April 28, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits: Real-World Strategies That Work
by Ilona Bray
Ilona Bray hopes to appeal to executive directors, fund raisers, board members, and others who may think they are too busy to digest an entire book on raising money. Her book skips over theories of fund raising to focus on the kinds of tips she says will enable charity officials to succeed.
Ms. Bray, a former development director at the International Institute for the East Bay, in Oakland, Calif., and now an editor at Nolo publishing company, opens her book with “Fundraising Tools,” an overview of what it takes to raise money effectively. She says that fund raisers need to consider how everyone in the organization—including volunteers and board members—can help solicit donations, and how to develop traits that appeal to donors, like being a good listener. Her book then offers more-detailed chapters on recruiting and retaining donors, soliciting bequests, and seeking grants from foundations and corporations. Profiles of experienced fund raisers, as well as tips and cautionary tales from Ms. Bray’s experience, offer other forms of guidance.
The manual also focuses on how nonprofit organizations can use new technology and creative techniques to support their fund raising. Ms. Bray includes advice on designing Web sites, creating printed communications materials, reaching out to the news media, and using software that compiles information about donors. She also examines how nonprofit organizations are starting businesses to supplement their fund raising and which tax rules govern those entrepreneurial endeavors.
Publisher: Nolo, 950 Parker Street, Berkeley, Calif. 94710; (800) 955-4775; http://www.nolo.com; 275 pages; $24.99; ISBN 1-4133-0094-4.
