Lisa's Bio

Lisa Gaffney joined Wellspring Consulting, a strategy consulting firm for the social sector, as a Senior Principal in early 2016. Wellspring has worked with hundreds of social sector organizations to address critical strategic issues and develop and implement strategic plans since the firm’s founding in 2001.
 
Lisa has a track record of over 30 years of financial and business expertise, helping organizations improve performance, build value, set strategic direction, and raise capital. Most notably, Lisa spent two decades working for financial firms, including Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank as a financial analyst, institutional investor, and banker with a focus on the corporate credit markets.  In the social sector, she has worked for the Taproot Foundation and FINCA International and consulted to organizations in financial and program management, business and strategic planning, investment readiness, and grantmaking and development.  She has also participated in consulting engagements with public sector entities including the SEC, and Fortune 500 corporations.
 
Lisa received her MBA with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and her BA in economics from Duke University, where she was an AB Duke Scholar.  A strong proponent of service to the community, Lisa allocates time to pro bono work and is the Treasurer and a member of the board of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area.
 
Contact:
Lisa M. Gaffney
l.gaffney@wellspringconsulting.net
T 917-379-1221

Our Clients Achieve

Growth and Operating Agility Accelerate growth, improve profitability, increase program effectiveness, drive stakeholder engagement- our clients have different objectives.
We help them meet them. 
Strategic Clarity Today’s world calls for a constant grasp of the operating landscape, opportunities and risks.  We provide the strategic prism, our clients gain the agility. 

Financial Acumen Use finance as a performance enhancing operating tool, not just a report card.
Investment Readiness Attract the right resources to fuel successful growth.
Risk Reduction Compartmentalization creates operating and financial risk.  We help reduce it. 

Lisa's Bio

Lisa Gaffney provides nonprofit and social enterprise clients with advice on financial management and capital-raising and other business strategies with the ultimate goal of enabling these entities to gain the financial acumen, operating agility and right resources to build strong programs and businesses.  

More broadly, Lisa helps organizations make better and faster decisions, creating value by helping them build more effective businesses and programs.  She serves as a trusted advisor to clients capturing the benefits of integrating operational, financial, and strategic considerations into decision-making, planning, and day-to-day operations, and avoiding the risks of not doing so. Not only does Lisa assist with basic financial management such as budgeting, analysis, and reporting, she helps organizations to use finance as an operating tool and not solely as a report card.  Specifically, Lisa provides expertise to help organizations better use fundamental financial principles to support sustainable growth and understand how operating decisions affect the organization’s financial health.

Lisa is not a fundraiser, but rather advises on investment readiness.  Specifically, she works with her clients identifying the amount of capital needed and telling a story (from a finance and data perspective) to attract that capital, but at the same time ensuring that it is the right capital.  Too often organizations chase funding regardless of the source, failing to recognize, or ignoring, the future implications for programs, direction and control of the organization.
 

Lisa has a track record of over 30 years of financial and business expertise, helping private sector and nonprofit entities improve performance, build value, set strategic direction, and raise capital. Most notably, Lisa spent two decades working for financial firms, including Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank as a financial analyst, institutional investor, and banker with a focus on the corporate credit markets.  In the social sector, she has worked with organizations such as the Taproot Foundation and FINCA International in financial and program management, business and strategic planning, investment readiness, and grant-making and development.  She has also participated in consulting engagements with public sector entities including the SEC and Fortune 500 corporations, several of which engagements are ongoing.
 
Lisa received her MBA with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and her BA in economics from Duke University, where she was an AB Duke Scholar.  A strong proponent of service to the community, Lisa allocates a portion of her practice to pro bono projects and is the Treasurer and a member of the board of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area.