Customer Reviews

Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits: Real-World Strategies That Work

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a parent, I'm involved in fundraising for our child's school and also do volunteer consulting to a number of child related not for profits. I had chosen this book in hopes of learning how to more effectively raise funds for both.

This is a wonderful book if you are raising funds for a large not for profit...particularly in structuring proposals and major solicitations. However, this is not the book for the "kitchen" fundraiser...the parent or not for profit volunteer whose tools are limited to evening hours,personal passion and a few hundred dollars to spend at a big box office supply store.

I would love to read a book (of better yet, several) on fundraising tactics for schools and not for profits with limited means.

As a member of as non-profit board, I was immediately interested in this book. While I enjoy supporting my organization's mission and contributing my time, talent and resources, development isn't my strong suit. This book is for both novice and experienced members of non-profits and should be standard issue to every employee and board member. After reading this book, I handed it to our executive director with lots and lots of sticky notes giving my ideas on what we should be doing differently. Don't you just love board members like me!

The book's audience is the staff and board of a non-profit, but the primary focus is that of a board member and how you can direct the organization. We as board members need to take that overview of the organization in order to help it see the big picture. However this book expertly advises readers not just on the big picture of how to raise money for your organization, but covers the minutiae - such as writing effective solicitation letters, how to perform big and small tasks, and most importantly, how to effectively thank and recognize donors.

No stone was left unturned in this book and it is a fundraising bible. Experienced development directors can use it as a checklist to make sure they aren't focusing on one area while ignoring others. The organization I'm on the board of right now goes for the big asks and big events, but forgets the small stuff. Other groups I've been involved with are great on the individual donations but never apply for grants or foundations. In particular I appreciated the section on legacy and estate gifts which I just recently went to training for. Darn, if I had this book I could have completely avoiding getting up on a Sunday morning for a three hour training session on how to ask donors to add our organization to their will or make us beneficiaries on their life insurance or retirement policies.

If it involves raising money in any way, shape or form for your organization, this book covers it in great depth. Many readers will skip to the section their organization is in most need of help. Don't. Each section is golden in its advise and suggestions. Even in those areas I thought our non-profit did well in, I saw clear areas of improvement and how we can integrate other ideas in our giving community.

As a board member, I was excited, enthused and ready for action after reading this book. How many executive directors wouldn't love to be able to give that to a board member? No need--just give them this book and your job is done. Not really. An director's job is never done, but at least this book give your board understanding the importance of development and how everything that you do as an organization involves development.

Pros: A definitive guide to helping our organization raise money in every way shape and form.
Cons: Absolutely none, expect maybe for the fact it means I can't ignore development issues as as board member anymore. Great, more work for me.

5 out of 5

Bray, Legal Editor for Nolo Press, and author of "Becoming a US Citizen," uses her background as development director, staff attorney and advisory council member in the nonprofit community to offer readers the third edition of this excellent Nolo Press title.

Knowing that many fundraising-readers are hard-pressed to read a book of this length, she writes with the goal in mind of distilling and assembling in a straightforward manner "the most important things you need to know in order to do your fundraising job well." She does an excellent job -- as the end result is an essential, authoritative guide that professionals will want to have on their shelf to pick up and use anytime the need arises.

Highly recommended for college and public library collections and anyone whose work involves fundraising.

R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University

Nonprofit organizations rely on fundraising to exist. Success or failure of many nonprofits depends on the ability to raise funds, because with the money to operate, the charitable mission and the tax-exempt status won't mean much. An organization may have the best intentions, but without capital, and that means money, the success of the organization will be minimal if at all. That's where a book like "Effective Fundraising For Nonprofits: Real-World Strategies That Work" by Ilona Bray, J.D., comes in. It is an extremely informative book, written in plain English, that features advice and stories from over fifty experienced fundraisers, foundation staffers, journalists, and more, regarding everything you need to know to get fundraising for your organization.

This book really is your fundraising companion, and right from the start it lays out what they book will be able to do for you. Then it delves into very informative chapters. The first focuses on fundraising tools, people, skills, and equipment and technology. From there, Chapter two helps you develop a fundraising plan. I think this is such an important step that is often neglected.

From there, chapter three looks at how you can attract individual supporters, and then in the next chapter there are strategies to keep the givers giving. Chapter six looks at midscale and major donors, while chapter seven focuses on funds from the great beyond, bequests and legacy gifts. The next chapters covers special events and how they can successfully help you raise money for your organization.

Chapter nine looks at raising money through business or sales activities, while chapter ten provides information on seeking grants from foundations, corporations, and government.

The next two chapters look at things that I didn't really think of when I first got the book, but find they are very important pieces of the puzzle and plan. Chapter eleven is about creating printed communications materials such as brochures, newsletters, and annual reports. The next chapter is all about designing your website to draw in donors. The final chapter, thirteen, covers some strategies for outreach by both traditional and social media.

Like most Nolo books, there is an Appendix that contains various worksheets (10 in all) to assist with your fundraising, these include: Fundraising Strategy Chart, Grant Priorities Summary Chart, and a worksheet to check your website's fundraising effectiveness, among others.

I wanted this book because I'm involved with a nonprofit, and I may be taking a much larger role with its fundraising in the next year. This is just the book to help me create a fundraising plan and take the organization to a higher level. There really are a lot of good strategies provided. I recommend it highly for anyone who needs to raise their nonprofit revenues to successfully fund their nonprofit's mission.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., is the Executive Director of a nonprofit and the author of a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer.

Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits: Real-World Strategies that Work is a step-by-step guide to raising money for your nonprofit organization. It is well-written and easy to understand, with real-life examples from nonprofits throughout the country. There is also an appendix with worksheets on things like cost analysis and income projections. The book is divided into chapters, and it is not necessary to read them in order, or even to read all of them; this is helpful if you just have a few problem areas you would like to focus on.

The chapters include:
-Fundraising Tools
-Developing Your Fundraising Plan
-Attracting Individual Supporters
-How to Keep the Givers Giving
-Midscale and Major Donors
-Bequest and Legacy Gifts
-Special Events
-Business or Sales Activities
-Seeking Grants
-Creating Printed Communications Materials
-Designing Your Website
-Media Outreach

While the book is general enough to be useful to nonprofits of all focus areas, I think it will be most beneficial to medium-sized organizations and small organizations that have at least a few employees. Extremely small groups with 0-2 employees might find that most of the ideas in this guide are beyond the capability of an organization with drastically limited manpower. Additionally, people who work for large national or international nonprofits will likely find that their organization has already encountered and addressed the topics discussed in this book. However, most people from medium-sized nonprofits will find some good tips in this guide.

If you're a seasoned fundraiser, with years of solid experience and success under your belt, this is NOT the book for you. It's far too basic and "hand-holding," and you'll likely find it worthless.

However, if, like me, you're relatively new to the fundraising side of board membership, you'll find this a wonderful introduction to the many sides of raising money for your organization.

Let's face it: soliciting money for a 501c3 organization in this economy is difficult enough. It takes planning and WORK. There are NO "silver bullets" or magic formulae that will give you the money you need to keep your organization afloat. This book gives you practical advice on how to put together a plan that allows you to utilize the resources available to your organization (people, local businesses, etc.), how to go after grants and larger or longer-term funding sources, and how to motivate and maintain a "roster" of regular supporters. I found several ideas that I was able to put in place for my organization.

I have worked my whole life in Non-Profits and I was wondering if this book my help me with some difficulties I am experiencing in Latin America trying to raise money for a misiionary church activity. To be truthful, this very long book is 100% correct in everything it says but it is so basic that unless you live in a perfect society with a perfect economy well, frankly, in my opinion, this book will be no help at all. Nolo also has a great deal of software that I have purchased over the years and agian this is only my opinion but nothing they produce is helpful, not books nor softwear, unless you are asking the most incredible basic quiestions. I do not recomend this book and I am sorry to say that because I think NOLO has a great deal of potential to help the uninitated in various situations.

I am a Board member for a small non-profit and found this a useful introduction to a rather complicated, often-unpleasant, and necessary subject. Fundraising is never easy, especially in "these economic times!" The book's organization of vast quantities of data was most impressive , and I thought the section on communications was excellent (although they could have added more about legal requirements for maintaining one's non-profit status). I was impressed with the author's breadth of knowledge and would sure like to have this person on my fundraising staff (or organizing my computer!).

In order to balance my opinion, get a more experienced perspective, and increase teh sample size, I showed the book to three other people: Our non-profit's Director, and the treasurer and fund-raising chief for a much larger non-profit. The former thought it had good information, but sadly noted all the suggestions take planning and work -- there are no "uncovered gems" or magic tricks that will suddenly release funds from some secret stash or another. The latter were less inspired and were quite aware of the book's ideas, which seemed kind of common-sense to them. Well, rebuilding an automatic transmission is simple if you know how, too. I guess fund-raising is still going to be tough. Rats.

I therefore conclude the book is a well-organized source of basic preparatory information for a small non-profit whose members are willing to dedicate the time and effort involved to look through this book, and who are motivated enough to actually do the work. I suggest using it as the basis for a "fund-raising retreat" for a smaller non-profit.

I work in fundraising, albeit mostly as a writer of proposals and other development materials, but occasionally am asked to do some direct fundraising. I got this book hoping it would help fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge and experience, as I've picked up most of what I know through osmosis.

Effective Fundraising Strategies for Nonprofits is a great overview of the development field, apparently directed mainly at small nonprofits that are starting out or branching out. It's full of explanations and good advice, from bake sales to bequests, from direct mail to sales activities. It includes samples, liberal handholding and lots of good tips and important caveats. This isn't the kind of book you'd read before launching a capital campaign; it's geared more toward day-to-day development activities, and anyone who's serious about a campaign should hire experienced personnel, whether as consultants or on staff.

For someone like me, who's worked extensively in one aspect of fundraising for many years but who's looking to branch out, it's most useful as a reference book, as some parts are far too basic. Someone who's started a nonprofit or who's thinking of entering development as a career, however, may want to read it cover to cover.

An informative introduction to the field and a useful addition to many reference shelves.

As someone who's been working in nonprofit fundraising for more than 20 years, I'm all for giving worthy organizations as many resources as possible to help them raise the money they need to do good work. This guide is a a great tool to have handy, useful both for heads of large national charities and small or start-up community groups. While not without some flaws, "Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits" makes the fundamental point that essential "real-world strategy that works" is involving the donor in the life and work of your organization -- seeing her not as an ATM, but as a true partner: they also serve who "only" write checks.

My particular area of expertise is direct marketing, primarily direct mail, fundraising, and so I was dismayed to see author Ilona Bray take the somewhat disparaging tone toward DM that people in more "sophisticated" areas of the development field often do -- as when she, for example, contrasts fundraising mail with "other more substantive" ways of communicating with donors (p. 148). Bray repeats many of the urban legends of direct mail, like "nobody reads long letters," and is so concerned with "wearing out your supporters' goodwill" (p. 149) that she encourages organizations not to mail their donors more than three or four times a year (not counting, of course, the more substantive communications that downplay asking for help). It's hard to see how some of the organizations I've worked with that mail their supporters 12, 18, or even 24 times a year have managed to stay in business at all if donors are really that easily put off. Here, much of the author's information is interpretive or anecdotal. For instance, she tells a story about a "peeved donor" who quit giving because she was getting so much mail from a given organization, without inquiring into whether the organization was mailing so often because that had in fact proven to be the most efficient and effective fundraising plan. Every fundraising professional has stories about clients who react more strongly to one or two phone calls complaining about an appeal than they do to hundreds or thousands of supporters who not only did not complain, but sent in checks in response to that appeal. It's disconcerting to see that kind of reaction essentially endorsed in this guide.

(Also, I have to say that some of the sample fundraising letters reprinted here are not really that great, and one in particular, were I the relevant creative director, I'd have sent back to the writer with "Try again" written across the top.)

Bray's analysis of who gives and why was not bad, except she was strangely silent on the question of donors' religious motivations. Even if yours is a non-religious charity, chances are the bulk of your donors are religious themselves. I encourage interested parties to read Who Really Cares by Arthur C. Brooks for more about this important insight.

The above gaps and weaknesses aside, this guide is, as I say, a useful tool, particularly on the mechanics of planning fundraising campaigns, involving volunteers and staff, recognizing potential legal and tax hurdles, and communicating your message across a variety of media. Putting the donor front-and-center in your organization -- giving her a figurative or even literal seat on your board of directors -- is the essential element of success. The world needs more effective, donor-powered charities, and this guide can help make that come to pass.