You do the work in your community. We build everything behind it.
Finance, HR and payroll, grants and fundraising, compliance, data, strategy, and board development, from one team instead of a roster of consultants. Built by a former grassroots executive director, priced on a sliding scale, and often paid for by the grants we help you win.
Finance, HR, grants, compliance, and strategy from one team, built by a former grassroots ED and often paid for by the grants we win you.
If you've ever run a nonprofit from your kitchen table after your day job, this is for you.
Everything behind your mission, built to work together.
Partner spotlight
Built by someone who's sat in your seat.
Our founder ran a grassroots nonprofit on Chicago's West Side: wrote the grants, kept the books, made payroll, answered to the board. He started Brandl Operations because the leaders closest to their communities get the least support, and that's backwards.
We've been there
Made payroll on a Friday, survived a first audit, closed out state grants. We know what you're carrying, because we've carried it.
Mission-driven
We exist to build a more equitable nonprofit landscape, where grassroots leaders get the same quality back office as large institutions.
Free to start
The Checkup, the strategy session, and the Academy cost nothing. You'll have a plan before you ever pay us a dollar.
Sliding scale, on purpose
Larger, funded partners help make room for smaller ones. Budget should never be the reason you don't reach out.
Every organization sits somewhere on this map. We meet you at your stage and build what gets you to the next one. Find your stage →
The organizations closest to the need get the least of the money.
Grassroots, Black- and brown-led organizations do the hardest work in Chicago's neighborhoods with the thinnest support behind them. The numbers are stark. So is what changes when the back office finally exists.
The landscape
What's changed for our partners
- Echoing Green & The Bridgespan Group, “Overcoming the Racial Bias in Philanthropic Funding,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2020.
- Office of the Governor of Illinois, “ICJIA Awards $35 Million in Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program Grants,” August 29, 2024.
- National Council of Nonprofits, Nonprofit Impact Matters; Independent Sector, Illinois state profile.
Grassroots nonprofits change lives. Most stay small because nobody built the systems behind them.
A large nonprofit has a finance director, a grants team, and HR. A grassroots leader has a day job, a family, a mission, and a patchwork of consultants who each see one piece. We close that gap.
One team, one price
A bookkeeper, a grant writer, an HR consultant, a compliance person, an evaluator, and a strategist cost more than one integrated team, and they don't talk to each other. We do all of it, and it works together.
A partner who's been there
Someone who has sat in your seat handles the technical work, so you can lead your community, your programs, and your board.
Work that pays for itself
We find and write the grants, then run the back office after the win: finance, payroll and HR, compliance, and reporting. That work is a line in the grant budget, approved by the funder, so for many partners the grant covers the cost of our support. Never a percentage of the award.
Funder-ready systems
Clean books, current filings, and real data give funders and state agencies the confidence to invest in you, and to keep investing.
Every job a back office does. One team that does them all.
A large institution has a whole floor of departments behind its mission. We are that floor, for grassroots nonprofits. You focus on the people you serve; everything else is ours.
Money
Books that close, cash you can see coming.
- Accounting & bookkeeping
- Monthly financial reports
- Cash-flow planning
- Budgeting
- Audit support
- Payroll
Funding
Grants and fundraising, from prospect to closeout.
- Grant writing
- Grant management
- Grant reporting
- Fundraising strategy
- Donor systems
- GATA & ICJIA compliance
People & compliance
Hire well, stay in good standing.
- HR & payroll setup
- Handbooks & policies
- Worker classification
- IRS & state filings
- Insurance & risk
- Compliance calendar
Impact & direction
Prove what works. Decide what's next.
- Program design
- Program evaluation
- Data collection & dashboards
- Strategic planning
- Board development
- Theory of change
If it sits between your mission and the people you serve, we handle it.
See how we work →
From first conversation to funded, in four steps.
Where does your nonprofit stand?
Twelve minutes. Find your stage on the Growth Map, see your strengths and gaps across eight areas, and get three clear next steps. No wrong answers.
Eyeing R3 or another Illinois state grant? The Checkup also shows whether your registrations, cash flow, and compliance are ready.
The nonprofit basics most founders learn the hard way, taught in one free, practical crash course.
A nonprofit management education built for grassroots leaders: the tools to run your organization well, and to stop stressing about the parts of the job no one explained.
What a nonprofit is, the board's role, reading your finances, and staying in good standing.
Programs, grants, financial controls, and people systems.
Strategy, sustainability, and building beyond the founder.
Reviewing a proposal that names Brandl?
See how we're engaged, how we're paid, and how we protect the independence of every organization we serve.
The first conversation is always free
We'll take the time to understand your organization, what's working, what isn't, and what we can do about it. Even if we're not the right fit, you'll leave with a plan.