The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave: How You Can Inspire Someone to Give Generously [Paperback]

Harvey McKinnon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1889102377 | ISBN-13: 978-1889102375 | Publication Date: June 16, 2008 | Edition: 1

What if, before visiting donors, you or your volunteer knew EVERY question they were going to ask? It would be like knowing, in advance, who was going to win the Super Bowl or what numbers were going to be picked in the lottery. It would be devilishly unfair. And it would give you a HUGE advantage. But that's what Harvey McKinnon has done in his book, The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave. With the help of fundraisers throughout the U.S. and Canada, he has identified the key questions, which is advantage enough. But pity the poor donor McKinnon ALSO reveals the answers that donors find irresistible. It's almost criminal what McKinnon has done. Thankfully it's for a good cause and the book nicely complements Asking, by Jerold Panas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Harvey McKinnon hits a home run here. These penetrating questions are destined to increase your philanthropic impact. Make time to read The 11 Questions." -- William C. McGinly, Ph.D., CAE, President and CEO, Association for Healthcare Philanthropy

"Harvey McKinnon is an outstanding fundraiser and an exceptionally lucid writer. The 11 Questions combines both talents to offer the kind of distilled wisdom that will enlighten anyone called upon to raise funds. Every one of these questions perfectly hits the mark." -- Bernard Ross, Director, The Management Centre, London, UK

"Laced with anecdotes and stories, The 11 Questions is enjoyable and real. This is a must-buy for schools and other organizations desperate to alleviate the anxiety their own volunteers fear when `making the ask.'" -- Patrick F. Bassett, President, National Association of Independent Schools

"People often ask me which book they should read first to learn about fundraising. Now I've got an easy answer: Harvey McKinnon's The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks. I can't think of any other piece of writing in the fundraising field that packs so much insight into so few pages." -- Mal Warwick, Author, Raising Thousand Dollar Gifts by Mail

"The 11 Questions contains straightforward, practical advice that ALL fundraisers should know. I have encountered these questions throughout my fundraising career and only wish I had Harvey's insight earlier; it would have made certain situations a lot easier!" --Paulette V. Maehara, President and CEO, Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Emerson & Church Publishers; 1 edition (June 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889102377
• ISBN-13: 978-1889102375
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Nonprofit Organizations & Charities

More About the Author

HARVEY MCKINNON is an inspirational speaker and trainer. He has helped to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for non-profits from Amnesty International to the Canadian Cancer Society to UNICEF. He is the author of four critically-acclaimed books. His fundraising consulting company, Harvey McKinnon Associates, works for a wide variety of causes in Canada and the US. He has served on many business and non-profit boards. A former radio columnist for CBC Radio in Canada, McKinnon has been published in many newspapers including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Vancouver Sun. He has also produced several award-winning documentary films, including "Side by Side: Women Against AIDS", a biography of William Shatner and "The Black Sea in Crisis". McKinnon lives with his family in Vancouver, Canada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good overall understanding for fundraising, but geared toward newer fundraisers, September 25, 2009

By 

MichiganMom (Canton, MI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave: How You Can Inspire Someone to Give Generously (Paperback)

I purchased this after an email from a publication stating what a great book this is for fundraisers - a "must". I disagree. As a seasoned fundraiser with over 8 years of experience, I found this book to be for those entering the field or with under 2 years of experience. It is a basic overall understanding of fundraising.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harvey may know more about this than anyone in North America, August 3, 2008

By 

Paul Rogat Loeb "Author Soul of a Citizen and... (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave: How You Can Inspire Someone to Give Generously (Paperback)

An amazing gem of a book. I've been fundraising for social change projects for nearly forty years, and Harvey outlines every key lesson I've learned, and a wealth of lessons I hadn't thought of. If you want to get involved in your community and help make change, at some point you're going to have to raise money, whether from bake sales, monthly pledges, or major donors. You want to know what makes people respond, but you want to proceed with integrity, not some hit and run sales job. Harvey teaches you how. I wish I had this book twenty years ago, but I'm glad I have it now. In fact, I'm in the middle of fundraising for a major voter engagement project, and found it enormously helpful to overcome my own fears and hesitations as I picked up the phone to call people and ask if they could help. Essential for anyone who ever raises money for a worthy cause.

Paul Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time and The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What do donors really want? Start reading., July 1, 2008

By 

Thomas Ahern (Foster, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave: How You Can Inspire Someone to Give Generously (Paperback)

An industry classic is born, I think. This book is unlike any other. It stuffs decades of "in the trenches" fundraising know-how into 100 chatty pages you can read in under an hour.

Harvey McKinnon's career as a fundraiser began in the 1970s, and he's been asking for money ever since. His firm, with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, has an international client list, ranging from Amnesty International Canada to the American Institute for Cancer Research to Australia's ActionAid; with special depth in health care and environmental defense. I mention all this because (1) Harvey knows a ton of people, many of whom contributed stories to this book; (2) his personal experience is top shelf; and (3) his eponymous firm is extraordinarily successful. Why does he have such a great client list? There's just one reason: he knows how to raise money. And what he knows he shares in this book. Harvey's your gracious, amusing, enthralling host. But he's not alone. You'll meets lots of other fundraisers and hear their tales of triumph and misstep. Answering donors' questions well, especially the unspoken but predictable ones, is a secret -- maybe THE secret -- to success in fundraising.

This book, I expect, will prove both comforting for fundraising veterans and empowering for people new to the field. It takes a vast profession and reduces it to 11 key questions you repeatedly need to answer.