Fund-of-funds

Linda Zukowski has done a real service for people who are seeking charitable funds from corporations. Her book, based on a survey of corporate grantmakers in California and the Pacific Northwest, is straightforward and absolutely packed with facts and excellent advice. She quotes actual responses grantmakers made to her questions about everything from trends in giving to the details of how to best approach them. She also provides graphs and charts, for us visually-oriented people, and an appendix that gives all the results of her survey. Her realistic and logical approach is great. I highly recommend this book, especially for anyone working with corporate donors based in the Western U.S - and anyone who needs to frame and/or justify their work with factual information about how corporate giving really works!

Ms Zukowski provides key insights for the non-profit group or organization that is seeking to position itself with major donnors. Her practical and effective recommendations will save significant time and effort.

For Corporations already active in non-profit funding, or those corporations interested in creating foundations, etc., will find this book helpful in working with groups seeking assistance.

I'm using this book as a crutch in my volunteer activities with a local non-profit. It's excellently written and helps as a primer for both the strategic and tactical parts of our efforts. I highly recommended as a starting point and a reference for any individual or group that is looking for a good framework to help approach the highly-complex and difficult world of getting the fuel to make a non-profit successful.

The Jossey-Bass Nonprofit & Public Management Series adds another excellent resource with the publication of Mal Warwick's book, The Five Strategies for Fundraising Success: A mission-based guide to achieving your goals.

The central thesis of this nearly 300-page volume is that the way you raise funds for your organization can help you achieve your mission. Warwick finds that too often organizations tie their fund raising to short-term, fiscal year goals that require fund raisers to "get the money in the door now" rather than taking the time to cultivate donors for larger, future gifts.

In The Five Strategies, Warwick introduces the reader to the GIVES System, a method for analyzing, planning and evaluating an organization's fundraising strategy. The strategies are: Growth, Involvement, Visibility, Efficiency and Stability, hence GIVES.

In discussing Growth as a fundraising strategy, Warwick is not focusing on raising more money per se, but rather on broadening the donor base, having more donors next year than this year, and still more the year after that. A Growth strategy, according to this book, is dynamic and is characterized by audacious goals, bold leadership and low entry-level gifts.

Involvement as a strategy takes organizations beyond seeking gifts from donors to building stronger relationships with them. When supporters are active and committed, organizations can raise far more money. Organizations for whom public opinion is crucial are encouraged to adopt a Visibility strategy. Characteristics of the strategy are broad public interest, many stakeholders and brand identification.

Raising money at the lowest possible cost per dollar raised is the key to an Efficiency strategy. Planned giving, major gift programs, foundation and corporate grant solicitation and monthly giving are among the tactics that can be employed in an efficiency strategy. Warwick warns, however, that efficiency isn't always the best approach. A careful analysis of the organization's strategic choices is required.

Endurance is the core attribute of the Stability strategy. Among the tactics that can be used in a stability strategy are to build an endowment fund; employ electronic funds transfer (EFT) for fulfillment of donor pledges and engage in diversified fundraising activities.

Selecting a strategy must take into account the life cycle of the development program, the age of the organization, or both. For each of the five strategies, Warwick provides several real-life examples, not all of them success stories. This is very helpful for understanding how it might work and in identifying potential pitfalls. Warwick points out that a single strategy is not likely to remain appropriate for all time for any given organization.

The book provides details on how to pick the right strategy for your organization, common obstacles to implementing the strategies, what fundraising tactics will work with each strategy and how to evaluate your strategies.

My only disagreement with Warwick is in his definitions of vision and mission. He defines vision as why your organization exists and mission as what it does. I see the mission as clarification of purpose and an indicator of why the organization is doing what it does, while vision is what the organization aspires to look like after it succeeds in implementing its strategies and achieving its potential. That difference of opinion aside, I think the book is a wonderful resource for everyone involved in the fundraising effort, from CEO's to development officers to board members to donors themselves.

Warwick's previous books have been related to direct response fundraising and most are "How-To" books. If you are looking for a book that provides a formula or set of instructions, The Five Strategies is not it. What you will find in this book, however, is a way to think strategically about your fundraising efforts. Mal Warwick's hope with The Five Strategies is that he can help those who work for and on behalf of not-for-profit organizations understand the consequences of the resource allocation choices they face and do a better job raising money for a sector that never has enough.

Be sure to know that there is a third edition (2001) available from the Foundation Center

This book by 'The Foundation Center' is indespensible for those interested in forming a nonprofit as well as current Directors who wish to have a reference guide on current developments in the structure and dynamics of modern nonprofits. There is a wealth of information in this book, and I rate it a 'Must Read.'

Years ago we owned all the Foxfire books, and then we donated them to the library so others could glean the wisdom they had, and we have slowly begun to but copies for our home library and this is one that I wanted first. Simply because it had information on burial customs and I make plain pine burial boxes. And because it has excellent information on wild plants that are edible in the spring and we love to forage for wild plants for food like stinging nettle, fiddle fern and dandelion. The section on bee keeping is also informative. Then there is the wonderful section on midwives which is of personal interest to me, as well as the wonderful section on how to wash clothes in an iron pot, because being vagbond-homestead-mountain mode people we like good clean clothes washed in an environmentally sound manner using the least amount of soap possible.

The Foxfire series is one that comes up on various simple living, homestead, frugal websites and web boards. So I know that millions of people have over the years found the series of books to be invaluable.

The series of Foxfire books takes you back in time when life was hard physically but simplier mentally. While reading these books I fell like I am in a time capsule being transported back in time ninety or so years. I enjoy past history and anything to do with mountain country around the Smokies. These peope lived off the land and took the time to enjoy life and their families. These books provide tips for things that are still done the same way, such as tanning hides. Norma Doyle, Florida

I bought the book because it has one of the best sections on fire pit firing of homemade pottery that I have seen, complete with excellent photos, as well as step by step info and historical info. The section on Quilting - The Joy Of My Life - Auntie Arie Carpenter is extensive and even has templates you can copy and use for making your own quilts. There is also a wonderful section on the country store, which as I read it seemed to be a combination of pay with cash or goods, like eggs, crops etc. Very worth the expense and a book I will treasure.

The entire Fox Fire colledtion should be required reading for all people of this country. You would get a feel for where we came from and our heritage. The books show a deep respect for each other, God and country. Very good.

Michael Johnston's written the best guide on online fundraising around. Lots of detail and practical advice. Well worth reading.

There is no doubt that Johnston's book is the most thorough study to date about how nonprofits utilize the Internet. It's full of real examples, which is a rare thing in Internet literature. Usually, it's just about potential and hype. Now, we've got some real data.

Having read and used fund raising books and materials for over twenty (20) years, I am very impressed with this book. It is excellent, very thorough, and covers all major areas for an organization's fund raising program. I highly recommend that every non profit organization own a copy and use as a reference guide on a regular basis. Its truly solid and complete.

The following describes the Second Edition of Fundraising Basics: A Complete Guide published in April 2001 by Aspen Publishers, Inc. in Gaithersburg, MD

"The second edition of this best-selling book provides new and updated information that every beginning fund raiser or board member needs. Case studies and real-life examples provide practical guidance and an overview of the field while giving board members and development staff, managers, and directors a platform from which to operate their fund raising programs. This primer remains a "must-have" for anyone entering the fund raising arena or studying for the CFRE exam.

The new edition updates and strenghens: 1) Giving trends; 2) Computer hardware and software available in the fund raising field; 3) Cost estimates and workflow timetables; 4) Use of the Internet in fund raising; 5) Relationships between associations and their foundations regarding fund raising; and 6) New and successful case studies that relate fund raising theory to practice.

Practical advice and valuable insights from two savvy pros with more than 45 years of combined fund-raising experience."

Every investor, not just lawyers, should read this book! Mr. Sterba drills down through all of the confusion and presents a clear, concise and entertaining book on the practicalities and realities of investing. His asset allocation approach to investment, utilizing no-load mutual funds, should be the holy grail for anyone seeking to manage almost any amount of capital in todays economic climate. I suspect that far less money would have been lost by the average investor in the turbulent markets of the past three years, had they read this book and utilized the disciplines Sterba recommends.

Fundamentals of Personal Investing combines the theoretical and real-world aspects of investing in a straightforward manner. I consider this book a solid guide for a range of investors: from the moderately experienced to the relatively sophisticated.

Most of the nonprofit "help" books are very dry, but this one is very readable. The information is extremely helpful and directly addresses the difficulties that we have to overcome in fundraising, particularly the "I hate to ask people for money" syndrome. I love that in places, the author says, "here is the attitude you may have.. but... get over it!" and then proceeds to tell you how TO approach things with humor and good advice. If you do fundraising or work with a group that does fundraising, you will find great information and ideas in this book!

A thoughtful, humorous account of the world of grassroots fundraising. The author brings her experience, warmth and humor to this very important book on fundraising. It is an excellent tool for non profit agencies. I recommend it for any non-profit agency staff member or volunteer board member that wants to break out of the fundraising doldrums into fundraising excellence.

Whether you've been in the fundraising profession for 10 minutes or 10 years, do yourself a favour and read this book. It will make you proud to be part of the tradition of philanthropy. It will inspire and guide you. You will see yourself and the volunteers and donors you work with in a whole new light. Don't put it in your library. Keep it on your desk. The first time you read it, and you will read it joyfully from cover to cover, keep pen and paper handy. You will find yourself making a list of things you need and want to do. Achieving Excellence in Fundraising is thoughtful and thought-provoking. It is the place where the theory, practice, philosophy and spirituality of a great tradition meet.

On my fundraising shelf stood just two books and a binder: "Designs for Fundraising" by Harold Seymour © 1966; "The Raising of Money" by James Gregory Lord © 1987, and my collected monthly newsletters of tips from Taft. Not a lot to go on, but Seymour's classic helped me enormously, imparting such nuggets as, "At best, with few exceptions, people don't pay close or careful attention to anything."

OK, so listen up. Times have changed. Many, many books now beckon us, delivering the full spectrum of nonprofit knowledge. Yet all books are not equal. When Henry (Hank) Rosso gathered a number of esteemed colleagues together and put out Achieving Excellence in Fund Raising in 1991, it represented a milestone in fundraising education, based as it was on his many years of teaching through The Fund Raising School, which he founded right here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The School later became a program of The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, and it continues to provide superior, basic training in fund raising principle and practice throughout the country. All the years of teaching experience and the benefits of association with IU are now reflected in this expanded, caught-up-with-the-world second edition of the "Rosso" (RAH-so).

It was time. Consider that when Achieving Excellence debuted in 1991, the stock market stood at 2736, Giving USA estimated total philanthropic support at $105 billion, and the National Science Foundation had just lifted its ban on commercial use of the Internet. Today, as we reel and grapple, it is worth noting that the markets have more than tripled from 1991; philanthropic dollars have doubled; and the Internet is our bread and butter. The second edition adds several chapters in recognition of the changes and rounds out its predecessor. We read about the new order, how to build endowment, women as donors, trends in major donor giving (read with caution, as markets and donor experience have had some impact), diversity considerations, Internet strategies, special events fundraising, technology use, budgeting and accountability, stewardship, international perspectives, and fund raising as a profession. These are welcome additions.

Given the scope attempted by the book, I should point out that there are, in fact, a few areas not covered, including how to obtain government grants and contracts, and exhaustive instructions on how to write a grant proposal to a foundation. But if you heed what these authors have written, you will have no problem accomplishing either feat.

Most of the authors in this edition are new to the "Rosso," numbering 27 in all. The first edition lists 13 contributors. Hank wrote eight of the chapters of that book; he has two in this one. With Hank gone (1999), we are guided into Rosso II by the gentle, sure hands of Eugene Tempel, executive director of the IU Center on Philanthropy and Tim Seiler, current director of The Fund Raising School. Between them (with a chapter from Hank), they set the stage in Parts One (Context) and Two (Fundamentals).

The book proceeds logically and is easy to navigate or use as a quick reference. "Fundamentals" is followed by sections treating "building blocks" (e.g. annual fund, capital campaign), sources, methods (e.g. direct mail, special events), management (e.g. leadership, boards, information, budgeting, consultants), ethics, stewardship, and personal professional support. A thorough Glossary and Bibliography follow.

Our AFP chapter boasts several representatives here: Kim Klein reprises her excellent chapter on grassroots fund raising and Kay Grace on leadership; Mal Warwick writes the update on direct mail; Alan Wendroff supplies special events; and Skip Henderson updates us on the trustees' role.

The context is still Hank's, which means that ultimately, the book is not about the joy of soliciting but something higher. I'm sure he would be tickled if you inscribed your book as he wrote in so many of our first editions "I hope that you will enjoy the reading of this book. Let it help you to teach the joy of giving. Hank Rosso"