Fundraising Close to Home:
Book 1 - Building credibility, the foundation for fundraising
Book 2 - Building structures and skills for fundraising
Book 3 - Building fundraising programs to attract community support
By Elizabeth Westman Wilson; published by KIT Publishers
and ITDG Publishing
Organizations looking to increase their financial independence will want
to check out this three-volume set by Ontario-based consultant Elizabeth Westman
Wilson. As a consultant, she has traveled throughout the world working with
a variety of nonprofit organizations. She brings this global perspective to
Fundraising Close to Home, offering guidance and expertise not only
to the North American nonprofit sector, but to any organization that wants
to decrease dependence on international funding and focus its fundraising
efforts in the community it serves. These guides do not discuss everything
there is to know about fundraising. Rather, they assist nonprofit leaders
in getting their organizations ready to raise money, a crucial component of
successful fundraising that is often overlooked.
In the first book, Building credibility, the foundation for fundraising,
Wilson discusses the important role that credibility plays when raising funds
and offers advice on how organizations can build a credible reputation. Part
of building that reputation involves assessing the current state of an organization.
The author devotes several chapters to this assessment, guiding organizations
through the process of rating their own strengths and approaching others within
their community to help with the process. Step-by-step instructions and detailed
examples are also provided to help groups in writing their long-range and
financial plans.
Once an organization has established credibility, it must prepare internally
for its fundraising campaign. Building structures and skills for fundraising
reviews the roles and responsibilities that leaders, board members, and volunteers
must assume if the organization is to achieve success. In this second volume,
the author also explains in detail the various components of planning an effective
communications program, covering everything from creating posters and newsletters
to obtaining good media coverage and planning public relations events.
Finally, in Building fundraising programs to attract community
support,
Wilson reviews a variety of methods that can be used to raise
funds, particularly
strategies that will garner success at the local level. It
includes chapters
on telephone and direct mail campaigns, as well as sections that focus on
engaging the business community, using the Internet, and
evaluating fundraising
activities.
Fundraising Close to Home gives any organization the information and
tools necessary to prepare for fundraising or to enhance their
current campaign.
The writing is easy to understand, free of technical jargon, and the author
provides many real examples and experiences of nonprofit leaders around the
world. Each volume also includes a list of resources and web sites and an
index of topics covered in the series, enabling readers to easily
access information
or supplement what they have read in the book.
Buy the book:
Building credibility, the foundation for fundraising
Building structures and skills for fundraising
Building fundraising programs to attract community support
Canada: buy through Amazon.ca: CDN$23.08
International: buy through Amazon.com: US$10.50
