Universal and Stand for the Silent: How Nonprofit Fundraising Campaigns Work

Stand for the Silent is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 2010 by Kirk and Laura Smalley after their eleven-year-old son Logan died by suicide following years of relentless bullying. The organization sends speakers into schools, trains educators, and runs programs designed to reduce bullying and support students who are experiencing it. You can learn more about their work at standforthesilent.org.

Universal is not a charity. Universal is a fundraising consulting firm. Understanding the distinction between these two roles is essential to understanding how professional nonprofit campaigns are structured.

What professional fundraising consulting firms do

When a nonprofit organization needs to run a fundraising campaign across multiple cities simultaneously, it typically does not have the internal staff to manage that logistics on its own. That is where professional fundraising consulting firms like Universal come in.

Universal provides the operational infrastructure: trained field staff, logistics coordination, compliance oversight, and community outreach expertise. The firm's teams conduct campaigns on behalf of nonprofit partners in markets across the country. Donations collected in those campaigns go to the nonprofit, not to Universal. Universal is compensated separately, through consulting fees, for providing the service.

This is a standard structure used throughout the nonprofit sector. Professional fundraising firms and the nonprofits they serve are required by state law to disclose their relationship, including how funds are distributed. Stand for the Silent's IRS filings are publicly accessible through GuideStar and the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool.

About the partnership

Universal has worked with Stand for the Silent in multiple US markets. Universal is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the leading professional organization for the fundraising industry. The firm has been certified as a Great Place to Work by an independent third-party organization for four consecutive years. It has also been recognized by Law Enforcement Against Drugs and Violence as its National Partner of the Year.

If you have a question about a specific campaign interaction or want to verify that a campaign is authorized by Stand for the Silent, the most direct path is to contact Stand for the Silent at standforthesilent.org. If you have a question or concern about how a Universal campaign was conducted, contact Universal directly at Corporate@theuniversalteam.com.