Customer Reviews

Essential Principles for Fundraising Success: An Answer Manual for the Everyday Challenges of Raising Money

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

 

 

Although others will be doing fund-raising for Earth Intelligence Network, to fill in whatever our parent sponsor cannot provide, I found this book to be extraordinarly useful to me, so that I could understand in detail what is expected and required.

Bottom line: Fund-raising is a *professional* *year-long* orchestrated, documented *demanding* endeavor. It is neither easy nor an after-thought.

Over-all this book is a best in class offering that is superbly organized, superbly presented, and clearly authoritative. I noticed right away on the jacket blurbs that both givers and seekers of funds were represented.

The quick summary (there is no substitute for reading the book in detail, and probably annually as well), is found in the 9 principles on page 6:

1) Face to face solicitation is the most effective means

2) Individual giving (not foundation or corporate) is the greatest return

3) Money FOLLOWS involvement

4) Challenge gifts can solve most fund-raising problems

5) The board must lead if others are to follow (in giving)

6) Make it personal

7) Believe in volunteers

8) Offer opportunities

9) Practice sequential fundraising, starting at the top (the big gift)

A few highlights that stayed with me:

+ Range of Gifts table very useful device for planning and presenting

+ Core concepts credited to Ms. "Be" Haas--the authors are respectful

+ Key ingredients are the case statement, sequential fundraising, and the strongest possible campaign leadership

+ Connect to donors (DEVELOPMENT) first, ask LATER

+ 80% of giving is individual

+ Board membership (another book, not this one, says put them on the stationary) is the most powerful signal

+ Focus on personalized, face to face wherever possible

+ Volunteers are both a form of giving, and a form of connecting to others

+ MAKE YOUR CASE--"Need" is NOT a case, "Impact" is...

+ Prospect research is a sub-discipline now

- Helps find donors who are both able to give and passionate about the cause you represent

- Philanthropic history is more important than total wealth

- Websites exist for "conducting prospect research"

The authors shy away from recommending specific individuals or institutes but they are very professional and provide more than adequate pointers to specialty websites that I would not have been able to find myself.

+ Ethics matters

+ Annual campaigns are life-blood of the organization

+ November-December are the hot months for end of year deductable giving

+ Philanthropy 400 is a key reference

+ Capital campaigns every ten years or so

+ Planning giving is a long-term strategy but hugely promising

+ Foundations are NEXT TO LAST with Corporations LAST.

The chapter on technology is excellent, and covers the basics:

01 Website including "donate now" button

02 Fundraising software, one size does NOT fit all

03 Avoid spam, know the STATE law, quality matters

04 Email delivery of newsletters or other value is good

Stewardship is its own sub-dsicipline, the nurturing and appreciation of those who give and cannot be forgotten or taken for granted.

I have a full two pages of notes, not for this review, but really great ideas tailored to our program that I would never, ever, have thought about without reading this book.

This is a great book, a serious book, one you cannot do without (IMHO).

I just finished reading the book. After serving the non profit sector for over 20 years it is nice to have an easy to read, yet comprehensive publication for everyone to learn from. It will be required reading for all of our new hires at my organization. I cannot think of a better way to learn how to properly raise money in a variety of manners.

Jay

I've served on the boards of a number of organizations that have developed very strong fundraising capabilities -- and some that have not. The latter group could catch up quickly by reading this book. Authors Carlson and Alexander have covered all the key topics in an easy to read and easily referenced format. Their depth of experience is evident throughout. Anyone involved in nonprofit fundraising should invest the time to read and appreciate these "essential principles."

I liked this book. I purchased a copy back in 2005 when I was learning everything I could about fundraising. It certainly covers many of the things I had learned (and was learning) during my stint as a consultant to nonprofits regarding capital campaigns. I found this book to be a marketing vehicle for the authors' Internet-based fundraising consulting firm. It has the feel of a blog since most of the book is written in question-answer format. And the questions and answers are lifted from work product produced by answering questions of patrons of the firm's Web site.

This book was a very easy read for me. It covered its topic well and flowed pretty good from beginning to end. It explains that successful fundraising requires the mastery of three key concepts:

1. Develop a Case Statement

2. Develop a Campaign Plan (Fundraising Plan)

3. Identify the strongest possible campaign leadership

Since I visualize a Campaign Plan as starting with an annual effort (annual campaign), I would have liked the book better if the chapters were reordered as follows:

5. Annual Campaign

4. Prospect Research

6. Direct Mail

11. Grants

12. Corporate Dollars

7. Special Events

8. Major Gifts

10. Planned Giving

9. Capital Campaigns

I'm used to the Range of Gift Table to be referred to as a Donor Pyramid (DP). And I didn't see a reference to DP anywhere in the book. This surprised me. I found Chapter 1 to be pretty good. I found Chapter 2 to be lacking in substance and good organization. There was content there, but it just did not help pull the book together. Why jump into capital campaigns at the outset? I would have liked the book much better if Chapter 2 were to be expanded and broken into 2 or three chapters. And it seemed like the blurb on prospect research was out of place by being included in Chapter 2.

I loved Chapter 3 about Nonprofit Boards. I thought it covered its topic very well. I think I would have liked the book better if each of the chapters had better introductions and conclusions. Since most chapters are not very long and the "blog entries" that filled the book were each headed by a boldfaced question, I don't think the chapter intros needed to include bulleted lists of the blog entry headings. All in all, this was a good book. And I recommend it for any fundraising expert's resource shelf. 4 stars!

The quest for funding is a high-pressure, never-ending process for nonprofit organizations large and small. Authors G. Douglass Alexander and Kristina J. Carlson break the process down into manageable pieces while covering each major avenue that fundraising professionals travel in the search for financial support. The authors use a question and answer format to explain and illustrate the premise outlined at the beginning of every chapter. Packed with useful, applicable information from cover to cover, this book deals with a range of topics including the basic principles of fundraising, annual and capital campaigns, special events, major gifts, foundation funding and stewardship. Such a comprehensive, well-organized analysis of any one subject is rare. We strongly recommend this book as a primer for any individual or group seeking guidance for a strategic approach to raising funds.