Given her background, it is no surprise that Elaine Gast Fawcett writes with expertise. But it is a gift that she writes with a clarity and sensitivity that makes the material so accessible and compelling for her readers. The National Center for Family Philanthropy is fortunate to have had her as a contributor to numerous publications and programs.

Elaine is hands-down our organization's first choice when in need of a consultant to capture our members' stories, and she has been for more than 10 years. We truly consider her a partner and friend here at Exponent Philanthropy (formerly Association of Small Foundations), entrusting her to interview hundreds of our member philanthropists for everything from blog posts to articles to reports to books. She has quietly and confidently re-imagined the familiar and engaged with topics that are new, and her work is, without fail, well-researched, well-crafted, and warm in a way that is authentically Elaine. I so admire her mastery of the craft of storytelling and am grateful for our time spent working together; our members consistently say the same.

Working with Elaine over the past 10+ years, I have come to rely on her as a trusted partner who deeply understands the values of the Packard Foundation and the goals of our philanthropic work.

Elaine cares about – and understands – the nuances of family philanthropy, and she takes the time to dive deeply into multiple angles for every story or topic she explores. She is an absolute pleasure to work with.

Elaine has helped 21/64 develop a series of next generation leadership tools for philanthropy advisors. We choose Elaine again and again because she is talented and easy to work with and brings a depth of experience to her work.

Working with Elaine is effortless! She has helped me grow my business platform by building out my blog presence, co-writing and designing white papers and toolkits for family offices, and creating speaker kits and slide decks for presentations.  Her ability to draw out information and content in formal and informal conversations has deepened our work together.

Elaine helped me navigate my doctoral dissertation on philanthropy with patience, humor, an elegant firm hand and her enormous talent. She was exceptional, my right hand, and she made the experience so collaborative, keeping me on track in a way that I never felt alone even though the task was truly mine. I consider her a close colleague, a collaborative partner, a thought leader in her field and a friend.

Elaine is a multi-talented writer, editor, and project manager. Few people are able to manage both the creative and analytical sides of editorial as Elaine does, especially on deep complex business and social change topics. Elaine was instrumental in producing several massive client deliverables that made a huge impact in sectors of healthcare and public libraries. She's thoughtful, organized, and a diligent voice when shipping big creative editorial projects. An ace to have on the team.

Not only is Elaine a first-rate writer, but she’s also sharp, organized, on-the-ball, warm, cooperative, diplomatic (a rare quality!) and unfailingly professional. She has the strengths to get the job done, and the softness to capture the stories that pull at our hearts—a particularly powerful combination.

Elaine naturally “gets” what I want to achieve and how to best communicate it to my audience. She is friendly and personable, quick at meeting deadlines, and can easily translate complex concepts into easy-to-understand content.

Elaine is skilled, smart, professional, timely and creative, and her writing skills are broad. She can be clear, instructive, witty or stylistic, depending on the needs of a client or project. She is simply the best.