The Nonprofit Fundraising Solution

CHAPTER FIVE

BUILDING A DONOR CONSTITUENCY WHERE NONE EXISTS

INDIVIDUALS ARE THE LARGEST SOURCE of contributed income for nonprofit organizations. According to the Giving USA Foundation (www.givingusa.org), and as we see in Figure 5-1, total charitable giving in the United States reached more than $298.4 billion in 2011. Of that amount, fully 73 percent came from individuals. But finding new donors is perhaps the hardest fundraising task there is. It is process-oriented and time-consuming. Consequently, many fundraisers shy away from it, preferring to solicit stretch (i.e., larger) gifts from existing donors or ask those same donors to invite their friends, family, and coworkers to join them in giving. Frequently, though, the most difficult ...