In 1987, Richard co-founded The Richard Norman Company (TRNC) and its affiliate company Robertson Mailing List Company (RMLC). Over the next three and a half decades, TRNC became well known in conservative and Republican political circles as the premier direct mail fundraising agency. TRNC raised funds for seven presidential campaigns, dozens of US Senate, gubernatorial and congressional campaigns, the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and hundreds of conservative nonprofit educational foundations and grassroots lobbies. One of the more notable efforts he managed was Citizens United, whose fundraising efforts he built from scratch to over 200,000 donors in 24 months. This resulted in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision of Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which changed the fundraising landscape forever. In 1994, he took a sabbatical to serve as National Finance Director for LtCol. Oliver L. North’s (USMC Ret.) campaign for the U.S. Senate from Virginia, where he raised over $24 million, breaking the record he helped set in 1984 with Senator Helms. This was raised not only using direct mail but also extensive use of telemarketing and fundraising events, finance committee and major donor development.

Returning from the North campaign, Richard launched a new voter persuasion mail company, Welch, Norman & Coley, which quickly became one of the nation’s largest voter persuasion direct mail agencies. Richard launched a major doner fundraising events company in 1995 that quickly became the nation’s premier event companies raising tens of millions of dollars for conservative and Christian organizations and campaigns. In 1998, he took another sabbatical to become the National Finance Director for former Vice President Dan Quayle’s PAC, Campaign America. This was used as a vehicle to raise funds for Quayle’s exploratory committee for a potential run for president in 2000. From 1995-2005, Richard managed the fundraising efforts for House Majority Whip, and later the House Majority Leader Tom Delay and his political action committee, ARMPAC. Richard launched Active Engagement (AE), an email fundraising agency in 2009. AE became and remains one of the nation’s leading email fundraising agencies In 2010, Richard took a four-year sabbatical from TRNC to serve as National Finance Director for Tea Party Patriots, (TPP). When he began, the organization was struggling financially and had raised less than half a million dollars in its first year. Over the next four years, TPP raised over one hundred million dollars and built a donor base of nearly one million donors. In this effort, Richard utilized not only direct mail but email fundraising, telemarketing, telephone town halls, direct response television, direct response radio and major donor and event fundraising. Long-term clients of TRNC included American Conservative Union, Media Research Center, Freedom Alliance, US Justice Foundation and hundreds of other nonprofit organizations.

Over the 35 years that Richard owned TRNC he also launched a major donor event fundraising division that raised tens of millions of dollars for political committees and nonprofit organizations. He also launched a digital fundraising agency, Active Engagement, which he sold to his son, JD, in 2019. Active Engagement remains one of the nation’s leading email fundraising agencies.

Richard was recognized in 1997 as a “Mover and Shaker” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine and as “Republican Fundraiser of the Year” in 2012 by the American Association of Political Consultants. He was also awarded the “Andrew Jackson Defender of Freedom” award by the US Taxpayers Association and was recognized at CPAC ’95 by the American Conservative Union for his efforts to defeat “Hillary Healthcare.” He has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Washington Times and Wall Street Journal. Richard sold TRNC to Axiom Strategies in April 2022. Richard remained as president of TRNC for three years and completed his service with Axiom in March 2025.

In April 2025, Richard launched Richard Norman Consulting to assist conservative and Republican nonprofit organizations and candidates in meeting their maximum fundraising potential. Richard and his wife, Vickie, have been married for 44 years and continue to reside in Virginia, dividing their time between Loudoun and Nelson Counties. They have traveled to six continents and over 60 countries. The Normans have a Blue Ridge Mountain resort called The Retreat at Crabtree Falls, which is managed by their daughter, BethAnne, where they spend time. The Normans have two married adult children and four grandchildren. In his spare time, Richard enjoys working out, golfing, skiing, travel, shooting sports, hiking, biking, cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs and spending time with his four grandchildren. Richard serves, or has served, on the boards of Freedom Alliance, Joe Gibbs’ Youth for Tomorrow, Dominion Academy, Cornerstone Christian Academy, Virginia Institute for Public Policy, Bluefield University, American Association of Political Consultants and the University of Virginia Center for Politics. The Normans are active participants at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg.