Essential Principles for Fundraising Success

Essential Principles for Fundraising Success is a single-source, easy-access guide that offers answers to the most commonly asked questions posed by  professional fundraisers and volunteers. Organized in a clear, easy-to-use question and answer format, Essential Principles for Fundraising Success takes on the challenges that arise daily in the ongoing, high-pressured business of raising money. In this book, G. Douglass Alexander and Kristina Carlson (the founders of the successful Internet-based, fundraising consulting firm FundraisingINFO) offer insight from their combined forty-six years of experience working with thousands of nonprofit organizations. Based on the enduring principles of fundraising, this important resource shows how to master the three mainstays of fundraising—developing a case statement, creating a campaign strategy, and securing big gifts. Essential Principles for Fundraising Success also offers creative, out-of-the-box solutions for convincing reluctant board members and other stakeholders to follow proven, effective fundraising strategies

Figures, Tables, & Exhibits vii Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Purpose and Observations 1 1 Principles of Fundraising: Time-Tested Truths 5 2 Essential Fundraising Tools: Focusing Your Work 10 3 The Board: Where Fundraising Begins 19 4 Research: Working Smarter 29 5 Annual Campaigns: The Basis for the Future 39 6 Direct Mail: How to Build Your Donor Base 54 7 Special Events: Making Friends, Raising Funds, and Having Fun 66 8 Major Gifts: Getting to the Big Gifts 84 9 Capital Campaigns: Building Success 96 10 Planned Giving: You Can Do It 116 11 Foundation Grants: Writing and Other Keys to Success 131 12 Corporate Dollars: Sponsorship, Marketing, and More 143 13 Technology: Embrace It 154 14 Stewardship: Saying Thanks Pays Dividends 164 15 Putting It All Together 180 References 183 The Authors 185 Index 187