Books are a tried-and-true channel for conveying knowledge. For nonprofit professionals, fundraising books can prove an invaluable resource to learn new insights and strategies. From tips to trends to case studies, books can impart a wealth of knowledge and inspire your nonprofit organization’s unique fundraising needs.
To level up your fundraising efforts, take a look at these fundraising books:
- Planning a Successful Major Donor Event by Kristin Steele and Samantha Swaim
- The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker
- Fundraising for Social Change by Kim Klein and Stan Yogi
- The Smart Non-Profit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine
- Donor-Centered Leadership by Penelope Burk
- Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications by Jeff Brooks
- Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance by Edgar Villanueva
- The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
- Asking Styles: Harness Your Fundraising Power by Andrea Kihlstedt
- Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron
In this guide, we’ll help you get a feel of what each of these books is about and help you determine which would be most helpful for your fundraising needs. Let’s get started!
1. Planning a Successful Major Donor Event by Kristin Steele and Samantha Swaim
About the Book
Historically, only major donors were invited to nonprofit fundraising events. Although these events have become more accessible to all kinds of supporters, major donors remain an important group for nonprofit fundraising needs.
Planning a Successful Major Donor Event will guide you through the process of planning an event that helps you engage and connect with major donors. This book breaks down decades of fundraising and event planning experience into actionable strategies that you can utilize to create a positive impact on your fundraising efforts.
By reading this fundraising book, you’ll get insights into:
- Budgeting
- Logistics
- Sponsorship strategies
- Procurement
- Volunteer management
- Scripting and storytelling
- Special appeals
This book will help you build a strong foundation in fundraising concepts that you can leverage to plan and execute engaging events that strengthen your donor relationships. And, you’ll learn from specific case studies and examples that you can implement immediately.
About the Authors
Kristin Steele has been a nonprofit advocate for over 20 years. She has a background in writing and teaching but now works at Swaim Strategies as an event consultant, where she helps connect supporters more deeply to missions they believe in, hoping to empower nonprofits and their donors to change the world. Above all else, she believes in the power of bringing people together to accomplish their shared goals.
Samantha Swaim has worked in nonprofit fundraising and event production for over 20 years and is dedicated to helping organizations with a mission. She strongly believes in the power of nonprofit events to create shared experiences and build communities. She brings her roots in theater and TV production to her work as a fundraising consultant at Swaim Strategies, where she helps plan events to inspire connections and build support.
2. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker
About the Book
At its core, a fundraising event is a gathering where like-minded individuals come together to give their support to a specific nonprofit. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters argues that gatherings can be lackluster and unproductive, but they don’t have to be.
This fundraising book brings a human-centric approach to gathering, focusing on creating meaningful and memorable experiences. The author, Priya Parker, investigates different types of gatherings and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. This book will provide you with actionable advice on how you can turn a mundane event into a dazzling fundraising opportunity.
About the Author
Priya Parker is a facilitator, strategic advisor, and author. She wants to help readers rethink and reimagine how we gather and consider ways to infuse it with creativity and meaning. Her focus is on human connection, which she considers the magic behind a successful group event.
3. Fundraising for Social Change by Kim Klein and Stan Yogi
About the Book
The eighth edition of Fundraising for Social Change is a guide to securing funding that centers on small- to mid-sized nonprofits. This fundraising book explains how to establish and expand a diverse base of donors. In it, you’ll find:
- Reflections and wisdom from a varied group of fundraisers
- Insights about fundraising, including establishing a fundraising infrastructure and working with consultants
- Discussions of budgeting and planning, and tips on handling financial trouble
Fundraising for Change takes all this information and more and packages it in a digestible and actionable format. This book also has a focus on working toward racial, economic, social, and environmental justice, making it ideal for progressive nonprofits.
About the Authors
Kim Klein is a founding partner at Klein and Roth Consulting. She is a pioneer in teaching small nonprofits how to raise big money and believes that a nonprofit’s role is to promote the common good. An internationally known speaker and author, Klein has worked in all aspects of fundraising, as staff, as a volunteer, and as a board member.
Stan Yogi is a senior consultant at Klein and Roth Consulting. He originally worked for grantmaking organizations, including California Humanities, and then moved into nonprofit fundraising. He is dedicated to progressive causes and movements and believes in the importance of fundraising from individuals.
4. The Smart Non-Profit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine
About the Book
In an increasingly busy world, automation is beginning to take over as a more efficient solution for organizations. However, The Smart Non-Profit stresses the importance of remaining human-focused despite digital transformation. While it focuses on using technology strategically and ethically, it also cautions nonprofits against embedding their biases into their smart technology. This fundraising book helps nonprofit staff avoid repetitive tasks and spend more time building relationships with technology thoughtfully.
About the Authors
Beth Kanter is the author of one of the longest-running and most popular blogs for nonprofits. She has over 30 years of experience in the nonprofit industry in technology, training, fundraising, marketing, and more. She’s an internationally recognized trainer who helps organizations leverage social media, network building, and relationship marketing best practices.
Allison Fine is an activist, futurist, and author. She’s a strategist on the use of technology for social good and has written four books about nonprofits and social change. She was the chair of the national board of NARAL: Pro-Choice America Foundation and is currently a board member of the Westchester Jewish Council. She also keynotes conferences around the world and consults with nonprofits and foundations on strategy, fundraising, and communications.
5. Donor-Centered Leadership by Penelope Burk
About the Book
One of the most frustrating problems nonprofits face is high staff turnover, which takes a financial toll on these organizations. While many fundraising books focus on increasing your revenue generation, Donor-Centered Leadership is focused on how you can raise more money by lowering your staff attrition rate. This book exposes nonprofit myths and out-of-date practices that make it more difficult for fundraisers to do their jobs, giving you the information you need to keep your staff members and generate more funds.
About the Author
Penelope Burk is an author, researcher, speaker, and fundraising expert. Her career in the nonprofit industry began in the early 1970s in communications and market research and later expanded into fundraising and management. Now, she’s the president of Cygnus Applied Research Inc., a firm dedicated to helping nonprofits make more money in a changing giving environment.
6. Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications: Real-World, Field-tested Strategies for Raising More Money by Jeff Brooks
About the Book
The Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications provides a step-by-step tour of the unique strategies, writing style, and design techniques of compelling fundraising messages. Based on decades of hands-on fundraising, this book reveals which fundraising messages really work in an easy-to-read and entertaining package, compressing years of learning into under 200 pages. With it, you’ll be able to start writing, designing, and thinking like an experienced fundraising professional on your next project.
About the Author
Jeff Brooks has been a professional in fundraising for over thirty years. He’s worked at a variety of fundraising agencies, including The Domain Group and TrueSense Marketing. He believes that great fundraising is about building a relationship with the donor, specifically connecting your cause with the donor’s values. He takes a donor-centric approach to his work to help nonprofits succeed.
7. Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance by Edgar Villanueva
About the Book
This fundraising book is an analysis of colonial dynamics at play in philanthropy and finance. Many nonprofits and their funders reflect and perpetuate these underlying dynamics, sometimes without even being aware that they are doing it. Decolonizing Wealth is dedicated to bringing awareness of these dynamics and advocates for an orientation toward justice. In this book, you’ll learn about the fatal flaws in philanthropy and the thoughtful solutions to these systemic imbalances.
About the Author
Edgar Villaneuva is an award-winning author, activist, and expert on issues of race, wealth, and philanthropy. He’s the founder and principal of the Decolonizing Wealth Project, which is dedicated to bringing forth truth, reconciliation, and healing from the ails of colonization. He advises a range of organizations, including both nonprofits and businesses, on social impact strategies to advance racial equity from within and through their investment strategies.
8. The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
About the Book
Storytelling is a crucial concept for nonprofit professionals to understand, as it allows them to form connections with their supporters to further their cause. The Storytelling Animal is an insightful fundraising book about this principle. Jonathan Gottschall offers a unified theory of storytelling, drawing on research in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology. This book educates the reader on story craft, storytelling concepts, and how stories can change the world for the better.
About the Author
Jonathan Gottschall is a prolific author on the intersections of science and art, having authored and edited eight books. He is deeply interested in storytelling and has written multiple books on the concept. Additionally, he is a Distinguished Fellow in the English Department at Washington & Jefferson College.
9. Asking Styles: Harness Your Fundraising Power by Andrea Kihlstedt
About the Book
Making an ask for donations can be intimidating to nonprofit professionals new or experienced. Asking Styles prepares you for the ask by showing you how to make an appeal in the way that suits you best, based on your key personality traits. In this fundraising book, Kihlstedt identifies four asking styles and then matches the style to their optimal approach to asking for a gift. Asking Styles is simple and fast-paced and provides you with the tools you need to transform your fundraising outreach and effectiveness.
About the Author
Andrea Kihlstedt has over thirty years of experience as a fundraising consultant and has spent her professional life learning what goes on beneath the surface of the human mind and heart. She gives workshops, trainings, and lectures all over the country to a variety of different organizations. Additionally, she is a Campaign Expert for and Co-Founder of Capital Campaign Pro, a website designed to help nonprofit capital campaigns succeed.
10. Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron
About the Book
As a nonprofit fundraiser, you’ll need to write a variety of different materials that compel supporters to give. In Wired for Story, Lisa Cron focuses on the human desire to learn what happens next. This fundraising book offers a revolutionary look at story as the brain experiences it, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of the brain. It takes this information and teaches you how to apply it to your writing, helping you create compelling stories for your nonprofit.
About the Author
Lisa Cron is a story coach and the author of three books on storytelling and writing. She has worked in publishing through a variety of agencies and has even served as a story consultant for Warner Brothers. She’s also been an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program since 2006 and has been on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts MFA program in visual narrative in New York City.
Additional Resources
Each of these books offers its unique insights and standpoint on nonprofit fundraising, making them all valuable for your reading list. As you read these books, carefully consider what advice you can implement at your nonprofit, and how it would increase your fundraising success. Seek out fundraising books that specifically align with your nonprofit’s weaknesses to help you turn those weaknesses into strengths.
If you’re interested in learning more about nonprofit topics and fundraising, take a look at the following resources:
- Elevate Nonprofit’s Free Trainings + Webinars — We offer free training and webinars on a variety of nonprofit topics. Check out this page for our offerings to enhance your understanding of nonprofit best practices.
- Elevating Your Event: A Guide to Nonprofit Event Planning — Want to learn the best strategies for planning a nonprofit event? This guide will lay out the steps you need to take to help you create a successful event for your organization.
- Melding In-Person and Virtual with Hybrid Fundraising Events — The hybrid fundraising event format empowers nonprofits to leverage the advantages of both in-person and virtual events. Learn how to host a great hybrid event of your own.
