Can you motivate a donor to respond to your next mailing with a thousand dollar gift? Absolutely, says Mal Warwick in his book, Raising $1000 Gifts by Mail. Mal is the dean of high dollar direct mail he practically invented it. Mal points to organizations like yours that have, somewhat astoundingly, turned small givers into big ones ... with just the right mailing. Here is one example. Heeding Mal's advice, a regional activist organization sent just 889 letters to selected donors. This small mailing produced income of $59,450. That is impressive. But even better: gifts averaged $2,123! And the cost of the mailing was 14 cents per dollar raised. A second example: An anti-hunger organization sent just over 10,000 high-dollar pieces. The mailing yielded 679 gifts totaling $117,749. And the overall response was a whopping 6.4 percent! When there is gold underfoot, you can scratch the surface and content yourself with $25 and $50 nuggets. Or, using Mal's strategies, you can drill down and mine that rich vein of $1000, $2000, even $5000 donors by mail.

The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising $1,000 Gifts By Mail

Business & Money

Mal Warwick

Marketing & Sales

Emerson & Church Publishers

Revitalizing your board of directors: A Q. & A. guide to getting the most from your nonprofit board

James M. Hardy

Management & Leadership

What if your nonprofit board is temporarily suffering from the bug of listlessness? Does it need a full-blown board self-evaluation? You know, the quarter-pound questionnaire where a consultant is called in and months fly by? Not by a long shot. It is likely your board needs a little self-correction, a conversation or two where they ask themselves some revealing questions. That is Gayle Gifford's uncomplicated approach in How Are We Doing?: A 1-Hour Guide to Evaluating Your Performance as a Nonprofit Board. She provides the questions your board needs to ask. Soon the conversation flows, problems are aired, and solutions take shape. It is quick, it works, and it is just what the doctor ordered.

How Are We Doing?: A 1-hour Guide To Evaluating Your Performance As A Nonprofit Board

Gayle L. Gifford

In refreshingly clear language, Robert Baird walks you sequentially through the steps you need to follow to carry off a rousingly successful golf tournament. From the first chapter, Is a Charity Auction Right for You, to the last, The Big Night, Baird securely holds your hand to make sure you know what to do at every juncture. And as you would expect, other chapters focus on setting a budget, developing your auction catalog, the check-in and checkout processes, and how you can raise additional revenue while the auction is in progress. But Baird doesn t stop there. He wants to absolutely, positively assure your success. So he offers a 54-page appendix that provides samples of every single thing you need. There s not space to list everything here, but a sampling of the 22 appendix items includes: 11 checklists for everything from the room setup to the sound system to cleanup; four pages of gift ideas; a sample financial statement; a sample invitation, and a sample check-in sheet to use as guests arrive.

Everything You Need to Know to Raise Money (And Have Fun) With a Charity Auction: An Insider's Guide to the Ins, Outs, Ups and Downs of a Profitable Event

Robert Baird

Business Development & Entrepreneurship

When it comes to fundraising, a lot is obvious to professional fundraisers. You know, for instance, that you won't secure big gifts by writing letters. You know that special events can be an iffy way to raise money. You know you can't ignore individuals and rely solely on corporations and foundations. You know ... but do your board members and volunteers? Do they know what works in fundraising and what doesn't? Many don't, which is why Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (and Staff Too) is a great eye opener. Kay Sprinkel Grace dissects the wrongheaded thinking behind 44 of the most common mistakes in fundraising. Your board may think that publicity raises money, or that tax deductibility is a powerful incentive, or that it's impolite to ask for a specific amount. You know better. But until your board does, what's "obvious" to them can derail your progress. Nicely complements David Lansdowne's book, Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face.

Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (And Staff Too) (Revised and Expanded Edition)

Kay Sprinkel Grace

Business Culture

Tom Ahern, one of the world's foremost authorities on donor communications, reveals the secrets behind highly successful and shockingly lucrative charity newsletters. Inside this fast and practical guide, you'll find all the training and checklists you need to succeed even if you're a novice, even if you don't consider yourself a professional writer. You'll discover the trailblazing Domain Formula for print newsletters, a guaranteed money-maker countless charities have adopted. You'll learn best practices for e-newsletters, too. You'll steer clear of the nine common fatal flaws that kill most newsletters. And you'll see why a strong newsletter is vital to improving donor retention ... one of today's highest priorities in fundraising.

Making Money with Donor Newsletters

Tom Ahern

Tapping an expert team of fundraising trainers across the U.S., Andrea Kihlstedt and Andy Robinson have produced an extraordinary how-to book of easy-to-use fundraising exercises for boards of all sizes. Some activities are as brief as 15 minutes, others require an hour. And everything you need to conduct any of the 51 exercises - step-by-step instructions, handouts, even questions to pose to participants - is included in the book. Complements Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face, by David Lansdowne.

Train Your Board (and Everyone Else) to Raise Money: A Cookbook of Easy-to-Use Fundraising Exercises

Andrea Kihlstedt

Andy Robinson

You have a worthy project AND you've identified a prospect with means. How do you connect the two in a way that produces a sizable gift? Jerold Panas, America's wunderkind fundraiser, shows you the way. On one level, the book is a how-to guide. You learn to present your cause in its most irresistible light. You become confident fielding the questions your donors will ask. You discover deft ways to use stories and statistics to enliven your cause. But the book is also a roadmap to your donor's mind. You learn what makes philanthropists tick, what motivates them to write out sizable checks, what they look for in solicitors, and how to earn their loyalty for years to come. Complements The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications, by Jeff Brooks.

Making a Case Your Donors Will Love: The Secret to Selling the Dream

Jerry Panas

For three years, Roger Craver immersed himself in a study of nonprofits in the U.S. and the U.K. His singular aim was to uncover why donors quit an organization and what can be done to make them stay. Among many findings, he uncovered seven key drivers that deepen a donor's commitment, the eight primary reasons why donors stop giving, and the major barriers to donor retention. There's gold in your current donors and Retention Fundraising is a detailed map for mining those riches. Book also has a dedicated website for discussion and updates: retentionfundraising.com. Complements The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications, by Jeff Brooks.

Retention Fundraising: The New Art and Science of Keeping Your Donors for Life

Roger Craver

There is one and only one secret to securing a gift. Here's the Holy Grail: Anticipate the questions your prospective donor is sure to ask and have solid answers at the ready. It's that simple, and it's what drives Harvey McKinnon's book, The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks. Through research and interviews in the U.S., Canada, and abroad, McKinnon has not only identified the questions, he also details the answers donors find most satisfying. It's almost criminal what McKinnon has done. In essence, he's read the minds of your donors and stacked the deck in your favor. Thankfully it's all for a good cause. Complements Asking by Jerold Panas, and Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face, by David Lansdowne.

The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks, Revised Edition

Harvey McKinnon

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