September 7, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
Raising More Money: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Lifelong Donors
by Terry Axelrod
Fund raisers who plead that their organizations live a hand-to-mouth existence would do well to banish such talk from their appeals, writes the author.
“Today’s donors don’t want to hear your sad story,” writes Ms. Axelrod, a consultant in Seattle. “They want to hear your plan.”
People are wealthier than ever and more than willing to give to charities they feel will endure, she writes. Whereas 30 years ago non-profit groups might have depended mostly on United Way, government, or foundation support, she says, the “new reality” dictates that fund raisers zero in on individuals.
Ms. Axelrod offers a system for cultivating such donors. She explains how to create “treasure maps” to identify potential benefactors and how to show off one’s organization in a good light. She covers asking for gifts, securing multiple-year pledges, working with boards of directors, planning special events, and establishing ways to keep track of fund-raising data.
She emphasizes that there is plenty of money to go around. “Once you stop worrying about the limited number of dollars out there and hoping and praying you will get your fair share, you start to relax about the process and treat donors as real people,” she writes.
Publisher: Boylston Books, 1315 Madison Street, No. 434, Seattle, Wash. 98104; (206) 325-4548 or (888) 322-9357; fax (206) 324-8555; boylston@reflexnet.net; http://www.boylstonbooks.com; 252 pages; $36.95; I.S.B.N. 0-9700455-4-9.
