The Forgotten Foundations of Fundraising

Chapter 1Civil Society, Yes; Sheepskins on the Wall, No—or, the Cons of Being Pro

This is a book for people who hate these kinds of books.

This book is also an act of reclamation. We aim to take back fundraising from the professionals and the degreed class, with their impenetrable jargon and their fetishized algorithms and their extortionate fees, and return it to its proper owners: Catholic‐school moms, CEOs of smaller nonprofits, symphony orchestra development officers, idealistic think‐tankers…the people who are the heart and soul of American civil society. Because civil society is not an exclusive club; it's a participatory democracy. It is citizenship in glorious action.

We don't like to bask in self‐adulation, at least no more than any relatively normal person does. We don't like to toot our own horns, write our own press releases, or pen advertisements for ourselves. We don't want to come off as what sixth‐grade girls used to call “conceited.”

But, oh heck, let's.

Nah, we won't, but we do need to give you a brief and unadorned corporate resume in anticipatory response to a reader's inevitable question: “Just who are these guys, and why should I listen to them?”

We are Jeremy Beer and Jeff Cain. In 2009, we founded American Philanthropic, a consultancy that shuns secret formulas and magic bullets. Instead, AmPhil provides empirically based strategic guidance, essential tools, and practical training. Though the authors hold doctorates in Psychology and English Literature, ...