Customer Reviews

Relationship Fundraising: A Donor Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money

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

 

 

Burnett skillfully shows how to satisfy "the bottom line" through a positive relationship with donors. Practical, relevant tips are offered for reaching out to potential donors and making them feel part of the mission. It's a pleasure to see someone writing about "the psychology of fundraising." A well-crafted, beneficial read.

Many of us know that it's more important then ever to build relationships with our donors and prospects. Ken Burnett has been talking about it for over 10 years and the newest edition of his book on Relationship Fundraising is even more relevant today than when it was first written. Ken skillfully uses his extensive experience and insight to focus on what it really is all about through both what has already worked elsewhere and what we should strive to achieve. This book is easy and enjoyable to read and supports our ambitions for techniques including donor development and moves management but it is so much more than that. Relationship Fundraising takes lessons from yesterday and gives you the inspiration to truly get back to people and build positive lasting relationships into the future. Each of us can benefit from going beyond the buzz words and see what it is really all about or at least re-establish the importance of Relationship Fundraising by reading this invaluable book.
Pamela Brown Gignac is a 20 year fundraising and prospect research veteran in Canada and the UK and currently Vice President, JMG Solutions Inc, Ontario, Canada.

I thought this was a wonderful book. It includes 14 chapters and a glossary. Although I'm not sure the glossary added to the book. I don't view the book to be a complete treatise on nonprofit fundraising, but the author says he did not expect it to be. There is no coverage of special events, grant proposals, volunteers, or local fundraising activities. What this book talks about, and does it well, is nonprofits and their development arms need to approach donors with mutual consideration, thoughtfulness, and appreciation.

The world has gotten competitive. And nonprofit fundraising exists in an environment where technology and aggressive marketing tactics are the norm in how to do business. This book points out that technology and aggressive marketing have the potential to undermine the trust and confidence that are so important to effective fundraising. Fundraisers who understand that fundraising is about "building relationships" will not be obsessed with fundraising techniques and formulas. Instead, they will merely practice the art of fundraising that is all about building relationships.

This book was first written in the early 1990s and made a substantial contribution to the UK fundraising community's library of tomes on how to practice fundraising. It presents a basic approach to fundraising that is time tested and works. Now, in the 21st century, the author has updated his book by incorporating his answers to questions he has received about the first edition, and by adding some new thoughts he has on the subject. The material covered in this book is important; everyone involved in fundraising for nonprofits should understand what is covered in this book and take that understanding with them when they do their work as fundraisers.

I would have liked the book better if there had been one more chapter included. The author is critical of technology and aggressive marketing tactics. But he doesn't provide his view as to how technology and marketing tactics should be used specifically. I think the book would benefit with a chapter that would cover some of these specifics. In my humble opinion, technology and marketing tactics are still very important and critical to fundraising success. It's just how they can be used so donors are trusting of nonprofits that could have been better explained.

This book was an easy read. Each chapter is followed by a summary called "action points." And I liked this feature. I also liked very much the summary of the book provided at page xxii of the book's Preface. At the end of the book is a lengthy bibliography. Many good books are included in that list, and the reader will probably want to search some of them out for further reading. 5 stars!

Ken Burnett is one of the world's great, and most respected, fundraisers, and this is one of the most important fundraising books you'll ever read. Relationship Fundraiisng is on every top 10 list I've ever seen. And it deserves to be. Most non-profits do not treat their donors well, and therefore raise less income than they could. When you follow Ken's advice you will raise more money for your mission. I know Ken personally and while I've raised many tens of millions for non-profits, and have been fundraising for 25 years, every time I hear Ken speak, or read his books and articles, I learn something new.

An honest appraisal of the fundraising industry and how to make it work better.

There are also many creative ideas you can adapt to your personal opportunities. Of several such books I've read recently, this was the best.

Quite a bit of emphasis on how fundraising works in the UK versus the US. Has some good suggestions that are relevant in the US. Very conversational tone and quite inspiring for a fundraising book. How relevant this is to the content of the CFRE exam, I don't know.

[NB: Get the 2002 revised edition] We should all listen to Ken Burnett and what he has to say. He has listened hard for years: to donors; people stricken with and striving against hardship; professionals in the office and the people working boots-on-ground, and he knows whereof he speaks. The subject of Relationship Fundraising: A Donor Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money is fundraising, but its ideas are applicable to corporate governance, public relations, customer satisfaction, social work, politics, parenting, marketing... It is a guide to more effectively relating to and understanding our place in a Humane world. It is both "how-to" and "why we should" - clearly illustrating, in a refreshingly personal style, the good idea it is to consider the perspective of our clients: the Contributors who give so much to our lives.
Rather than duplicate the other reviews that list the chapter details of this work, I simply want to encourage you to go ahead, risk the purchase of this and Ken's "The ZEN of Fundraising"The Zen of Fundraising: 89 Timeless Ideas to Strengthen and Develop Your Donor Relationships. If you have a heart and a brain, you will benefit significantly. And as you practice living with Ken's thoughts as a companion, the World will be a better place.
Yes, he's that good.
GregRobin Smith.

I found this book to be honest about fundraising, motivating and with great ideas and experience to further the business of fundraising

Odd that another reviewer marked this book as "dated." Donor centered fund-raising is never dated and is, I would venture to say, the only honest way to sustainable fund-raising. Ken's book provides many marvelous examples of different types of donors - to sort of get a picture of where their heads are at :). I, like many, stumbled into fund-raising many years ago. Fortunately I had a direct marketing/sales background - with the emphasis on "direct." Understanding what motivates your donors is the key to raising money and, while communication technologies have changed, that understanding perhaps even more critical to knowing how to use these new technologies. Building relationships with donors is indeed possible via email and via social media. The key is knowing how. A "must have" for your fund-raising library.

Considered a hit in the 1990s with Europeans, the audience for which this book was written. That was when Europeans knew little about true philanthropy and nothing about major donor relations. They were mostly wedded to direct mail and low-end funders. The author was a significant force in lower-end donor direct mail fundraising. Thus, little was ever of true significance for US and Canadian professionals. Considering the total absence of discussion of the phenomenal advances made with online communications linked to CRMs and participatory online membership activities for nonprofits, which are developing real relationships between nonprofits and their constituents, I doubt the value of this rather quaintly old fashioned book.