Charities Must Change With the Times to Keep Donors and Volunteers

NEW BOOKS

Yours, Mine & Ours: Creating a Compelling Donor Experience
by Barry McLeish

Donors expect more from nonprofit organizations than they used to — more opportunities for involvement, more accountability, more professionalism, and more evidence of results, writes Barry McLeish, a fund-raising and marketing-management consultant.

“There is now a systemic change taking place in the hearts and minds of a number of philanthropists and nonprofit leaders across this country in how they deal with each other,” Mr. McLeish writes. “Unfortunately, nonprofit managers not involved in this ongoing process of organizational and stakeholder redefinition face an exceedingly difficult and competitive future with both current and emergent donor pools.”

The author explores how charity leaders can help their organizations evolve — and stay afloat. The book offers a discussion of the problems faced by nonprofit groups, such as poor technology, less-flashy marketing than bigger organizations are capable of, and increased competition from both businesses and other charities. He illustrates his advice with real-life examples from his consulting work.

Chapters discuss creating communications materials, forging mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and donors, planning for the future, handling competition from other groups, and other issues of nonprofit marketing and donor relations.

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 111 River Street, Fourth Floor, Hoboken, N.J. 07030; (201) 748-6000; fax (201) 748-6088; http://www.wiley.com; 196 pages; $39.95; ISBN 978-0-470-12640-0.