Strengthening Fund-Raising Efforts Means ‘Cultivating’ Donors, Book Says

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Beyond the Ask Event: Fully Integrating the Benevon Model, by Terry Axelrod, cautions fund raisers not to let their guard down. After a successful fund-raising event, organizations often breathe a sigh of relief and fail to continue cultivating donors, says Ms. Axelrod, a nonprofit consultant. But, she writes, “everyone can feel the unrealized potential of the event that still remains. It is a time for getting to work, not resting.” Ms. Axelrod offers guidelines for creating a sustainable fund-raising program that can lead to long-term financial security, with tables to help groups craft a 10-year plan and examples of questions to ask donors. She discusses how to “strengthen the emotional hook” of a request for money, and provides other tips on building powerful ties to benefactors. “Someone has to be the whistle-blower on the one-year-at-a-time approach to fund raising,” Ms. Axelrod writes.

Publisher: Benevon Publications, 2100 North Pacific Street, Seattle, Wash. 98103; (206) 709-9400; fax (206) 352-9492; info@benevon.com; http://www.benevon.com; 212 pages; $49.95; ISBN 978-0-9700455-7-7.