The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communication reveals ways of communicating that are proven to motivate donors to give generously, wholeheartedly, and repeatedly. Jeff Brooks, one of America's top fundraising writers, takes you on a step-by-step tour of the unique strategies, writing style, and design techniques of irresistible fundraising messages. This easy-to-read and entertaining book will help you skip years of learning curve and start writing, designing, and thinking like a seasoned fundraising pro on the very next project you tackle. Whether you're new to fundraising or a battle-scarred veteran, this go-to resource will boost your confidence, your career, and your revenue. Complements Tom Ahern's book, Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes.

The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications: Real-World, Field-tested Strategies for Raising More Money

Business & Money

Brooks, Jeff

Business Culture

Emerson & Church

The first edition of Fundraising Realities ranks in the top three bestselling fundraising books of all time. This second edition could vault it into first place. Without wasting a word, David Lansdowne distills the essence of big-gifts fundraising into 44 'realities' and explains each of them in a way board members will grasp immediately. Companion book to Jerold Panas's classic book, Asking.

Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face: A 1-hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations

David Lansdowne

Foreword by Jerold Panas

Marketing & Sales

Which of the following best describes your board: Phenomenal, fantastic, astonishing, boffo? Okay, pretty good is more like it. That's the perspective Andy Robinson takes in his book, Great Boards for Small Groups. Andy knows that most boards are made up of well-meaning people who want to help. Transforming them into a powerhouse is unrealistic. But getting them to over-achieve isn't. If your board needs clearly defined objectives, meetings with more focus, broader participation in fundraising, and more follow-through between meetings, Andy will help you chop through the thicket. Granted, even after your board absorbs Great Boards for Small Groups, the adjectives above might still be a stretch. But Andy is betting that at the very least, Exceptional is a label that will apply.

Great Boards for Small Groups: A 1-Hour Guide to Governing a Growing Nonprofit

Robinson, Andy

Management & Leadership

Perhaps you're skeptical.After reading the title of this book, you’re saying: “Sure, Red Cross and Salvation Army can raise tons of money with email, but my agency isn’t a brand name. You’re telling me I can do the same!?” Well, no. Author Madeline Stanionis isn’t claiming that. She’s President of Donordigital, not Pollyanna. What she is saying is that you can raise a healthy amount ¬– thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars ¬– if you approach email fundraising with a measure of intelligence and creativity.And you’ve got to hand it to Stanionis. Any consultant who would give away the store as she does in this book has something grander in mind than her own self interest.And give away the store is what the author does. Generously dispensing advice, insider tips, and recommendations she usually commands tidy sums for, Stanionis reveals precisely what you need to do, step by step, to raise substantial money with email.And while it’s not as simple as sending hastily written emails every week or month, neither is it unduly complicated or time-consuming.At heart, raising thousands of dollars with email is all about building your list, using timing to your advantage, crafting a series of coherent messages, presenting your email in a visually appealing way, and carefully observing your returns for clues that can guide your future efforts.That’s it really. And any organization following Stanionis’ trenchant advice will see immediate results.Further, there’s plenty of material in the book to customize and adapt, as Stanionis offers a wealth of sample emails from diverse organizations.And taking it a step further, in the Resources section of the book, the author shows you how to identify just the help you might need (a "messaging vendor" who can send your emails, for example).Other books talk about “Internet fundraising," which usually encompasses e-commerce strategies such as online shopping malls and auctions. That’s all well and good, but many of us want to know one simple thing ¬¬– how can we raise more money with email? And do it now? Raising Thousands (if Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars with Email puts that question to rest.

The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (If Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars With Email

Stanionis, Madeline

To attract attention to your cause, you could: -Paint your building Day-Glo orange -Blare hip hop music from the rooftop -Have staff members sport Mohawk haircuts But if you're a bit less bombastic, and searching for innovative (and more palatable) ways to attract ongoing attention, you'll fare much better with Joseph Barbato's new book, Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves.First, let's make clear what this book is NOT.It is not a guide for writing press releases.It is not a manual for creating a speaker's bureau.It is not a treatise offering PR palaver.All of those hairs have been split … many times over.Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves is something far more useful – and invigorating – to those wanting to advance the good work of their organization.Think of it as a "Trade Secrets Revealed" book, one allowing you to accomplish three key objectives for your cause: 1) Greater visibility 2) A broader constituency 3) More money raised And who better to write it than Joseph Barbato, a widely respected pro who's worked both sides of the aisle. For 20 years he toiled in the public information departments of various nonprofits. Now he heads an award-winning firm that works with some of America's top nonprofits.After reading Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves, here are just a few of the skills you'll become more proficient at: o Sharpening your organization's niche o Identifying the range of people who benefit from your work … thereby targeting your audiences with greater precision o Cultivating the right media people, locally, regionally, and nationally if appropriate o Organizing your website most efficiently for the press o Making a persuasive pitch, in writing and over the phone o Becoming the "go to" person for reporters and others, and o Learning how to package your expertise to gain even greater exposure With more than a million nonprofit organizations in existence, there's a lot of noise out there. Shouting won't get you noticed – everyone's doing that. And everyone's tuning it out. What will attract attention is following Joseph Barbato's field-tested advice. Take his insider wisdom to heart. It spills over every single page of this book.Then, even if you whisper, rest assured you'll still be heard.

The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves

Barbato, Joseph

Today, countless organizations are raising more money with their newsletter than with traditional mail appeals. And after reading Tom Ahern's acclaimed book, you'll understand why. Great newsletters, as distinguished from the mundane ones many of us receive, have so much more going for them. For starters, they deliver real news (not tired features such as "From the Director's Desk'' and "Introducing Our New Staff"). They make the donor feel important. They use emotional triggers to spur action. They're designed in a way to attract both browsers and readers. And they don't depend on dry statistics to make the organization's case. The essence of Ahern's book centers around seven fatal flaws, which he exposes one by one. Nicely complements Ahern's other books: How to Write Fundraising Materials that Raise More Money, and Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes.

The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to... Raising More Money With Newsletters Than You Ever Thought Possible

Ahern, Tom

If every board member of every nonprofit organization across America read this book, it’s no exaggeration to say that millions upon millions of additional dollars would be raised. 
How could it be otherwise when, after spending just one hour with this gem, board members everywhere would understand virtually everything they need to know about raising major gifts. Not more, not less. Just exactly what they need to do to be successful. 
In his book, Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face: A 1-Hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations, David Lansdowne has distilled the essence of major gifts fund raising, put it in the context of 47 "realities," and delivered it in unfailingly clear prose. 
Nothing about this book will intimidate board members. It is brief, concise, easy to read, and free of all jargon. Further, it is a work that motivates, showing as it does just how doable raising big money is. 
The appeal of Fund Raising Realities is that Lansdowne addresses every important principle and technique of fund raising, and explains them in a succinct way board members will grasp immediately. In other words, Fund Raising Realities puts everyone on a level playing field - board member with board member, and board member with staff. 
Put this book in your board’s hands, put it in your board orientation packet, put it anywhere you need the successful practice of fund raising masterfully illuminated.

Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face: A 1-Hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations

Lansdowne, David

If you want straight talk about direct mail fundraising, do what the title says: open this book immediately. 
 In it you’ll find 81 brief chapters examining virtually every topic of importance to those who raise money by mail. 
Unlike other books that over-complicate the subject, Open Immediately!, by Stephen Hitchcock, does just the opposite. It offers an elegantly simple and inviting approach to direct mail by focusing on one element at a time. (This approach has the added benefit of making it easy to find the exact help you need.) 
The book is divided into six major parts: 
• Essentials of Direct Mail Fundraising • Acquiring and Renewing Donors • Targeting Your Mailings • Writing Effective Letters • Key Components of Your Appeal, and • How to Ask 
Within each part, Hitchcock offers specific suggestions with just enough detail to allow you to implement his advice. Take the section, ‘How to Ask.’ Among the topics discussed are: ways of asking for the gift, why it’s important to ask for the gift at least twice, when not to ask for a specific gift, how to increase the first gift (the key one as it dictates the size of future gifts), how to raise $1,000 gifts by mail, and how to ask for monthly gifts and charitable bequests. And that’s just a sampling. 
Or take the section, ‘Key Components of Your Appeal.’ The 16 topics Hitchcock explores in these pages include a discussion of obsolete (and offensive) techniques, the cardinal rules of envelope copy, the misunderstood role of inserts, the use of multiple signatures, how to contain your costs, even a look at URGENT telegrams and whether they work. 
With its clear-eyed realistic focus, there’s no other book on direct mail fundraising quite like Open Immediately!. 
Hitchcock knows that your time is limited. He realizes too that you’re not going to overturn your current program. But what you can do, he understands, is tweak your efforts to be more profitable. And, Open Immediately! offers dozens and dozens of ways to do just this.

Open Immediately: Straight Talk on Direct Mail Fundraising : What Works, What Doesn'T, and Why

Hitchcock, Stephen

Business Development & Entrepreneurship

Why of all the hundreds of fundraising books available did AmeriCorps Vista, with offices throughout the U.S., single out The Relentlessly Practical Guide to Fundraising as the premier book on the subject and provide a copy to thousands of its staff? 
Read David Lansdowne’s acclaimed work and you’ll quickly understand why. 
No other writer in the field is as succinct, yet comprehensive. Nor do others have Lansdowne’s trademark gift of extracting the essence of a technique and illuminating it in unfailingly clear prose. 
Lansdowne plumbs every major aspect of fundraising: from annual campaigns to capital campaigns, from major gifts to Internet fundraising, from planned giving to direct mail to prospect research. 
Each chapter is delivered with heat-seeking precision. For example, do you want to know how to establish a gift club for donors? Turn to that chapter and chances are you'll learn more in the nine pages than you would from reading an entire book on the subject. 
The same goes for attracting corporate support. Yes, you could spend hours boning up on the topic. But there's no need, as Lansdowne discusses everything you should know in a mere 11 pages. 
There are other standout chapters that lift this book above others. 
• "The 16 Best Pieces of Fundraising Advice" may be the best rendering of its kind put to pen. • "Fundraising's 20 Biggest Mistakes" is a masterful discussion that alerts you to each and every red flag. • "Fundraising Myths" explores more than a dozen pernicious myths that many still labor under. • And, "What Every Board Member Must Know to Succeed," should be required reading for any trustee serving a gift-supported organization. 
Here's ‘real world’ guidance you can put into practice literally today.

The relentlessly practical guide to raising serious money: Proven strategies for nonprofit organizations

Fundraising has dramatically changed in recent years: far more causes are vying for attention; traditional techniques have been turned on end; campaign goals have ballooned; and, in light of highly publicized scandals, donors are increasingly skeptical today, demanding greater accountability. 
To succeed in this challenging climate, a fresh approach to raising money is necessary -- one that blends skill, passion, and integrity into every step of the fundraising process, from clarifying an organization’s mission, to recruiting top leadership, to understanding the new motivations of donors, to identifying the right people to solicit, to evaluating final results. 
Kay Sprinkel Grace’s book, Over Goal!, shows you, step by step, how to respond to, and prosper from, today’s unusual and sometimes conflicting demands. 
Practical, provocative, and focused, Over Goal! travels quickly but deliberately through many aspects of the challenges nonprofit professionals face, offering solutions and ideas well-grounded in experience. 
While the primary focus is on fund raising, the book honors the fundamental truth that without good governance, fund raising is next-to-impossible. The chapters on governance are as important as the chapters on fund raising. The two functions are inseparable. 
Whether you are a seasoned or novice professional, Over Goal! shows you step by step how to meet and exceed your goals, increase your impact, and stay comfortably ahead of the waves of change.

Over Goal : What You Must Know to Excel at Fundraising Today

Grace, Kay Sprinkel

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