Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 512 pages
- Published by: Wiley
- Edition: 2nd Edition March 15, 2002
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0471209872
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0471209874
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Book Dimensions:
9 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
- Weighs: 2.1 pounds
Reader Reviews
As fundraising books go, this is a pretty good one. I didn't love it because it was kind of dry. But I'm going to throw it a bone with a 5-star because it is packed with content. And I didn't see any inaccuracies in what it talks about. This book concentrates on the methods and techniques nonprofits use to promote annual giving or donations. It's about what nonprofit fundraisers call Annual Giving Programs (AGPs) which help nonprofits finance their annual operating budgets. Other fundraising topics could have been major gift capital and endowment campaigns, and major gift planned giving campaigns. But they were not covered in this book AGPs are the backbone to any nonprofit's fundraising efforts. They are like the sales prospecting efforts that salespeople perform when trying to create a customer or client base for a for-profit venture. It's strictly a numbers game. The more people contacted by the nonprofit month in and month out, then the more likely the nonprofit will find people interested in giving a little to the nonprofit. In sales one tries to build rapport with prospects and turn them into candidates or buyers. As a relationship develops between a salesperson and a prospect, the more likely the prospect is to become a buyer. And once a buyer buys once, then they are more likely to buy again and again as long as the salesperson does not trash the relationship that has developed. Well, the process followed in AGPs works the same way. In this book the author explains that nonprofits hit the donor prospects with direct mail pieces. When a recipient nibbles, then they follow up with a request for a small donation while at the same time attempting to build rapport with them. Over the next year a few more contacts are made to further build rapport and start a relationship. As the relationship evolves (if it does), then the donor ends up giving more and more gifts as time goes on. Ultimately, over many years the nonprofit has such a well-developed database of donors that it starts hitting on them for major gifts (over $10,000) and planned gifts (over $10,000) as part of its AGP. Besides direct mail which the author explains very well in this book, AGPs in their second year or later use telephone and telemarketing, and email and Web sites, to the mix of methods to move a first time giver into being a second time giver and more. There are also membership drives, activities, and special events that represent yet other ways nonprofits build robust databases of donors that support them. Whether or not direct mail is ever used by a nonprofit for fundraising, just about all nonprofits seek sponsorships from corporations and grants from foundations as part of their AGPs. And smart nonprofits also take advantage of publicity and public relations efforts to attract donors. Some resort to advertising, but this is not the norm. My favorite part of the book was Chapter 13 that gave a wonderful overview of how to manage a comprehensive AGP. The book is clear, well organized, and fairly well written. I also very much liked the inclusion of the List of Exhibits (many exhibits were included). It made the book easier to digest and to use as a resource. 5 stars!
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