💼 Structuring Advisory ▸ OUTREACH.md
updated 2026-07-15

Outreach Plan — Impact Structuring Advisory

Launch-ready drafts. Nothing has been sent or posted. Placeholders in [BRACKETS] are for names/links only Joshua knows or that require morning setup. Revised after council review: Sommerpause re-sequencing, direct Scan asks with founding-client terms, draft 3 split into connector vs. buyer variants, BaFin phrasing pending MORNING ACTION 0.

0. Sequencing — the calendar is not neutral

It is mid-July. German Stiftung Geschäftsführungen and Vorstände are in Sommerpause through August; cold Segment A emails sent now land in empty inboxes and burn the list.

1. Target segments & watering holes

Segment A — German Stiftungen (volume market; DE-language; SEPTEMBER wave)

The core market: ~25,000 rechtsfähige Stiftungen in Germany, heavily concentrated in NRW, Bayern, BW, Hamburg, Berlin. Sweet spot: €2-100M Vermögen, professional Geschäftsführung, no in-house investment capability. Named starter list: PROSPECTS.md.

  1. Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen — member directory (Stiftungssuche.de), Deutscher StiftungsTag (annual, thousands of attendees), regional Stiftungstage. The association actively promotes “Mission Investing” — Joshua’s offer rides an agenda they already push.
  2. Landesstiftungsverzeichnisse — every Bundesland publishes a public foundation register (e.g., Berlin’s Stiftungsverzeichnis at the Senatsverwaltung für Justiz); filterable prospecting raw material, ideal for the AI fleet to enrich in August.
  3. Bundesinitiative Impact Investing (BIII) — THE German impact-investing network; working groups on foundations/Mission Investing; membership is cheap and puts Joshua in the exact room.
  4. PHINEO / Active Philanthropy / Haus des Stiftens — advisory-adjacent orgs serving foundations; referral partners more than competitors (they do strategy/philanthropy, rarely structuring).
  5. Verband unabhängiger Family Offices (VuFO) & family-office conference circuit (Private Wealth Germany fora) — for the family-office persona. No Sommerpause constraint — warm family-office intros are month-one targets.

Segment B — Joshua’s existing networks (warmest; EN; NOW)

  1. BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt — Responsible Leaders network — Joshua is a Responsible Leader; the network is full of foundation executives and family-office principals, has regional chapters, Slack/community platform, and events. Single highest-warmth channel.
  2. NEXUS Global — next-gen wealth holders and family philanthropists; the “we inherited a foundation and want it to actually do something” persona is the literal membership profile.
  3. Top Tier Impact — Joshua is a member; global impact investors/entrepreneurs; good for family-office and fund-adjacent referrals.
  4. Impact Europe (formerly EVPA) orbit — Joshua has an Impact Europe interview on record; their membership (foundations practicing venture philanthropy) is exactly the buyer; annual Impact Week + working groups on impact funds and foundations.
  5. USAID/Sida alumni & civic-tech diaspora — former colleagues now running or advising foundations and INGOs; personal-note territory. International = no Sommerpause.

Segment C — Broadcast & content (EN+DE; NOW + ongoing)

  1. LinkedIn — 8.8k followers — the announcement post (draft 6 below) plus a weekly pattern-of-the-week series lifted straight from STRUCTURING-PATTERNS.md (8 patterns = 2 months of content, zero new writing — this is also what keeps the profile warm until the September cold wave).
  2. Sector press/newsletters — DIE STIFTUNG (magazine + newsletter, read by every German foundation ED), Alliance Magazine (EN philanthropy), ImpactAlpha (EN). Pitch a guest article: “Why your endowment is asleep — and the eight structures that wake it up.” Pitch in August so it runs in September, aligned with the cold wave.
  3. Podcasts Joshua already has a trail on (Sound Funding, etc.) — pitch the structuring angle as a fresh episode topic.

2. Copy-paste drafts

Scarcity line (honest — capacity is genuinely ~2 evenings/week): warm July drafts (3a/3b/4/5/6) use “three organizations this quarter.” The September cold drafts (1, 2) use the cohort form — “a founding cohort of three organizations at the opening price” — because by week 36 the quarter framing is stale and slots may be gone. Before any September send: update the remaining-slots count in drafts 1/2 (or drop the line if the cohort is full).

BaFin phrasing in all drafts is the precise form (“whose manager is registered with BaFin” / “deren Verwalter bei der BaFin registriert ist”) — finalize wording via MORNING ACTION 0 before any send.

Draft 1 — DE cold email: Stiftungs-Geschäftsführung (SEPTEMBER wave)

Betreff: Ihr Stiftungsvermögen — mehr als Tagesgeld?

Sehr geehrte/r [NAME],

viele Stiftungen in der Größenordnung der [STIFTUNGSNAME] stellen sich derzeit dieselbe Frage: Kann unser Vermögen neben der Ausschüttung auch direkt für den Stiftungszweck arbeiten — ohne die Gemeinnützigkeit zu gefährden?

Die Antwort ist fast immer ja. Die eigentliche Hürde ist nicht der Wille, sondern die Struktur: Welche Konstruktion (Zwei-Entitäten-Modell, Mission Investing aus freien Rücklagen, katalytische Fondsbeteiligung) passt zu Ihrer Satzung, Ihren Mittelkategorien und Ihrem Vorstand?

Genau das kläre ich in einem festen Format: dem Structuring Scan — zwei Wochen, Festpreis (€4.998 inkl. USt., bewusst so gesetzt, dass die Geschäftsführung ihn in der Regel ohne Vorstandsbeschluss freigeben kann), am Ende ein schriftliches Options-Memo, das Ihr Vorstand versteht und Ihr Rechtsanwalt bzw. Steuerberater direkt weiterverarbeiten kann. Ausdrücklich Strategieberatung, keine Rechts- oder Steuerberatung — Ihre Berater behalten das letzte Wort und werden aktiv eingebunden.

Zu meinem Hintergrund: Ich habe in Deutschland eine Impact-Fondsstruktur (GmbH & Co. KG, Verwalter bei der BaFin registriert) von Null aufgebaut und davor als US-Diplomat sieben Jahre lang ein Förderportfolio von 190–200 Mio. USD bei USAID verantwortet — ich kenne beide Seiten des Tisches.

Ich nehme eine Gründungskohorte von drei Organisationen zum Eröffnungspreis an [vor Versand: verbleibende Plätze aktualisieren oder Satz streichen]. Hätten Sie in den nächsten zwei Wochen 30 Minuten für ein unverbindliches Gespräch? [CAL-LINK]

Mit freundlichen Grüßen Joshua Haynes, Berlin

Draft 2 — EN cold email: NGO board treasurer / foundation CFO (international: NOW; German orgs: September)

Subject: The money your organization is sitting on

Dear [NAME],

Most endowed nonprofits I talk to have the same quiet problem: reserves or endowment sitting in cash and bonds while the mission runs underfunded — because nobody can say with confidence which investment structures the organization is actually allowed to use.

I run a fixed-price, two-week diagnostic for exactly this. The Structuring Scan maps your legal form, your pools of money, and your constraints against eight field-tested structures (two-entity models, mission investments, recoverable grants, catalytic fund positions) and ends with a written Options Memo — including a brief written specifically for your lawyer, so implementation starts warm. Strategy and education only, explicitly not legal or tax advice; your counsel keeps the last word and is invited into the process.

Background, briefly: seven years as a USAID diplomat managing a $190–200M innovative-finance portfolio, a secondment to Sida, and then the other side of the table — co-founding and structuring a German impact fund (GmbH & Co. KG, manager registered with BaFin) from zero, including donation-as-investment-capital mechanics.

I’m taking a founding cohort of three organizations at the opening price [before sending: update remaining-slots count or drop this line]. Would a 30-minute conversation be useful? [CAL-LINK] — no preparation needed.

Best, Joshua Haynes

Draft 3a — LinkedIn DM: warm CONNECTOR (contact who knows foundation people but isn’t the buyer)

Hi [FIRST NAME] — hope [PERSONAL HOOK: last event/thread you shared]. Quick thing: I’ve started taking on a small number of structuring advisory engagements alongside the fund — helping foundations and endowed nonprofits design the structures to put idle endowment money to work (two-entity setups, mission investing, catalytic LP positions). It’s the thing people have been asking me about informally for years, so I’ve productized it: a fixed-price two-week Structuring Scan that ends in an options memo their board can act on.

Two asks, both small: (1) if an ED/CFO in your orbit is wrestling with “our endowment does nothing for our mission,” I’d love an intro — I’m taking three organizations this quarter at founding-client terms; (2) I wrote up the 8 structuring patterns I actually use as a free library — happy to send it, genuinely useful even without me attached. Either way — good to be in touch!

Draft 3b — LinkedIn DM: warm BUYER (contact who runs, chairs, or steers a foundation/family vehicle themselves)

Hi [FIRST NAME] — hope [PERSONAL HOOK]. I’ll be direct because I think this is squarely for you: I’ve opened a small structuring advisory line alongside the fund, helping foundations and endowed vehicles design the structures to put idle money to work for the mission — two-entity setups, mission investing from the endowment, catalytic LP positions. The machinery I built for my own fund, applied to yours.

Given [THEIR ORG / their foundation], can I show you what this would look like for you specifically? 30 minutes, I’ll bring the two patterns most relevant to your setup — no deck, no prep on your side. I’m taking three organizations this quarter at founding-client terms, and I’d honestly love one of them to be yours. [CAL-LINK]

Draft 4 — EN personal note: USAID/Sida alumni

Subject: from the other side of the table

[FIRST NAME] — it’s been too long. Since [SHARED CONTEXT], I’ve been in Berlin: co-founded and now run a German impact fund structure whose manager is registered with BaFin, and I’ve started advising foundations and NGOs on something we both saw endlessly from the funder side — organizations sitting on endowments they can’t figure out how to deploy as investment capital.

I’ve turned it into a tight two-week diagnostic (structures, options memo, counsel-ready brief), and I’m taking my first three organizations this quarter at founding-client terms. If any org in your world — or you — is circling that question, I’d love to put one of those slots to work: 30 minutes to compare notes, and I’ll bring the two patterns most relevant to them. And even if not: how are you? What are you working on?

Draft 5 — DE LinkedIn DM: BIII / Stiftungstag contact

Hallo [VORNAME], wir sind uns über [KONTEXT: BIII / StiftungsTag / gemeinsamer Kontakt] begegnet. Ich habe meine Strukturierungsarbeit jetzt als eigenes Beratungsformat aufgesetzt: Ich helfe Stiftungen, Strukturen für wirkungsorientierte Kapitalanlagen zu entwerfen — vom Zwei-Entitäten-Modell bis zur katalytischen Fondsbeteiligung — mit einem Festpreis-Scan (2 Wochen, schriftliches Options-Memo, direkt anschlussfähig für Rechtsanwalt/Steuerberater). In diesem Quartal nehme ich drei Organisationen zum Eröffnungspreis an.

Ich habe die acht Muster, mit denen ich arbeite, als kostenlose Bibliothek aufgeschrieben (Diagramme, Anwendungsfälle, Stolpersteine). Soll ich sie Ihnen schicken? Und falls Ihnen eine Stiftung einfällt, die gerade an der Frage “unser Vermögen liegt nur herum” arbeitet — ich freue mich über jede Verbindung.

Draft 6 — LinkedIn post: announcing the practice (does NOT read as leaving the fund)

Your endowment is asleep. Your mission isn’t.

For years — first deploying a $190–200M portfolio at USAID, then on secondment at Sida, then building a German impact fund structure whose manager is registered with BaFin, from zero — I’ve had the same conversation over and over:

A foundation director or NGO treasurer pulls me aside and says some version of: “We’re sitting on millions. It does nothing for our mission. Our lawyers quoted us six figures just to find out what’s possible.”

I’ve been answering that question informally for a long time. Fund-building taught me the machinery from the inside — two-entity structures, donations deployed as investment capital, impact-linked carry, catalytic first-loss positions. So I’ve decided to make the informal thing official, alongside my fund work:

I’m opening a small structuring advisory practice for foundations, NGOs, and endowed nonprofits — a fixed-price two-week Structuring Scan that ends with a written options memo your board can act on and your lawyer can implement. Strategy and education, explicitly not legal or tax advice — your counsel keeps the last word (that’s the design).

Capacity is real: this runs on evenings, so I’m taking three organizations this quarter at the opening price.

To start, I’ve written up the 8 structuring patterns I actually use — diagrams, when-to-use, watch-outs, honest examples — as a free library. Comment “patterns” or DM me and I’ll send it.

If you run, sit on the board of, or advise an organization whose money is asleep: my calendar link is in the comments. 30 minutes, no deck required, English or German.

(Yes — fund life continues as ever. This is the evenings-and-weekends expression of the same conviction: capital should work as hard as the people it’s meant to serve.)

ImpactInvesting #Stiftungen #MissionInvesting #Philanthropy #SocialFinance

Draft 7 — EN/DE email or DM: partner/referral orgs (PROSPECTS rows 29-32 — PHINEO, Haus des Stiftens, Active Philanthropy, DSZ; weeks 2-4, no Sommerpause excuse — these are professional orgs)

Subject: your strategy clients + my structuring work — overlap without competition?

Dear [NAME],

I follow [ORG]’s work on [SPECIFIC: their impact-investing publication / foundation advisory / Treuhand practice] — we serve the same organizations from different angles. You advise foundations on strategy and philanthropy; I do the structuring layer: designing the business-and-capital architecture (two-entity setups, mission investing from reserves, catalytic fund positions) that lets charitable money make impact investments, delivered as a fixed-price two-week Structuring Scan whose output is written for the client’s own Rechtsanwalt and Steuerberater to implement. Our clients overlap and neither of us competes with the other.

Background, briefly: seven years managing a $190–200M innovative-finance portfolio at USAID, then co-founding a German GmbH & Co. KG impact fund whose manager is registered with BaFin.

Would 30 minutes be interesting — mutual referrals, or simply knowing what the other does well enough to hand clients across cleanly? I’ll bring my 8-pattern structuring library; it may be useful to your team regardless. [CAL-LINK]

Best regards, Joshua Haynes, Berlin

(DE-Kurzform für DSZ/Haus des Stiftens: “Sie beraten Stiftungen strategisch, ich übernehme die Strukturierungsebene — unsere Klienten überschneiden sich, wir konkurrieren nicht. 30 Minuten?”)

Post mechanics: first comment = Cal.com link + patterns link. Post Tuesday or Wednesday, 08:30–09:30 CET. The closing parenthetical is the “not leaving the fund” insurance — keep it.

3. Follow-up cadence (per cold thread)

Day 0 send → Day 5 short bump (“attaching the pattern most relevant to [ORG]: [Pattern N]”) → Day 12 final value-add (link to a pattern-of-the-week post) → close thread, recycle to newsletter list. Never more than 3 touches. Every touch delivers a piece of the library — the follow-up IS the lead magnet.

4. Warm-sprint mechanics (month one)