Bob Serow (he/him) has devoted his entire career working to further the missions of nonprofit organizations through advancing their capacity in governance and fundraising. He is founder and principal of the firm RLS
Consulting and also serves as a consultant of choice for the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Further, Bob is an active member of Fairfield County Community Foundation’s Nonprofit Consultants Network.
Bob has counseled a cross section of nonprofit organizations in the broad categories of strategic planning, governance, organizational capacity building, and fundraising strategies. Specialized areas include capital campaign: feasibility assessment, planning phase, execution phases; organizational assessments; major and planned gift strategies; case development; new donor development; strategic plans; fund development plans; board retreats; executive coaching, and staff mentoring.
Prior to founding RLS Consulting, Bob served in senior capacity for a number of well regarded institutions, including Yale-New Haven Hospital, New York University Hospitals (Tisch, Rusk, Hospital for Joint Diseases), Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, American Heart Association Heritage Affiliate, Calvary Hospital, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Community Renewal Team (of Greater Hartford).
Bob’s career is distinguished by leadership in the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP), where he served on the boards of National AFP and the National AFP Foundation for Philanthropy. Here, Bob chaired both major gifts for the Foundation board and the governance task force for the AFP board. Further, Bob served as president of AFP Greater New York Chapter and chaired Fund Raising Day in New York, the nation’s largest and premier single day conference for fund raising professionals.
Bob his proud to have served on a number of nonprofit boards here in Connecticut, where his focus has been in furthering fundraising and philanthropy, governance, and strategic planning. Born and raised in New Haven, Bob earned his bachelor’s degree at UConn and masters at Southern CT State University.
And finally, in his leisure time, Bob enjoys his passion in creative writing, authoring several works of short
stories and poetry.