NYS Small Business Services
- Empire State Development Corp.
- NYS Office of Environmental Remediation
- NYS Energy Research and Development Administration
- NYS Council for the Arts
- and more…
National Foundations
- Annie E Casey Foundation
- Public Welfare Foundation
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Partnership for Resilient Communities
- NALCAB
- Valentine Perry Snyder Fund
- Environmental Justice Data Fund
- JP Morgan Foundation
- and more…
Corporate Funders
- JP Morgan Foundation
- Deutsche Bank
- M&T Bank
- Verizon Foundation
- General Motors Foundation
- Con Edison Corporate Giving Program
- and more…
New York Funders
- New York Community Trust
- New York Women’s Foundation
- New York Business Funders Collective
- Bronx Yankee Fund
- Hispanic Federation
- Pinkerton Foundation
- Cricket Island Foundation
- NYC Administration for Children’s Services
- NYC Health and Human Services
- NYC Housing Preservation and Development
- NYC Human Resources Administration
- NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
- NYC Department of Youth and Community Development
- and more…
California Funders
- Silicon Valley Foundation Black Freedom Fund
- Sierra Health Foundation
- Alliance Healthcare Foundation
- Conrad Prebys Foundation
- Otter Cares Foundation
- Price Philanthropies
- San Diego Social Ventures Partners
- San Diego Foundation
- City of San Diego Community Development Block Grants
- Commission for Arts and Culture San Diego
- San Diego County Health and Human Services
- San Diego Neighborhood Reinvestment Program
- and more…
