Guide on the Side Collective helps mission driver leaders move transformative ideas forward.
We bring experience from inside the work: leading nonprofits, raising money, running capital campaigns, advising funders, building systems and grant programs, and sitting in plenty of rooms where the answer wasn’t immediately obvious.
Our job is to go into the storm with you, read the waters, help you find your bearings, and chart the course forward.
30+ Mission Driven Organizations Served
30+ Years of Collective Experience
$100M+ Raised by Our Clients
Meet the Team
Cody McGraw | Founder & Principal
Cody is an advisor, strategist, facilitator, and coach who helps mission driven organizations build the structure and strategy needed to move ambitious ideas forward. Their experience includes serving as a U.S. Army officer, where they built operational infrastructure for units and learned to lead through complexity and uncertainty.
For more than 13 years, Cody has worked across nonprofit leadership, fundraising, capital campaigns, philanthropy, organizational strategy, and entrepreneurship. Their roles have included Development Director, Capital Campaign Director, founder of a venture backed tech company, grant strategist, and philanthropic advisor.
Cody specializes in designing and navigating large scale capital campaigns, building the strategy, infrastructure, and systems behind the work while coaching executive directors, boards, and staff through every stage of the process. Their work has spanned houselessness, food access, disability, workforce development, public policy, climate, religion, LGBTQIA+ rights, and community development.
He holds a B.S. in Strategic Communications from Olivet Nazarene University and completed Portland State University’s Certificate in Nonprofit Fundraising in partnership with The People’s Accelerator.
Cody is a dual US and New Zealand citizen who now splits his time between Spain and New Zealand.
Andrea Swiedom | Founder, Senior Advisor & Sustainability Strategist
Andrea Swiedom is the founder and sustainability strategist at Swiedom Consulting. Ocean and Andrea have worked together on large-scale projects for more than five years. As a Senior Advisor and certified grant writer, Andrea helps nonprofits navigate the often arduous process of identifying the right funding opportunities and developing compelling, comprehensive proposals.
Andrea began their career as a journalist in Western Maine, covering politics, protests, and community organizing—work that inspired their transition into a field that finances social change. With a degree in creative writing from the University of Maine, Andrea brings a storyteller’s eye to grant writing, weaving together data, anecdotes, testimonials, and organizational history to clearly communicate why a project matters and the impact it can have.
She specializes in cultivating funder relationships and preparing grant applications for private foundations as well as city, state, and federal-level government programs. While working with clients, Andrea also builds sustainable tools that serve clients well beyond the application submission, including prospect calendars, general language master documents, and annual development plans.
Additionally, Andrea is part of a cross-sector collaborative of consultants specializing in data analysis, internal systems design, project management, and financial analysis. With expertise in supporting grassroots organizations, Andrea and their team combine meticulous attention to compliance, budget and deliverables alignment, and funder communication to help clients fund their mission-driven goals.
Andrea is now based in France, but continues to work closely with U.S.-based nonprofits, helping secure more than $10M in grant funding annually.
Values
Conviction
Trust
Generosity
Openness
Resilience
Flourish Together
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Have a meaningful idea, a capital campaign, or a fundraising challenge to navigate? Let’s start the conversation.
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