December 9, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
Fundraising Mistakes That Bedevil All Boards (and Staff Too): A 1-Hour Guide to Identifying and Overcoming Obstacles to Your Success, by Kay Sprinkel Grace, offers advice for avoiding the “top 40″ errors committed by board members and development officers when soliciting donations. Ms. Grace, a consultant and faculty member at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, in Indianapolis, says that trustees are too often tripped up by misconceptions about why people donate. They wrongly assume that tax incentives motivate people to give, she says, and that potential donors are drawn to the neediest organization, the worthiest cause, or the biggest publicity campaign. Ms. Grace encourages board members to go after donations even during the leanest times, but she warns that a letter alone will rarely produce a gift, and provides advice on the types of phone calls and conversations that can inspire giving. Other fund-raising myths her book seeks to dispel include the idea that a feasibility study is necessary for a campaign’s success, and that recruiting large donors is always the best way to raise money.
Publisher: Emerson & Church, Publishers, P.O. Box 338, Medfield, Mass. 02052; (508) 359-0019; fax (508) 359-2703; http://www.contributionsmagazine.com; 109 pages; $24.95.
