As you saw in the video, you can ...

Start inspiring your board — today — with your “jump start kit” and The Raising of Money.

Writing to board members in The Raising of Money, Jim Lord peels away complexity and reveals simple, proven, enduring principles. The book inspires and encourages any volunteer ... and builds support on the board for the that ideas you know work.

This “executive summary” gives board members the 35 fundamentals of raising money — each in just a few brief pages.

The lessons it holds are every bit as relevant today as when it was first published in 1983. And now it's been updated with new ideas inspired by these times.

Here are brief excerpts from just a few of the 35 proven principles you’ll find in this slim volume ...

Organizations have no needs

Many organizations believe that the more compelling their “needs,” the more successful at fund-raising they’ll be.

But donors are tired of those pleas. The organizations that prosper are those that earn and attract investment, not charity.

People want to give

Embracing this fundamental truth makes the work of inviting investment so much easier.

You and your organization can set the stage so that giving becomes a collaboration, one that brings the donor deep satisfaction, meaning, and even joy. What a different proposition than “fundraising” from the reluctant!

Trustees can inspire confidence

Board members have an unusual opportunity to inspire people and set an example. The trustee’s commitment is an expression of leadership, a declaration of what’s important to them ... perhaps even a stand for hope and confidence.

Jim Speaks to Volunteers for You ...

From the Introduction to the New Edition

Now is the best time to take a peek at this book … and to raise money

It’s hard to believe how the world has taken such a turn or two, in such a brief span.

Yes, we are in the midst of the most profound economic situation you and I have ever seen. At the same time, if you look for them, there are encouraging signs of a renewed pulse of civic engagement, a new dialogue.

What a time to talk of raising money.

To fuel ourselves in these unusual days, we just might want to turn our attention to the hope (yes, the hope) our organizations represent.

Hope—confidence in the future—is a prerequisite for major philanthropy. Indeed, without a belief that a difference can be made in the world, that the future can be shaped by our efforts today, why would anyone give of themselves?

The way I see it, the mere existence of our “organizations of social good” can embolden all of us. After all, the voluntary choice to create and sustain these institutions and agencies reflects the very best of who we are as human beings. And our accomplishments through these organizations show us glimpses of what can be possible.

At the same time, your investing yourself in this cause is every bit as much a reason for people around you to be encouraged about the future. For your spirit of contribution shines all the brighter in what might otherwise seem to be dim days.

So, in support of our navigating today’s turbulent waters, I offer this thin volume as a chance to think together about a new, confident conversation. A conversation of consequence.

My intent is to offer a solid footing for creating the world we want. How? By looking back at the “old-fashioned” principles of civic engagement and philanthropic spirit that were described in the first edition of this book, a generation ago. And by seeing which of these fundamentals have endured long enough (and through enough ups, downs and sideways) to qualify as timeless tenets.

To amplify those enduring ideas, I bring to you my fresh study of hope and promise. (Yes, you actually can study such things.) That’s the purpose of this new introduction and the afterword that concludes this new edition.

Hope, choice and you

When I speak of hope, I mean a force in a person and among people that is beyond mere optimism or a “positive” outlook.

My kind of hope is grounded, always rooted in recognizing past and present strengths, resources and capabilities. (At the same time, it may also be spirited, as “faith in the future” suggests.)

Such a stance is especially important now, as we see an unprecedented longing for leadership that is both inspired and inspiring.

If being inspired and inspiring others is what you want, then it’s worth asking: What can fortify hope more than seeing significant voluntary acts on the civic stage? Such actions, and the spirit of those behind them, will give us a real shot in the arm.

So what I’m saying is that hope is at once a pre-condition of great deeds and a result. A virtuous circle if ever I saw one.

Nearly as much of a prerequisite to success is feeling that one has choices, and that’s exactly what we have. Philanthropy is choice and freedom.

After all, our causes give people ways to do what they want to do, where they want to do it, and how they want to do it. Next to the ballot box, philanthropy is the clearest expression of a choiceful democracy.

When it’s expected and assumed, when it is approached as either tax or entitlement, the spirit of philanthropy is compromised.

So stay at the center of the ideals we call freedom and democracy—the core of free societies—and treat philanthropy as a voluntary expression of a person’s desires and identity.

It deserves repeating: Hope is both a condition of philanthropy and a result. It works both ways. Once hope has kindled philanthropy, then confidence, freedom, choice, personal initiative, democracy — and philanthropy — are all advanced.

Where else in our lives than the civic stage do we get a better opportunity to declare what we believe in? And invite others to join us?
That’s why you will find here a reservoir of an encouraging and confident spirit.

This book was written to reinforce you, the volunteer leader, as a voice for positive expectations and possibility, especially in this season. If any days call for you and me to take a stand for hope and confidence and for vibrant philanthropy, it is today.

So I want to see your voice, your presence, your personal power amplified as an advocate for hope, choice and personal initiative. Indeed, I’ve taken it as my life’s work to strengthen this force in good folks like you.

Praise for the First Edition

“If someone is to read only one book on trustees and fund raising, this should be it. All board members should read it and read it often.”

National Center for Nonprofit Boards
(now known as BoardSource)

“Lord’s succinct and lucid little book ... sage advice.”

American Library Association

“Jim Lord is a visionary. He inspires us through his ethical approach to — and sensitive appreciation of — both the process of fundraising and the outcomes it produces to society’s benefit.”

Kent E. Dove
Vice President for Development,
Indiana University Foundation;
Leading author, consultant, and teacher

“It was from Jim Lore more than 25 years ago that I first learned about sacrificial giving. We have seen great things happen as a result.”

Bob Rogers
Philanthropist and former Chairman and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

I remember reading Jim’s great book when I started off in fundraising. I thought: precise writing and an excellent explanation of the basic truths of raising money. It was, and is, an immensely helpful resource. It has helped me to raise a lot money for great causes over the years. But more importantly, it has helped tens of thousands of people to raise billions to improve lives and our world.

Harvey McKinnon
Leading consultant, author, and teacher

I recently purchased another box of James Lord’s “little books.” It been one of my favorites for more than 20 years. I look forward to the new edition giving us – and those we work with – more guidance and inspiration. Thanks!

John Kearsey, Director, Donor, Alumni & Community Relations, Monash University

At last! The book I consider to be the most important ever written about fundraising is available again. Jim’s great service to so many in the world is about to be multiplied exponentially and we’ve never needed it more!

Becky Carter, Development Professional

After more than three decades in fundraising, I have not come across a book like this that sums up the best thoughts about “the raising of money” in such a concise and powerful way. ... Quite simply the best single book about fundraising I’ve come across.

Fred A. Matthews, Consultant,
Sound Advancement Strategies

The Raising of Money
Thirty-Five Essentials Successful Trustees are Using to Make a Difference

By Jim Lord

Hardcover. 120 pages. First edition 1983. Revised and updated second edition arrives October 2009.

Contents

I  Working from the Perspective of the Donor

1  Organizations Have No Needs

2  Seek Investment, Not Charity

3  Position Your Cause in People’s Minds

4  Listen to the Community

5  Listen to What Each Donor Has to Say

6  Donors Will Tell You What They Want

7  Make Your Case Larger Than the Institution

II  Getting People Involved

8  Go for the Gold

9  Create Authentic Involvement

10  The Process of Planning Is More Important Than the Plan Itself

11  Share Your Plans Without Asking for Money

12  Use a Feasibility Study to Build a Strategy

III  Setting the Pace for Giving

13  If You Seek Average Gifts, You Get Below-Average Results

14  A Few Will Do the Most

15  The Early Donor Sets the Pace

16  Trustees Have an Opportunity, Not an Obligation

17  Staff Giving Can Lend Credibility

18  Make Great Investments Possible

IV  Applying the Campaign Principle

19  People Prefer Structure

20  Take One Step at a Time

21  Scheduling Creates Momentum

22  Build a Sense of Campaign

23  Create a Climate of Universality

24  Winning Is Fundamental

25  Meetings Keep Things Moving

V  Asking for Money

26  People Give to People

27  The Right Person Makes the Difference

28  The One Who Asks Must First Give

29  See Each Person Face to Face

30  Ask for a Specific Amount; Ask for Enough

31  Qualify the Prospective Donor

32  Tenacity Prevails

33  Ask for the Order

VI  Practicing Stewardship

34  The Donor Deserves Good Stewardship

VII  Kindling the Spirit of Philanthropy

35  The Best Advocate Is Both Donor and Volunteer

A Word on Fund-Raising Professionals and Consultants

Hire The Best — and Let Them Direct

So … where’s he been all these years?

A note from Jim …

As I write to you today, we feel the twin winds of historic change: the most profound economic situation you and I have ever seen … and the greatest movement of civic engagement to elect a U.S. President.

What a time to be alive. So much has changed over these …

40 years? Really?

It’s hard for me to believe it was nearly 40 years ago that I joined Ketchum, Inc. as its youngest campaign consultant … fresh out of college after a stint in the Navy.

First day on the job, bright-eyed and wet behind the ears, I sat up at our training session, raised my hand, and asked innocently, “Why do people volunteer? Why do they give money?”

Blank stares.

“Look in the training manual,” I’m told.

Hmm. I look. And find just tactics, mechanics. No answers to my bigger questions.

I quickly realized I’d joined a profession without any professional literature. There just wasn’t much of anything to read in those days.

Well, I did uncover a few sources. Si Seymour’s book and private papers. Years of memoranda handed out by senior campaign directors at Ketchum.

Then one day someone suggested I dig into the firm’s mammoth library and look at the cases for support from the 1940s. What a great idea. That goldmine stimulated my creativity for years.

As I rummaged through the files, I knew I was getting closer to an answer to my naive question. The cases that caught my eye were the ones that touched something important — about history or place or the cause.

If not me, then who?

Young and full of beans, I decided I’d take my mounting research and my quickly growing experience (I worked for the firm on campaigns, living in 28 cities in just my first four years!) and start writing the ideas and practices of my new profession.

Even early on, I sought to put the raising of money into a much larger context of facilitating personal initiative. That’s allowed me to see the noble and profound nature of this endeavor. (You’ll be taking advantage of this experience and mindset as you turn the pages of The Raising of Money.)

My first book, Philanthropy and Marketing, was the first to apply marketing to the raising of money. (By the way, it’s long out of print, so please don’t ask me for it.)

Then came The Raising of Money.

I wrote it as an “executive summary” for board members, so development professionals could find support for the proven practices and principles of raising large money. The big ideas they wanted their trustees to “get.”

What a surprise hit it turned out to be.

The “little blue book” sold so many copies in its first 15 years that it’s still known as the world’s all-time bestselling book on raising money.

Back when it came out, the profession was a fraction of its current size. So the book’s influence on the senior most practitioners (and those who were taught by them) was significant, I’m told.

(By the way, I’m often amused — or is it bemused? — to see passages from The Raising of Money “ripped off” without attribution. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I’ve been greatly complimented by many folks over the years.)

So The Raising of Money was a big deal “back in the day.” And what I’m told about how it’s influenced the direction of the profession … well, it appears to be born out.

Yet most who’ve come to the world of philanthropy in the last decade or so don’t even know it exists.

Here’s why …

I went into hiding

It’s true.

I disappeared for a decade-plus.

You see, the success of The Raising of Money, and my other writings, was good for me. Speaking, teaching, consulting … I had the privilege of advancing the causes of organizations and communities, large and small, all over the world.

And then one day I found myself being introduced at the International Congress on Philanthropy in Miami as “the world’s greatest expert on raising money.”

Gulp.

That’s pretty cool. But if that were true — and with the confidence even hearing such a thing inspires — would I want to tackle something even larger?

So instead of continuing to crank out capital campaigns (and, to be frank, rake in the dollars), I set out on a mission.

You see, I’m still fascinated by questions about what makes people tick. Why they invest in a cause. Why they volunteer their time. Why?

I’m a curious person (pun intended). Always learning, questioning assumptions, looking for fresh ideas. (Always asking: How do we know this?)

And my curiosity pulled me forward on the adventure of a lifetime.

My personal quest

Eager to find better ways to do this larger work, I dug into an extensive learning program, studying with global thought leaders the most advanced ideas in social psychology and organization development, even community development and global social change. I searched for insights from fields of knowledge as diverse as the behavioral sciences and spirituality.

Always looking for what I could learn about what gets people riled up and moving, motivated to work for what they believed in.

(Even back when I was working for a firm as a young consultant, I was investing heavily in my own learning. I knew it would take me wherever I’d go.)

Using the best of what I uncovered, I created what are seen as innovative ways to advance whole systems: organizations, causes, and communities. I worked directly with civic leaders and with the philanthropically-inclined — to support them in what they wanted to do, creating the kind of world they wanted to see.

And I tested those ground-breaking approaches in workshops and pilot projects all over the world, with the people involved achieving amazing results.

I found that “fundraising” was vastly more effective when seen in that framework.

You might think I was searching for ways to achieve optimal fundraising performance. But in a way it was the opposite: I was inside the experience of the civic leader, walking with them … even laying the roadbed for them and with them … so they could exercise their ideals and create a new tomorrow.

You see, I was searching for the “secret” to success in how ideas and ideals could come to life. Well, that sounds like hype, at least to me. But that’s what I was looking for — “the secret power” that could unlock a whole new level of possibility.

Perhaps that actually is the key to extraordinary results in the raising of money—understanding, at a deep and personal level, what those folks are about, what they’re thinking, what they care about, what they want. Oh yes, and the strengths they have to get there, whether they’re aware of them or not.

And during that decade-plus of exploration, I stayed away from conferences and invitations to speak, and met only with those who came to my private, by-invitation workshops.

(Hundreds of people participated in those workshops, from more than 50 countries. What an experience. But that’s a story for another day.)

If my reclusiveness seems odd, let me explain …

The thing is, we’re all influenced by who we hang out with. I wanted my thinking to be clear and undiluted by what others were talking about in the fundraising world.

I wanted vivid thoughts to lead to a fresh voice, still grounded in what I knew from my years of experience.

And in contrast to “putting out” at keynotes, the workshop format allows me to “take in,” learning more every time.

From all of this, I was getting ready to offer a new book — one that asks donors to activate their power as never before. But first, I want to return to the place that gave me my start. It seemed the right thing to do. Besides, raising money in these times is of such vital import.

At last the book moves off the back burner

It’s a good thing I gave The Raising of Money a rest, for I’ve come back to it with this much wider view, new insights, and, well, wisdom. (It’s cool to be getting older.)

And much to my surprise, I’m finding that most of The Raising of Money has stood the test of time.

Little did I know that the book’s focus on principles of human behavior — how people tend to behave when they invest themselves — would make it so durable.

At the same time, I want to bring to the field my more recent experiences with civic leaders and donors … and offer you some new thinking to expand on the book’s (apparently) timeless precepts.

In particular, I want to encourage you — especially in the current economic times — to stay true to the enduring principles, to the best of what people can be. And to deflect any gimmicks or desperation moves.

Thank you

This field has given me such an education. It’s taught me so much about human behavior, about how people become inspired to do things they thought were beyond reach. I wonder how else, where else I could have learned what I have.

I’m deeply grateful … and glad to be with you on this journey. What a ride!

Warm regards,