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Talk to James

About

Our approach

We start with the proposition, not the brochure. Concept before content: one clear idea, three fundable strands, and named projects a donor can hold in their hands.

We test before we design. Draft cases and goals are tested in confidential conversations with the people most likely to lead and fund the campaign, and their reactions shape what comes next. Those conversations are cultivation as much as research, so the campaign starts with momentum rather than a blank list.

We build your team as we go. Your people make the asks. We prepare, rehearse, and sit beside them, and we measure our success by how little you need us at the end.

Team

James Ó MurthuileCHECK

Founder and Managing Director

James founded Cōnsilium after twenty years in consulting, more than fifteen of them advising Irish nonprofits on major gifts, capital campaigns, and fundraising strategy. He designed and led Focus Ireland’s A Place Called Home, which raised and pledged €39 million against a €30 million goal and was named Campaign of the Year in 2023. Before founding Cōnsilium he was Vice President at CCS Fundraising, where he led campaigns for organisations including Knock Shrine, Barretstown, Irish Wheelchair Association, and University College Dublin. His earlier career was in consulting across healthcare, energy, and technology. He holds an MBA and a BEng from the University of Limerick, and a Certificate in Digital Marketing from Cornell. He leads every Cōnsilium engagement himself.

MBA · BEng, University of Limerick · Certificate in Digital Marketing, Cornell

Aisling NolanCHECK

Consulting Director

Aisling led Focus Ireland’s Partnerships and Philanthropy team through A Place Called Home, then served as Director of Development at St James’s Hospital Foundation, where she consolidated over 120 restricted funds into eight strategic funding areas. She joined Cōnsilium in 2026. She has also worked at GOAL and the University of Galway, and holds an MA in Social Anthropology from Queen’s University Belfast and an MA from Charles University, Prague.

Caitríona Maher

Design partner, Cida Design Co

Caitríona designs the case documents, briefing materials, and presentations that our clients take into donor meetings.

OliviaDRAFTCHECK

Role to confirm

Surname and role to be confirmed.

Earlier work

Some of the campaigns James has led came before Cōnsilium was founded, while he was Vice President at an international fundraising consultancy. Among them: Knock Shrine's Witness to Hope (€12.5 million), and campaigns for Barretstown, Irish Wheelchair Association, University College Dublin, and Safe Ireland. We list them because they shaped how we work, and we label them because they were not Cōnsilium engagements.

Credentials

  • Campaign of the Year, Charity Excellence Awards 2023 (Focus Ireland, A Place Called Home)

Talk to James

Thirty minutes, no preparation, no obligation. Tell me where things stand and I will give you an honest view of what it would take.

Book a time