The Cagney Company

Who We Are

Penelope Cagney, MA, CFRE, has 25 years of experience in planning, development and governance. She is a recognized authority on nonprofit consulting.

She began her management career in philanthropy and communications at one of the largest healthcare institutions in Chicago but she has dedicated her self to the profession of a consulting. She spent seven years with one of the largest consulting companies to nonprofits and was a member of their long-distance learning faculty. She has helped organizations achieve significant financial and organizational objectives.

Penelope is a skilled communicator and teacher, having taught graduate nonprofit management at the School of the Art Institute and Columbia College, Chicago, and was a distinguished visiting professor at American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Cagney is the author of "Nonprofit Consulting Essentials: What Every Nonprofit and Consultant Needs to Know (Jossey-Bass/Alliance of Nonprofit Management, San Francisco, CA 2010) and editor of “Beyond Profit: the Complete Guide to Managing the Nonprofit Organization,” (Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, England, 1991) and also a contributor to “A Dictionary for Artists, Performers, Managers and Entrepreneurs,” (Simon & Schuster, 1998). She has written extensively for such publications as Fund Raising Management, The Nonprofit Times, Foundation News and Chicago Philanthropy and was a regular columnist for Charity (UK). She is the originator of the Good Advice Blog in the "Chronicle of Philanthropy."