Whether you’re a senior nonprofit leader or it’s your first job as a fundraiser, Fundraiser’s Companion – A Reference to Demystify Major Gifts and the Fundraising Process is your empathetic and friendly guide.
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Do you want to raise more money for your nonprofit and learn practical ways to ask for meetings, build relationships, and close major gifts?
Whether you’re a senior nonprofit leader or it’s your first job as a fundraiser, Fundraiser’s Companion – A Reference to Demystify Major Gifts and the Fundraising Process is a sympathetic manual and guide for your journey. This book brings the fundraising cycle to life and addresses the stressful realities of raising money for your nonprofit mission. You’ll find time-tested tips, templates, and scripts from which to select the most authentic, comfortable next steps with your supporters.
With nearly thirty years in nonprofit fundraising and management, my real-life examples and useful resources are for anyone involved in raising funds, including: major gift officers, directors of development, executive directors and CEOs, program managers and directors, grant and proposal writers, annual giving and membership departments, prospect researchers and database managers, donor relations teams, planned giving officers, grants management and finance staff, volunteers and board members, and coordinators and support staff.
This book is important to me because I've long wanted to break down barriers to understanding fundraising and demystify it for others. In this way we can all raise more money for our cherished causes, which in the end means a healthier, more sustainable, and far more compassionate world.
About the Author
I am an environmental nonprofit leader, fundraiser, and author with nearly thirty years of experience in fundraising and nonprofit management. I am the author of Connor and the Love Left Behind: The Leaning Dog Who Changed Our Life and Cover This Country Like Snow and Other Stories. Nearly six years ago I co-founded Planet Women, which strives for a world where the vibrant diversity of earth’s people collaborate on equal footing to care for the planet. This year I co-founded Superbloom Fund, a collaborative philanthropic fund for women climate and biodiversity leaders. I support and mentor writers, most recently with the Journey to Publication Writing Fellowship for Indigenous Women of the Colorado River Basin, a project of Planet Women. I live and work with my husband Joe and the dogs we foster on the lands of the Salinan and the Northern Chumash on California’s Central Coast. I hold a private pilot license and fly Cessnas and Pipers.
The Inspiration for This Book
When I was the Development Director at the Yosemite Conservancy, our board asked that I present an overview of the elements of fundraising. I was more than willing to put together a presentation, but I figured that as board members, they all knew what fundraising was and how to do it. They had, after all, been seasoned members of an august organization that had raised hundreds of millions of dollars for research, trails, restoration, habitat protection projects, and improving the visitor experience at a prestigious national park. Since that time I have been asked to provide “fundraising 101”
trainings and workshops to organizations large and small. And even within the development departments that I have led, I have been asked to do trainings and provide templates to create efficiencies and streamline what can be cumbersome and overwhelming jobs – raising funds for charitable causes. During the coronavirus pandemic and then through the early months of the second Trump administration, billions of dollars were cut from federal programs. Many of my colleagues and friends lost their jobs because their organizations had to downsize and lay off staff. My services to teach others about the basics of private fundraising were in demand.
I have often felt that I could do anything with a template or a few phrases to use in specific situations. What if I put them together so people didn’t feel so lost about how to ask for a meeting or ask for a gift or ask for input on their organization’s plans? What if I could demystify the process of fundraising and give everyone insights and knowledge to empower themselves to raise funds and yet be authentic, honest, and true to themselves?
Breaking down barriers
Demystifying fundraising
So we can all raise more money for our cherished causes
For a healthier, more sustainable, and far more compassionate
world.