Fundraising is the act of building relationships to help the cause you care about. This can include writing letters and newsletters, throwing parties, visiting people, calling people, doing speaking engagements, and more!
What is The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising?
The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising is an engaging, fun, and woman-centered model of how to make your passion for a cause into your dream job. Topics include; Fundraising in a Downturn, Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace, Fundraising on the Internet, or Net-raising, Generational and Cultural differences in Fundraising, the Lean Development Office, and more. Mainly, this book is about how to be your wild passionate self, build relationships, and ask for money effectively.
Why Go Into Fundraising?
If you thrive on change, making a difference in the world, and constantly building your skills, fund raising may be the career for you! Be warned, a lone fundraiser is like a marketing department, grantwriter, events coordinator, copywriter, outreach coordinator, volunteer recruiter and designer all rolled into one.
Fundraising as a field will nurture your creativity, allow you to realize the concrete value of your efforts, learn the true meaning of gratitude, and help your cause succeed!
Development professionals are different from others working in the nonprofit sector, because often they are called upon to do anything and everything in a nonprofit, including outreach, volunteer management, event planning, marketing, graphic design, direct mail, and even running the nonprofit when the leader is incapacitated. This may sound daunting, but to be a development professional, all you need is a passion for the mission, writing skill, and the willingness to learn whatever is necessary to achieve your goals!
Why Now?
With a $1 Billion dollar industry and 1.9 million nonprofits (as of 2005), and 12.9 million nonprofit professionals (almost 10% of the US economy), there are only several hundred books on fundraising, and none of these are centered on young women or diverse fundraisers. I believe that making fundraising fun, and teaching more women to fundraise will help more women to succeed against oppression, and help our nonprofit sector survive this economic downturn. Our 1.9 million nonprofits all need effective, motivated fundraisers, and the Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising can get you started in this exciting field.
What can I do to succeed in fundraising?
Join the conversation on the forum. Buy the book, buy a chapter, or a resource from the book. It’s that easy!