Are you raising money for a nonprofit organization with a small development office or no paid fundraising staff? Do you want to raise more money? Are you stuck in a rut with your fundraising program? Do you want to feel motivated and re-energized about fundraising? Do you need an action plan? 
50 Asks in 50 Weeks will help you: <ul>
<li>Raise more money; </li> <li>Create a basic development plan; Identify new prospects; </li> <li>Ask for gifts more frequently; </li> <li>Review the basics of fundraising; </li> <li>Work with your board on fundraising; </li> <li>Hire your first development staff member; and </li> <li>Work as a cohesive development team with your executive director, development staff members, and board members.</li> </ul>
About the Author Amy M. Eisenstein, MPA, CFRE, is the principal and owner of Tri Point Fundraising, a full-service consulting firm for nonprofit organizations and foundations. Her firm serves a wide variety of social service, educational and healthcare organizations. Before creating Tri Point Fundraising, Amy served for more than 10 years in the nonprofit sector as a director of development for large and small nonprofit organizations. These include the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College at Rutgers University, and Shelter Our Sisters, a battered-women’s shelter. For these organizations she raised millions of dollars through event planning, grant writing, capital campaigns, direct mail as well as major and planned gift solicitations. Amy is a frequent speaker at conferences and a facilitator of board retreats. She currently serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – New Jersey Chapter and is chair of the 2010 New Jersey Conference on Philanthropy. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from the Wagner Graduate School at New York University and her Bachelor’s Degree from Douglass College at Rutgers University.

50 Asks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop

Business & Money

Eisenstein, Amy

Business Development & Entrepreneurship

CharityChannel Press

Raising More with Less will take you step-by-step through creating or improving your nonprofit organization’s development program, whether you have no paid fundraising staff members or are fortunate enough to have one full-time staffer or more. It is written for the reader who is in (or will be creating) a small development shop with just one person or only a few to handle fundraising. This book is for you if you are any of these: <ul>
<li> Just starting a career in fundraising. </li> <li> An executive director or CEO of a nonprofit. </li> <li> Responsible for an organization that has limited or no history or experience with fundraising. </li> <li> A board member or other volunteer who has been charged with the responsibility of leading fundraising efforts. </li> <li> Are a seasoned fundraising professional and want to brush up on the basics and get some new ideas. </li> <li> Have become stale and want to become reenergized and reinvigorated about fundraising. </li> </ul>
About the Author Amy Eisenstein, MPA, CFRE is also the author of 50 A$ks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop and is a contributing author to You and Your Nonprofit: Practical Advice and Tips from the CharityChannel Professional Community. Through writing, speaking, and consulting, Amy helps nonprofit staff and board members raise more money for the organizations they love. She is the principal of Tri Point Fundraising, a full-service consulting firm that supports organizations with capital and annual campaigns, individual giving and major gifts programs, and provides board and staff member training and support. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences, meetings, and retreats. Amy received her master’s degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from the Wagner Graduate School at New York University and her bachelor’s degree from Douglass College at Rutgers University. She is the president-elect of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ New Jersey Chapter. She has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2004, and became a certified Master Trainer in 2009. About the In the Trenches(tm) Series This is part of the popular In the Trenches series publishing by CharityChannel Press, a project of the CharityChannel professional community. You’ll know an In the Trenches book not just by its cover, but by the author’s fun, upbeat writing style. But don’t be fooled by its down-to-earth approach and ample use of sidebars. In the Trenches books are authoritative and cover what a beginner should know to get started and progress rapidly, and what a more experienced nonprofit-sector practitioner needs to move forward in the subject.

Raising More with Less: An Essential Fundraising Guide for Nonprofit Professionals and Board Members

Amy Eisenstein guides you, in only five hours a week, to safely and surely meet the challenges of getting your organization ready for major gift fundraising, all the way up to that all-important ask—and beyond. If you’ve been in fundraising for any length of time, you’ve no doubt heard of the “90/10 Rule.” In its simplest terms, it means that 90 percent of the funding comes from 10 percent of our donors. Yet far too often, the majority of our time is spent focused on low-yield fundraising activities, such as events. Amy argues that the key to successful long-term, sustainable fundraising lies in dramatically increasing your fundraising income from individual donors. And savvy fundraisers will do well to heed her advice. But how can you get started? With Amy at the helm, guiding you in developing your organization’s major gifts program, you’ll find it’s absolutely doable. Amy doesn’t pull any punches. She makes it clear, if you’re going to succeed in major gifts, that everyone will need to be on board and that effective and consistent fundraising training is a must. It’s a commitment. Throughout the book, she explains key fundraising concepts, the difference between major gifts and capital campaigns, how to determine exactly what constitutes a major gift for your organization, the importance of gift acceptance policies, job responsibilities for your major gift team, the role of online fundraising in major gifts fundraising, the role of direct mail, maintaining your database, and more. In short, she cuts to the chase to show you that major gift fundraising is something that, yes, you can do. It just takes focus and Amy’s know-how, marvelously outlined within these pages. Part One— You Can Raise Major Gifts in Only Five Hours per Week! Chapter One: The Secret to Successful Fundraising: Creating a Culture of Philanthropy and Professionalism at Your Organization Chapter Two: Creating Your Strategy Chapter Three: The Secret Weapon of Major Gifts: Engaging Your Board Chapter Four: Creating an Army of Advocates and the Role of Social Media Chapter Five: What Does Bulk Mail Have to Do with Major Gifts? Part Two— Are You Ready to Ask for a Major Gift? Preparing to Ask Chapter Six: Who Will You Ask for Major Gifts? Chapter Seven: Researching Your Prospects: The Fine Line between Professional and Creepy Chapter Eight: The Art and Science of Getting a Meeting: How to Meet With People You Know—and with People You Don’t Chapter Nine: How to Build Deeper Relationships with Major Gift Prospects Part Three— The Moment of Truth: Asking and Beyond Chapter Ten: Get Ready to Ask Chapter Eleven: The Moment of Truth (Time to Ask) Chapter Twelve: More Than Simply Thank You Part Four— Taking Your Organization to the Next Level Chapter Thirteen: Considering a Capital Campaign? Chapter Fourteen: Can a Small Shop Really Do Planned Giving? Chapter Fifteen: Moving on Up: Taking Your Organization to the Next Level

Major Gift Fundraising for Small Shops: How to Leverage Your Annual Fund in Only Five Hours per Week

Are you raising money for a nonprofit organization with a small development office or no paid fundraising staff? Do you want to raise more money? Are you stuck in a rut with your fundraising program? Do you want to feel motivated and reenergized about fundraising? Do you need an action plan? Amy Eisenstein, MPA, ACFRE, has written a brilliant development planning tool designed to help nonprofit professionals and board members raise more money for the organizations they love. She provides easy-to-implement strategies and tips that you can implement immediately, without any additional staff or resources. If you are working in a small development shop—or if you ARE the small development shop—you want this book! By "small development office," Eisenstein means an organization with a budget of under $3 million, and/or less than three paid development staff members. This includes a "zero" development staff shop, which is an organization with no paid development staff member and where the executive director/CEO, program staff, and/or volunteers are responsible for all the fundraising. Why 50 Asks? Eisenstein has observed that staff members in average, small development offices make far fewer than 50 asks per year—and receive far fewer gifts. While 50 is a somewhat arbitrary number, it still represents a marked increase over what most small development staff shops are doing now. Most importantly, it’s an achievable number. 50 Asks in 50 Weeks, Second Edition will help you: <ul>
<li>Raise more money</li> <li>Create a basic development plan</li> <li>Identify new prospects</li> <li>Ask for gifts more frequently</li> <li>Review the basics of fundraising</li> <li>Work with your board on fundraising</li> <li>Hire your first development staff member</li> <li>Work as a cohesive development team with your executive director/CEO, development staff members, and board members</li> </ul>
This expanded edition is a development planning workbook. By the time you’ve finished it you will have created a basic annual development plan by focusing on three important aspects: <ul>
<li>The significance of asking for gifts frequently</li> <li>The importance of having a diverse funding base</li> <li>The impact of asking in the smartest possible way</li> </ul>
Eisenstein focuses on these three pillars of successful fundraising (instead of just the first) because, although the focus of the concept of 50 Asks in 50 Weeks is on asking more frequently, having a diverse funding base is also critical to your success. The third aspect, asking in the smartest possible way, recognizes the danger in focusing too much on frequency—doing so leads to making the kinds of mistakes that actually result in a decrease in gifts. Eisenstein doesn’t mince words. As she stated in her first edition, she continues to remind you that successful fundraising requires taking action, including getting out of your chair, picking up your phone, and meeting with donors. Eisenstein also addresses a big reason you may not be raising the kind of money you could: the ways you are spending your time. This isn’t just about being overworked (though that’s part of it). Frequently, "asking for gifts" falls to the bottom of a long list of urgent, but ultimately less important, work. Even experienced fundraisers can get sidetracked with tasks ranging from event planning to managing the database or writing thank-you letters. While extremely important, though, these tasks (among many others) don’t lead directly to any additional income for the organization. To raise more money, you must move asking back to the top of your priority list. Eisenstein shows you how.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eisenstein, Amy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Eisenstein, Amy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eisenstein, Amy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

50 Asks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop

Raising More with Less: An Essential Fundraising Guide for Nonprofit Professionals and Board Members

Major Gift Fundraising for Small Shops: How to Leverage Your Annual Fund in Only Five Hours per Week

50 Asks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop