Fundraising Principles and Practice

Adrian Sargeant, Jen Shang

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119196518
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Nonprofit Organizations & Charities
• Index: Business

The complete guide to fundraising planning, tools, methods, and more

Fundraising Principles and Practice provides a unique resource for students and professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of fundraising in the current nonprofit environment. Based on emerging research drawn from economics, psychology, social psychology, and sociology, this book provides comprehensive analysis of the nonprofit sector. The discussion delves into donor behavior, decision making, social influences, and models, then uses that context to describe today's fundraising methods, tools, and practices. A robust planning framework helps you set objectives, formulate strategies, create a budget, schedule, and monitor activities, with in-depth guidance toward assessing and fine-tuning your approach. Coverage includes online fundraising, major gifts, planned giving, direct response, grants, corporate fundraising, and donor retention, with an integrated pedagogical approach that facilitates active learning. Case studies and examples illustrate the theory and principles presented, and the companion website offers additional opportunity to deepen your learning and assess your knowledge.

Fundraising has become a career specialty, and those who are successful at it are among the most in-demand in the nonprofit world. Great fundraisers make an organization's mission possible, and this book covers the essential information you need to help your organization succeed.

• Adopt an organized approach to fundraising planning
• Learn the common behaviors and motivations of donors
• Master the tools and practices of nonprofit fundraising
• Manage volunteers, monitor progress, evaluate events, and more

Fundraising is the the nonprofit's powerhouse. It's the critical component that supports and maintains all activities, and forms the foundation of the organization itself. Steady management, clear organization, effective methods, and the most up-to-date tools are vital to the role, and familiarity with donor psychology is essential for using these tools to their utmost capability. Fundraising Principles and Practice provides a comprehensive guide to all aspects of the field, with in-depth coverage of today's most effective approaches.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO THE NONPROFIT SECTOR

Objectives

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

1. Describe the differences across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors
2. Understand different perspectives on the scope of the nonprofit sector
3. Describe a variety of ways of categorizing nonprofit organizations in the United States
4. Locate information on the size and performance of different categories of nonprofit or cause
5. Describe the key sources of nonprofit income

Introduction

In this initial chapter we begin our exploration of fundraising by studying the sector that is typically the focus of our activity, reviewing ­definitions of the nonprofit sector, distinguishing it from the public and private sectors, and examining its primary sources of income. We conclude by exploring how such knowledge of the sector can assist a fundraiser in developing his or her practice.

A “Third” Sector

Over the years many authors have developed widely differing terminology for what is ostensibly the same cohort of organizations. Labels such as the third sector, independent sector, not-for-profit sector, nonprofit sector, charitable sector, and voluntary sector are used with varying frequency in different countries. Unfortunately they are all too often used interchangeably and with different emphasis of meaning, making it impossible to be sure with any degree of certainty that any two writers are addressing the same facet of society. Salamon and Anheier (1997, p. 3) argue that this complexity develops because of the great range of organizations that are included under these umbrella headings, “ranging from tiny soup kitchens to symphony orchestras, from garden clubs to environmental groups.”

Our first task in this text must therefore be to begin to navigate a way through this complexity. The logical starting place is the term third sector, which is now in common usage and reflects the distinctive role the sector has in society. The notion of a third sector is illustrated in Figure 1.1. The third sector is distinguished by being somehow different from either government or the private sector. All three sectors are important facets of human society, and all three have a role to play in the satisfaction of human need.

The private sector or “market” caters to the majority of human need, certainly in the developed world, matching the supply of producers with consumer demand for goods and services. This market ensures that people can obtain much of what they want and need from others at a reasonable price—or at least those with money are facilitated in doing so! Economists argue that the market works because suppliers are prevented from charging excessive prices by the knowledge that others will enter the market to cater for the need if their prices are too high. Similarly...