Raise HECK

Do Good, Better.

Do you have a great nonprofit technology solution, but your staff struggle to use it? Do you use your CRM and digital engagement software well, but feel like you’ve outgrown it? Whatever your situation, Raise HECK can help you answer this question: What do you need to achieve success?

About Us

Raise HECK is us! We are Charlotte Kresse and Sally Heaven.

We believe that we are all here to make the world a better place and lift each other up. If you believe that too and want to improve the way you get it done, then we want to work with you.

We have a combined over 40 years in the industry and have worked with some of the largest nonprofits in the country, helping them meet their technology, fundraising and advocacy goals.

Learn more about us by reading our bios here:

Charlotte Kresse

Sally Heaven

Charlotte is an innovative, highly-motivated leader with a proven track record of success in executing strategic plans to meet organizational objectives. She is highly skilled in developing high-performing teams and collaborating cross-functionally to implement business initiatives and improve workflow efficiency. She has in-depth knowledge of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions and how they contribute to organizational goals and revenue growth. She’s recognized for a unique combination of entrepreneurial thinking, leadership skills, compassion, and a sense of humor to help customers reach their strategic goals.

Before starting Raise HECK, she led a team of senior Customer Success Managers at Blackbaud. She applied core change competency methodologies to maintain her team and customer’s satisfaction. Before taking a leadership position, Charlotte was a Customer Success Manager where she built strategic partnerships to retain and grow business for Blackbaud’s highest-value customers of top-tier nonprofit organizations.

Charlotte also spent six years at Chapman Cubine and Hussey where she was the Director of their rapidly growing Online Marketing Department. She managed and grew the team and business while also providing integrated fundraising and advocacy strategy for enterprise nonprofit organizations.

She also has worked in the digital departments of NARAL Pro-Choice America managing the affiliate communications as well as answering constituent correspondence for Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island.

After spending 10 years in Washington, DC, Charlotte now lives with husband and two boys in Rhode Island. She takes advantage of living in the Ocean State by enjoying open water swims and supporting local causes such as Save the Bay. If not in her home office or the ocean, you can find Charlotte exploring new places, at yoga, or supporting and raising heck for progressive causes.

Sally is a dynamic, creative leader with deep industry knowledge and top-notch communication skills. She cares deeply about progressive causes and gets especially energized by helping organizations doing good things for the world bring both proven and novel strategies, techniques and technologies to improve their outcomes. She’s as quick with a pun as she is with strategic insight.

Before founding Raise HECK with Charlotte Kresse, she was a senior member of the Customer Success team at Blackbaud. Sally managed a portfolio of the largest mission-driven nonprofits to help them achieve and exceed their goals. As a recognized subject matter expert, she brought both proven strategies and innovative new ideas to crucial areas of nonprofit fundraising and digital marketing – sustained giving, email deliverability, and online advocacy chief among them.

Sally also spent seven years at the at the Human Rights Campaign in the organizing department, where she led their digital advocacy efforts to support equality for LGBTQ people. She lived through the literal digital transformation of the organization as it adopted its very first cloud-based system for online advocacy and fundraising.

Originally from Ohio and a product of the very best of the Big Ten’s educational systems, she earned an M.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Biology from Indiana University. Sally now resides on the East Coast in Takoma Park, Maryland with her wife and three children. When not raising heck for progressive causes, you can find her cheering on her kids at their soccer matches and walking or riding her bicycle through the urban forest in Takoma Park.

Testimonials

Vera Institute of Justice selected Raise HECK to help us in our search to replace all of our technology solutions: primarily digital, CRM, and grant management. We had never fully integrated our legacy tools, and as an organization we were ready for change. We had committed to finding the right solution, but weren’t sure how to start our search and evaluation process. Raise HECK has a deep understanding of nonprofit operational and fundraising needs and they led us through a thorough and efficient process to understand our needs, requirements and priorities. They then aligned the needs assessment with their top three recommended solutions for Vera. I’d highly recommend working with Sally and Charlotte. They were straightforward, responsive and a pleasure to work with. Morgan Bakerman, Development Operations Manager, Vera Institute of Justice

When We All Vote initially hired Raise HECK to help us through a migration from BSD Tools to EveryAction. As with any technology change (not to mention in the middle of an election), we were struggling to adopt the new features and understand the data structures. Raise HECK had incredible knowledge about the solution and was diligent and detailed in their attention to our data and organizational needs. They had keen insight into how change management was impacting us and put in place an easy to follow plan to address it. They presented a clear and helpful training for our staff and were instrumental in getting us up and running on EveryAction in time for the 2020 election push. They are smart, funny, very responsive and great to work with…so much so that we worked together again on our electoral email efforts. Their support late in the cycle as we were nearing Election Day was invaluable to our work. Personally, I had complete confidence in their work and that took a huge amount of stress off of my plate just when I needed that extra space the most. I’d highly recommend working with Raise HECK! Shannon Wurthman, Sr. Digital Advisor, When We All Vote

When we needed to layer in more political messaging to our members, the Raise HECK team had just the right approach. Sally and Charlotte combined good strategy, technical skill, and a pleasant can-do attitude to develop and execute a high-quality program that helped us turn our members into volunteers. Along the way, they worked well with our existing team, learned to speak in our voice, and maximized the return on our tools. We were fortunate to work with them on this critical project. Jeremy Pittman, Director of Grassroots Engagement, EDF Action

I had the pleasure of knowing Sally and Charlotte while working with some of the largest cause and cure advocacy organizations when at Blackbaud. Their deep understanding of the specific needs and requirements across fundraising, advocacy, staffing, and technology was put to good use with every interaction to make these nonprofits better. It was outstanding to partner, learn and share with Sally and Charlotte as they continually tackled complex internal and external client challenges. They are a great team who truly care about their clients’ success. Richard Geiger, Senior Vice President, Data Axle - Nonprofit Divison

It’s nice to be able to recommend a company and not have any reservations about how great they are. Sally and Charlotte are leaders in the industry and clients love working with them. They have a rare combination of strategic insight, creativity, understanding of the tactical details and do it all with a sense of calm and humor. The nonprofit space is lucky to have Raise HECK in it. Jenny Allen, Principal, Sr. Vice President, CCAH

Sally and Charlotte are smart, creative and positive people who care deeply about progressive causes. Their work is thorough and thoughtful, and they bring enthusiasm and experience to everything they do. I’m excited that Raise HECK is here. Emily Goodstein, Founder and CEO, Greater Good Strategy

Charlotte and Sally were true partners to PPFA as our customer success managers when at Blackbaud. They were invested in our success and took the time to understand our business operations and the intricacies of working within a federated model. They provided strategic insight, guidance and patience during a time when digital advances combined with an ever-changing political landscape completely transformed our operational needs and demands. If you work with Raise HECK you’ll gain the partnership of the knowledge of women who are smart, funny, and truly dedicated to your mission and success. Stephanie Lauf, Senior Director, Digital Fundraising & Supporter Engagement at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.