Want to know the secret to raising more money? I’ll tell you another secret: the answer almost certainly is not to do more of what you are now doing. Think of fundraising as wanting to bake a really delicious, well-constructed chocolate cake. If you’ve been making thumb cookies, making more won’t produce that luscious chocolate cake. The question isn’t how…

“Fundraising? YUCK!” If you feel that way about fundraising you are far from alone. Without doubt it is the most unwelcome aspect of nonprofits, and barely tolerated as a necessity evil best left to others. There are more fears and fantasies about it that anything else. To most folks, fundraising means having to make a donation and asking your friends…

“What are Trojan Horse Donors?” Like their namesake, they are donors who have made a very large gift which came with conditions that the nonprofit would not otherwise have accepted or chosen on its own to do, but the gift was too large or the source too important to refuse. We all know nonprofits, may even be with one, which…

“Why does the world need yet another book on fundraising?” I was asked this question by a friend who is a long-serving senior staff member of a community foundation. Throwing caution to the wind, I answered her question with another: “Do all the nonprofits in your community raise the money they need?” After a slight pause, she answered, “No, they…