Yours for the Asking: An Indispensable Guide to Fundraising and Management

About the Author.

Introduction.

CHAPTER 1: Fundraising: A Call to Alms, a Call to Action.

America's Charitable Potential.

Activating Philanthropy: The 92nd Street Y.

Galvanizing Giving: The International Rescue Committee.

Fundraising on Steroids: Lincoln Center.

A Call to Alms, A Call to Action.

CHAPTER 2: Soliciting Individual Prospects.

America’s Astonishing Affluence.

Trustee Engagement and Support.

Volunteer Service: Beyond the Board.

Engaging Volunteers: A Management Priority.

A CEO's Modus Operandi.

Attitude and Temperament.

Overcoming Economic Bad News and Psychological Resistance.

To Ask: Popping the Question.

Qualities of Excellent Fundraisers.

Ready, Set, Ask.

CHAPTER 3: Asking, Face to Face.

Appointment Secured: Now What?

Please and Thank You.

Donor Recognition: Here to Stay.

Merit Matters: The Formal Written Request.

The Lure of the Challenge Grant.

The Generational Divide.

Confessions of a CEO.

The Written Proposal: A Prizewinning Example.

Obstacles to Overcome.

Individual Donor Checklist: Some Vital Questions.

CHAPTER 4: The Institutional Donor: Corporations and Foundations.

The Corporation and the Small Business.

The Parlance of Corporate Aid.

Corporate Support Magnified.

Small Business, Large Impact.

The Corporation: Pathway to Affluent Donors.

Winning Business Support.

The Lincoln Center Experience.

Take a Walk, Read Widely.

The Foundation.

CHAPTER 5: Technique: Special Events and Direct Mail.

Special Events.

Direct Mail Fundraising.

CHAPTER 6: Tough Questions: Candid Answers.

Emerging Nonprofits: Newer, Smaller.

The Philanthropic Postmortem: Critiquing Performance.

Fundraising In Stormy Weather.

Fundraising: Who Is in Charge and When.

Fundraising Myths and Realities.

A CEO's Two Friends: The Watch and the List.

Four Hall of Fame Fundraisers: My Nominees.

Donations that Can Cost Too Much.

CHAPTER 7: A Passport to Successful Fundraising: Lessons of a Lifetime.

1. Diversify Funding Sources.

2. Diversify Funding Methods.

3. It's the Board of Directors, Stupid.

4. Advice and Money: The Relationship.

5. Fundraising: Anytime, Anywhere, Any Season.

6. The Solicitor’s Magic Words.

7. The Right Way to Ask.

8. Shoe Leather Trumps Mail.

9. No Is Not an Answer.

10. Baseball, Not a College Exam.

11. Fundraising as Apple Pie.

12. Fundraising Is a Team Effort.

13. Practice, Practice.

14. Philanthropy Is Biography.

15. Speed and Agility Matter.

16. The Corporate/Nonprofit Meeting Place.

17. The School of Hard Knocks.

18. Early Money: The Best Kind.

19. Donors Crave Recognition.

20. Philanthropists Need Help.

21. Merit Matters.

22. Reputation: Hard to Acquire, Easy to Squander.

23. Communicate, Early and Often.

24. Roles that Fundraisers Play.

25. Plan and Prepare.

26. Spread the Gospel.

27. Fundraising Is All about Tomorrow.

28. Leaving a Legacy.

CHAPTER 8: Humor and Fundraising.

The Relentlessness of Fundraisers.

The Elusiveness of Prospects.

Fundraising Is Heavy Lifting.

The Imperative of Donor Recognition.

The Lore of Frank Bennack, Jr.

Politics Is Inexpensive.

Major Prospects Enjoy Healthy Egos.

Self-Deprecating Humor: It Wears Well.

A Classic: Many Variations on a Theme.

She Was One of a Kind: Beverly Sills—Part A.

She Was One of a Kind: Beverly Sills—Part B.

She Was One Of A Kind: Beverly Sills—Part C.

An Excusable Lateness.

Introducing a Gala Honoree.

The Ask Reduced to Its Essentials.

Intellectual Flight and an Empty Wall No More.

The Philanthropic Marine Corps.

CHAPTER 9: Fundraising: Dimensions of the Future.

The Board of Directors Transformed.

Willie Sutton Goes Global.

Philanthropic Converts Become Proselytizers.

Underperforming Businesses.

E-Philanthropy: Unrealized Potential.

Think Big: It’s a New Millennium.

CHAPTER 10: Quotations that Matter.

Epilogue. The Great Recession: A Farewell to Alms?

Bibliography.

Appendix I. Fundraising on Steroids: Lincoln Center.

Appendix II. Nonprofit Board of Directors Size: A National Sampler and Lincoln Center.

Appendix III. Governance at Lincoln Center: 2007.

Appendix IV. Three Direct Mail Home Runs from the International Rescue Committee.

Notes.

Index.