GivingThree

Donor-Centered Planned Gift Marketing – Breathing New Life into Planned Giving [Book Review]

Aug 1, 2011 Weblog

If you’re like me, the term “planned gift” immediately conjures up visions of accountants, lawyers, and financial planners gathered around a large table stacked to the ceiling with superfluous paperwork situated in a musty building not far from a nursing home.

Morbid? Yes. Accurate? No.

Enter Michael Rosen’s book… a resource I wish existed several years ago when I was studying for the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) exam. At the time, Planned Giving Simplified: The Gift, The Giver, and the Gift Planner (AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series) was among the best book on the market (it’s still a great survey on the topic). Donor-Centered Planned Gift Marketing: (AFP Fund Development Series) picks up where Robert Sharpe’s book leaves off, but brushes off the perceived complexity of planned giving and challenged my stereotype of the topic. I’ve found it to be a welcomed resource on my bookshelf and I’m sure you will as well.

If you’re a donor considering Rosen’s book to help inform your own philanthropy I would also like to recommend an essay on endowments located in volume five of ESSAYS ON ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY 2 VOL SET (4 & 5) (Collected Works of John Stuart Mill). I believe you’ll find this will challenge your perspective on perpetual gifts. Conversely, I would also like to recommend the chapter titled “The Best Fields for Philanthropy” found in Andrew Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth Essays and Other Writings (Penguin Classics).

Tags: book review, cultivation, donor-centered, fundraising, philanthropy, planned giving, relationship-based fundraising, transformational

The Nonprofit Development Companion – “Development” And “Fundraising” Are NOT Interchangeable [Book Review]

Jul 25, 2011 Weblog

The Nonprofit Development Companion: A Workbook for Fundraising Success (The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series) has a wealth of information which I have recently found helpful in crafting a fundraising plan in light of the all encompassing development plan. This is because this book clearly delineates the differences between “development” and “fundraising.”

While attending a recent Association of Fundraising Professionals chapter meeting, Karla Williams challenged the audience on their title within their respective organizations. By a show of hands it was amazing how many fundraisers held the title of “development officer.” To an outsider, or newcomer to the nonprofit sector, these terms are used interchangeably. However, doing so is a disservice to nonprofit professionals and the sector as a whole. I recommend purchasing this book as an adjunct to the seminal work on fundraising, Achieving Excellence in Fundraising (Wiley Desktop Editions), because it completes the context of fundraising within the wider construct of development.

Tags: book review, communication, integrated development plan, management, misconceptions, professional development, strategic planning

An Executive’s Guide to Fundraising Operations – Not Exclusively for Executives [Book Review]

Jul 18, 2011 Weblog

It’s no secret that there’s a shortage of quality books addressing the topic of fundraising operations (also called development or advancement services). This book is a welcome relief to this shortage. An Executive’s Guide to Fundraising Operations: Principles, Tools & Trends (The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series) fills the gap nicely with a well organized and well researched text. This book isn’t just another “how-to,” but includes perspectives from the field in the chapter titled “Decision Advice from the Field.” These contributions from practitioners in the field help bring additional context to the terms, concepts, and examples showcased elsewhere in the text.

I believe this book of great value, not just for the non-profit executive manger as the title suggests, but also for front line fundraisers. Regardless of your position in the organization, this book will help you better appreciate the theory and application of effective fundraising operations and will help you better utilize this organizational asset for accurate and timely information and help ensure donor satisfaction and retention.

Tags: book review, development operations, management, professional development

Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding – Valueable, but Not for Obvious Reasons [Book Review]

Jul 11, 2011 Weblog

I’ll preface my review by disclosing I personally believe that the public, private and non-profit sectors serve as a system of checks and balances between one another. As a result I am not in favor of cause marketing because of how it blurs the boundaries between the private and non-profit sector. Cause marketing is attractive to non-profits because it appears to be a mutually beneficial arrangement–non-profits create another revenue stream and for-profits sell more products and make consumers feel good about their purchase. However, since the motivations of the private and non-profit sectors are so disparate (shareholder profits versus and the greater good), the non-profit sector loses more than it gains because it discounts (in my view) its most valuable asset, philanthropy.

Despite my bias, I approached this book with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised to find tremendous value in Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding: Seven Principles to Power Extraordinary Results (The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series). It is clear that Daw and Cone are highly experienced in the area of cause marketing. However, the elements I most appreciate about this book had nothing to do with cause marketing. The way the authors addressed the topic is what brought me the most benefit. I appreciate that this book uses a Jim Collins-esque approach of selecting top performing organizations to case study–this brought great credibility to the methods these organizations utilized. The authors don’t just explain key concepts, but apply them in a way that makes the principles of engagement, loyalty, and community real and actionable. These elements help seasoned fundraisers understand how to better communicate a non-profit organization’s case for support by adopting strengths from the private sector–this helps us view communication strategies through the “branding” lens of the private sector.

If you are a business looking to partner with a charitable organization, a non-profit looking to give your organizational mission more richness through a strategic partnership in the private sector, or like myself looking to better articulate the non-profit organizational brand by borrowing from the private sector, I believe this book is a must read.

Tags: book review, embedded giving, fundraising, social media, transactional fundraising

Generous Kids

Nov 5, 2007 Weblog

Tags: book review