September 14, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards: A 59-Minute Guide to Assuring Your Organization’s Future
by Jerold Panas
“We are what we repeatedly do,” reads the book’s epigraph, a quotation from Aristotle. “Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Jerold Panas, a Chicago fund-raising consultant, suggests 25 good habits board members and trustees should cultivate for the success of their organization.
Each short, three- or four-page chapter is headed with a theme, such as “You create an atmosphere of excellence,” “You don’t manage the operation,” and “You’re willing to leave the comfort zone.”
Mr. Panas offers anecdotes from his years of fund-raising experience, alongside advice, to illustrate each goal; the topics include commitment to the organization, how to plan for the future, donor relations, and financial management.
In a chapter on “Trojan horse” gifts, the author warns that “not all gifts are worth accepting.”
He cautions that boards need to beware of donations, even if they are very large, that come with requirements that undercut the group’s mission. He cites an example from Yale University: A donor offered $20-million, but only if he could select the professors who would benefit. Yale eventually decided to turn down the money.
“You can’t make a gift, no matter the size, and expect to hold the institution hostage,” Mr. Panas writes. Board members “have a responsibility to determine what gifts might compromise the organization.”
The appendix includes a “board member’s report card,” for grading each member on each habit described in the book, on a scale of zero to five.
Publisher: Emerson & Church, P.O. Box 338, Medfield, Mass. 02052; (508) 359-0019; fax (508) 359-2703; http://www.emersonandchurch.com; 108 pages; $24.95; ISBN 1-889102-26-1.
