August 26, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Finders Keepers: Lessons I’ve Learned About Dynamic Fundraising
By Jerold Panas
Putting the donor’s needs and interests first is the best way to land a big charitable donation, argues the author of this book.
In 14 chapters, Mr. Panas, head of the Chicago fund-raising firm Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners, takes aim at the fund-raising methods he finds ineffective and relates personal anecdotes to convey what he calls a “you-can’t-miss” philosophy to winning gifts.
But Mr. Panas begins by recounting a blunder of his own: failing to secure a donation from the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Warfield Simpson, whom he had recruited to be on the board of the American Hospital of Paris — and who showed him the door after he made a solicitation on his fourth visit.
Two of the lessons learned, he writes, were that solicitors must make it perfectly clear that board members are expected to give, and that if a fund raiser senses early on that a gift isn’t forthcoming, bail out of the situation.
The fund raiser must listen more and talk less, cultivate a relationship with the donor based on genuine affection (because faking is obvious, he writes), and probe the reasons why a prospective donor declines to offer support. Listen to his or her concerns and offer alternative giving methods, he writes.
Mr. Panas analyzes the psychological incentives for donors more than he does the financial ones. One of the “myths” he attacks near the end of the book is that tax deductions are the main motivations for donors. “People give to change lives and save lives,” he insists.
Few would argue that he lacks enthusiasm for his calling.
“I have heard that next to getting shot at and missed,” writes Mr. Panas, “there is nothing quite as exhilarating as getting a gift at the right level.”
Publisher: Bonus Books, 160 East Illinois Street, Chicago 60611; (312) 467-0580 or (800) 225-3775; fax (312) 467-9271; bb@bonus-books.com; http://www.bonus-books.com; 268 pages; $39.95; I.S.B.N. 1-56625-116-8.
