About Heleen Mills – Marketing, Fundraising & Growth Strategy
I’m Heleen 👋🏽 a growth marketer, and I treat marketing as a revenue job. Awareness and good-looking campaigns only count if they turn into donations, bookings, members or sales, and keep turning into them next year.
I’m a senior communications consultant at for World Bank Group and take on extra clients each year.
At The Sarara Foundation and Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya, I grew online donations from US$30K to more than US$1M a year. I also built an elephant adoption programme that now brings in over US$600K a year on its own. I ran marketing at Gone Outdoor (Patagonia) while it grew from one store to four. Every race and event brand I've worked on has sold out.
I'm based in Cape Town and have spent 15 years working across Africa and the US. I set the strategy, and then I roll up my sleeves and do the work.
What I Do
I help organisations grow their income, and their audience. That means thinking like a commercial lead and working like a hands-on marketer.
Growth strategy tied to revenue targets, not vanity metrics
Digital fundraising and online sales: donation pages, checkout, email journeys
Brand positioning and storytelling that gives people a reason to buy or give
The systems that let growth scale: CRM, automation, analytics, Ai
Recurring income: adoption, membership and monthly giving programmes
Campaigns that sell out: launches, events, Giving Tuesday and year-end appeals
Building and coaching teams, and managing agencies
Turning programme data into impact stories for donors and boards
Who It’s For
Organisations at a growth point, where marketing needs to start paying its way.
Nonprofits raising US$50K–$20M a year that rely on a few big donors and need a wider base
Conservation organisations, and the lodges and tourism businesses that fund them
Event and outdoor brands that want to sell out, then grow
Social enterprises balancing mission and commercial growth
Development programmes that need to show results to funders
How I Work
I work flexibly across strategy, fundraising, communications, and digital growth; either as a long-term partner or on focused projects and campaign. Strategy and delivery from the same person.
I've led teams across Kenya, the US and South Africa, run events with budgets up to US$250K, and managed PR, design and events agencies.
You can bring me in for:
Fractional head of marketing, a few days a month
Campaign strategy and delivery
Systems support: I can help build your marketing and fundraising backend systems, agents and CRMs
Growth and online giving audits
Digital marketing, storytelling and social media support
Team workshops and training (like African Parks' digital fundraising workshop)
Let’s connect
Looking for support with communications, fundraising, campaigns, or growth strategy?
