Tom Ahern is recognized as one of North America's leading authorities on how to make nonprofit communications consistently effective. He speaks frequently in the United States and Canada on reader psychology, direct mail principles, good (and not very good) graphic design as applied to fundraising and nonprofit branding. He is president of Ahern Communications, Ink, a consultancy specializing in capital campaign materials and other nonprofit communications. Tom's popular e-news provides tips on donor communications. He wrote the first book on donor newsletters, published in 2005, as well as How to Write Fundraising Materials That Raise More Money.

Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, is recognized internationally as a "thought leader" in the philanthropic sector. An expert in fund development, board and organizational development, and strategic planning, Simone is the author of Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last. This book has become an industry standard. Simone presents all over the world and is a faculty member in the Master's Program in Philanthropy and Development at Saint Mary's University, Minnesota. She serves regularly on boards, is the founder of the Women's Fund of Rhode Island, and is the former Chair of CFRE International.

Preface xxiii

Acknowledgments xxv

Chapter 1 Beginning at the Beginning: The Context for Everything Else 1

Why the Larger Context Matters 1

Philosophical Framework 2

This I Believe 3

Building Community 3

Building Community Redux 7

Effective Organizations 8

Key Components of Effective Organizations 8

Effective Fund Development 9

In Conclusion 10

INTERMEZZO #1 Why? 11

Chapter 2 The Red Pants Factor: A Story about the Power of Questioning 13

Finding Your Own ''Red Pants Factor'' 15

A Postscript from Black Dress 15

INTERMEZZO #2 What Do All the Words Mean? 17

Chapter 3 Key Components of Effective Organizations: Part of the Larger Context for This Work 19

Adopt an Organizational Development Approach 19

Limitations of Technical Fundraising 20

Turning You into an Organizational Development Specialist 21

What the Organizational Development Specialist Needs to Know 22

Build a Culture of Philanthropy 23

Concept of Corporate Culture 23

Culture of Philanthropy 24

Meaningful Questions 25

Personal and Organizational Commitment to Conversation and Questioning, Learning and Change 27

Learning Organization Theory 27

Systems Thinking, the Cornerstone of Learning Organizations 28

Conversation at Work 29

This Is Hard Work 33

Value of Research-Your Own and That of Others 33

Collecting Data from Your Organization 35

Translating Data into Useful Information 35

Qualified Opinions Only, Please! 36

A Curious Conundrum 36

Corollary of the Curious Conundrum 37

In Conclusion 38

Chapter 4 What Relationships Are and Why We Have Them: The Art of Human Interaction 41

Relationships Are Everything 41

A Radical Notion 43

Relationships Require Choice 43

Types of Relationships in the Nonprofit/NGO Sector 44

Your Philanthropic Relationships: How Your Organization Relates to Its Donors of Time and Money 44

Relationships with Other Organizations: How Your Organization Relates to Other Community Organizations 44

Relationships within Your Organization: How the Various Parts of Your Organization Relate 45

Advocacy and Public Policy Relationships: How Your Organization Promotes Public Policy that Fosters Healthy Communities 45

Relationships Are Definitely Not Transactions 46

Do Donors Really Want Relationships? 47

Watch a Good Relationship Builder 48

Key Concepts in Relationship Building 48

Sincerity 49

Closeness and Boundaries 50

Diversity and Cultural Competence 51

Values 53

Dynamism and Change 54

In Conclusion 54

Appendix 4A Values and Mission of the Equity Action Fund at The Rhode Island Foundation 59

Chapter 5 Five Rather Deadly Sins: Warnings about Relationships and Solicitation 61

Sin #1: Separating Fund Development from Philanthropy 61

Sin #2: Treating Giving as a Financial Transaction Rather than an Emotional Act 62

Are You Treating Your Donors like Automatic Teller Machines? 63

Sin #3: Trespassing on Personal and Professional relationships. Please Promise that You Won't! 64

How Do Your Board Members Feel? 65

But Lots of Organizations Do This and We Need the Money! 65

Sin #4: Universalizing Your Own Passion. Instead, Find Theirs-or Leave Them Alone and Move On! 66

Sin #5: Asking Prematurely 67

More Visibility Does Not Produce More Gifts 67

Ensuring Visibility with Your Prospects and Donors 69

Don't Solicit Unless You Know that The Person Knows Your Organization 69

Not Sins but Certainly Worries 70

Are You Worried about Donor Fatigue? 70

Are You Worried about All That Competition for the Same Donors? 71

In Conclusion 72

INTERMEZZO #3 Direct Mail and Relationship Building 73

Chapter 6 Eight Steps to Develop and Nurture Relationships: It's What I'm Buying that Counts 75

Developing Your Relationship-Building Program 77

Steps in Relationship Building 77

Step #1: Identify the Predisposed 78

Step #2: Get to Know the Predisposed 78

Step #3: Understand Their Interests and 78

Disinterests, Their Emotions, and Their Motivations and Aspirations 79

Step #4: Identify What You Have in Common and Define the Mutually Beneficial Exchange 80

Step #5: Nurture the Relationship to Develop Commitment 80

Step #6: Evaluate Interest and Readiness for the Request 81

Step #7: Ask and Thank 83

Step # 8: Monitor Progress and Measure Results 85

In Conclusion 85

Appendix 6A Evaluating Prospect Interest, Readiness, and Capacity and Designing the Ask 86

Chapter 7 Identify the Predisposed: Finding New Prospects for Your Organization 89

Who Are the Predisposed? 89

Introducing the Concept 89

But What If They Are Reluctant? 90

Fund Development Professionals Help Organizations Identify the Predisposed 91

Collect and Analyze Public Lists 91

Listen to Your Friends and Colleagues 92

Host Cultivation Gatherings 93

Creating Opportunities for People to Self-Identify as Predisposed 94

How the Women's Fund Uses These Four Steps 95

Building Relationships (and Identifying the Predisposed) at the Apple Store 97

In Conclusion 98

Appendix 7A Learning about People Through Conversation 99

Chapter 8 Understanding the Fundamentals of Marketing and Communications: The Right Message to the Right Person at the Right Time 103

Communications: For Many, It's All They Know of You 103

Fund Development Is a Type of Marketing, and Uses the Same Methods 104

It's Not What You're Selling, It's What They're Buying 107

Targeting: How You Find Needles in a Haystack 109

Segmentation: How You Increase Penetration Of A Target Market 112

Frequency and Reach 113

What Is Branding? 116

In Conclusion 118

Chapter 9 Emotions: The Decision Makers 119

Introduction 119

Orbitofrontal Damage and Its Implications for Fundraisers 120

Emotional Triggers: An Introduction 121

Up to 135 Triggers to Choose From 122

Emotional Twinsets: Raise the Problem, Be the Solution 125

In Conclusion 128

Appendix 9A W. Gerrod Parrott's List of Emotions 130

Chapter 10 Relationship Building: Details about Steps #3 and #5: Getting to Know You 133

Step #3 in the Relationship-Building Process 133

Getting Started 134

Keep Going! 136

What Kind of Information Do You Want to Know? 136

A Few Strategies for Getting to Know Your Donors and Prospects 137

A Reminder about Step # 4 140

Step #5: Nurture the Relationship to Development Commitment 140

Role of Customer Service 140

Some Preliminary Thoughts about Cultivation 141

Creating Opportunities for Connection 143

Ways of Making Emotions Tangible and Expressing Feelings 144

Cultivation as a Community-Building Process 144

Ideas for Nurturing Relationships 145

Using Incentives to Nurture Relationships 151

Using an Individual to Cultivate a Particular Relationship 151

Debrief after Cultivation 152

In Conclusion 152

Appendix 10A Building Relationships with Your Constitutents 154

Appendix 10B Member Survey of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island 162

Appendix 10C E-Mail Survey from the Audubon Society of Rhode Island 168

Appendix 10D Women's Fund of Rhode Island Marking Milestones Brochure 170

Chapter 11 Creating Your Relationship-Building Plan: Write It Down 173

Good Process Produces the Best Results 174

Plan Practicalities 174

A Different Approach 175

In Conclusion 176

Chapter 12 Planning Donor Communications: Staying in Touch 177

Introduction 177

Writing a Plan 178

Building an Annual Donor/Media Communications Calendar on the Schwartz Plan 179

In Conclusion 185

Chapter 13 Characteristics of Effective Communications: How the Sausage Gets Made 187

Action is the Objective. Reading Is Optional 187

An Honest-to-Goodness Secret to Success: Write a Creative Brief First 189

There's an Onslaught, and You're Part of the Problem 190

You're Selling Feelings, Especially Hope 190

You're Selling a Feeling of Importance, Too 190

Interest Me (or Else) 191

How to Interest Donors and Prospects: The Big Four 193

How to Interest Anyone: Four Chances to Win 195

Self-Interest: Why Greed Is Good (For Your Organization) 198

Make Offers 199

Passing the ''You'' Test 200

Don't Talk So Much about What You Do. Talk about Why It Matters 201

Have Themes 201

You've Heard of ''Values Voters''? Meet ''Values Givers'' 202

In Conclusion 203

INTERMEZZO #4 What's the Role of a Fundraiser? 205

Chapter 14 Are You Really Donor-Centered? Are Your Donors Truly Loyal? Why Building a Better Mousetrap Doesn't Work Unless Your Donors Are Mice 207

Some Facts about Donor Retention 208

Donor-Centrism: The New Old Thing 209

Acquisition Is Easy. Retention Is Tough 209

''Donor-Centric'' Is Another Way of Saying ''Building Trust'' 210

Why Donor-Centered? Shouldn't Mission Be at the Center? 211

Simple Demands of Donor-Centricity 212

Donor Loyalty and Donor-Centrism: Inextricably Linked 212

What Is Loyalty? 214

Passive Loyalty 214

Active Loyalty 215

Lifetime Value 216

Are Donors Loyal to Your Organization or to the Cause You Represent?...