Building a Strong Foundation, 2nd Edition

Preface
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: The Context of Fundraising

Chapter 2: The Process of Fundraising

Chapter 3: Legacy Giving: Mortality-Based Gift Intentions and Complex Gifts

Chapter 4: Basics of Prospect Research: Identifying, Tracking, and Managing Your Prospects

Chapter 5: Special Events

Chapter 6: Cause-Related Marketing

Chapter 7: Putting It All Together: An Overview and Case Studies

Appendix: Resources for Nonprofit Fundraisers

References
Index
About the Author
Index

Richard L. Edwards, PhD, is a well-known scholar, educator, and higher education administrator. Currently, Edwards is chancellor emeritus and a distinguished university professor at Rutgers University—New Brunswick, where he previously served as executive vice president for academic affairs and as dean of the School of Social Work. Previously, he served as interim provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also served as dean of the School of Social Work. Prior to that, he was dean of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and acting dean and associate dean of the School of Social Welfare at the State University of New York at Albany. In each of these positions, he had significant fundraising responsibilities. In a career spanning 50 years, Edwards has served as a consultant to and board member for numerous nonprofit organizations. He is a past president of the National Association of Social Workers.

As a scholar, Edwards has studied the management and effectiveness of nonprofit and public-sector organizations. The author and editor of numerous books and professional journal articles and book chapters, Edwards was editor-in-chief of the 19th edition of the Encyclopedia of Social Work. He also has served on the editorial boards of several professional journals and for five years was editor-in-chief for the journal Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance.

Edwards has had a great deal of success as a fundraiser, having been involved in generating many tens of millions of dollars in gifts to the educational and nonprofit organizations in which he has been involved, including annual gifts, major gifts, gifts to various capital campaigns, and planned or legacy gifts. The largest for which he was the lead fundraiser was a $37 million gift composed of $27 million worth of artwork and $10 million cash for an endowment for the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University—New Brunswick.

Edwards was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, where he received his master’s degree, and the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the State University of New York at Albany, where he received his PhD. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Augustana College in Illinois.

Those who are engaged in fundraising, whether staff or board members of nonprofit organizations and charitable causes, will find no shortage of advice on how to do their jobs effectively. Numerous books, journal articles, newsletters, blogs, and workshops exist, which provide instruction on everything from launching fundraising campaigns, to the art of identifying prospects, to cultivating and stewarding donors. Lots of information is available on how to write funding proposals for foundations and government grants, on setting up fundraising special events, on planned or legacy giving, and on other topics that comprise the fundraising arena.

Certainly, much of this information can be useful for the fundraising professional and for nonprofit board members. As a profession, fundraising—or development as it is sometimes called—is a fast-growing field. Essentially every college and university in the United States is continuously involved in fundraising, as is virtually every nonprofit organization. These days, if you can demonstrate success in fundraising, you are likely to find yourself highly marketable.

However, it also is true that many people involved with nonprofit organizations, whether staff or board members, do not know where to begin to look for help. They may be overwhelmed by the plethora and cost of published and online resource materials, and they are sometimes intimidated by the various aspects of the notion of asking people for money. Furthermore, many people charged with raising funds for nonprofits are serving their organizations in other roles. Particularly with smaller nonprofits, executive directors and board members may have to take on primary fundraising roles in addition to their other duties. This book was developed to be concise, readable, relevant, and useful both to those who are new to the world of nonprofit fundraising and to those who already have some experience in this field, no matter how many hats are worn.

In the course of many years of experience in fundraising, both with large and small organizations, I have concluded that two important principles should guide the efforts of every fundraiser. First, recognize that fundraising is a process, the core of which is developing and maintaining donor relationships that need to be nurtured over a long time. Second, understand that multifaceted fundraising strategies are required to ensure that your nonprofit organization has a strong foundation of longterm prosperity and fiscal stability.

The process of fundraising is dynamic and people driven. This book does not seek to provide you with a simple formula or a concrete step-by-step recipe. Rather, think about a recipe that has been handed down in a family over many generations and many years. Family members over the years may alter slightly or personalize the recipe to reflect individual tastes, but the basic ingredients remain unchanged. In fundraising, you must be creative in personalizing your approaches to donors, but at the same time you should keep in mind some time-tested truths. Many of the “truths” or strategies discussed in this book are connected in some way to the successful cultivation of a donor relationship. Others relate to the importance of maintaining diverse fundraising activities that (1) include both annual fund and major gift work; (2) encourage the cultivation of individual, foundation, and corporate donors; and (3) support the premise that building a strong foundation for your nonprofit takes time, resources, and good planning.

Included in this book is a chapter on legacy or mortality-based giving, often called planned giving. Nonprofits have much to gain by exploring with their donors how they can include your nonprofit in their will and other estate planning instruments. While some may find it daunting to think about talking to a donor about their mortality, even the novice fundraiser or nonprofit executive is likely to find the information and tips in this chapter to be relatable and useful.

Also included is a chapter on prospect research, an important area of fundraising that is often overlooked in the literature. Many experienced fundraisers will agree that good prospect research is an essential element in all fundraising programs. With widespread availability of online information technologies, prospect research is an area of growth.

Finally, the book explores special events and cause-related marketing as important components of a successful, multifaceted fundraising plan. These approaches to fundraising are viable tools to help your nonprofit succeed in raising dollars.

I sincerely hope you will find this book to be a useful resource, whether you already are engaged in raising money for nonprofit organizations and charitable causes or you are just getting started. I know from personal experience over many decades that success in fundraising has enormous rewards. Nothing can quite compare with the exhilarating joy that you feel when you help a donor realize a dream, memorialize a loved one, or make a heartfelt contribution to a worthy cause. I wish you many of those times.