62 Books to put on Your Nonprofit Leaders Summer Reading List
It's August. If you're like many nonprofit leaders, this is the month of the last minute scramble to get out of the office and grab some vacation. As you're looking to go, consider taking a book with you. And since you're a nonprofit leader, I'd suggest you make that book one on fundraising. Here are a few lists to consider.
A list of 20 top books selected by TopNonprofits.com
A list of 5 surprising books first posted on this blog in 2013
And a list of 44 books being built over on Goodreads
Before you head out of the office, skim these lists and see if one of the titles pops out to you!
Top 20 Fundraising Books
The folks over at TopNonprofits.com are great at analyzing data and putting together lists. That's how they created the Top 20 Fundraising Books - they mixed Amazon sales data with voting from top influencers. And this is what they crowned as the top 20:
Making Money with Donor Newsletters by Tom Ahern
Relationship Fundraising by Ken Burnett
Asking Styles by Andrea Kihlstedt
Fundraising Guide to Irresistible Communications by Jeff Brooks
Fired-Up Fundraising by Gail Perry
The Essential Fundraising Handbook for Small Nonprofits by Kirsten Bullock, Betsy Baker, Gayle L. Gifford, Pamela Grow, Lori L. Jacobwith, Marc A. Pitman, Sandy Rees, Sherry Truhlar
Keep Your Donors by Tom Ahern and Simone P. Joyaux
Building Donor Loyalty by Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay
Asking by Jerold Panas
Retention Fundraising by Roger Craver
How to Write Fundraising Materials That Raise More Money by Tom Ahern
Fundraising Principles and Practice by Adrian Sargeant, Jen Shang
It’s Not Just About The Money by Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels
Major Gift Fundraising for Small Shops by Amy Eisenstein
Train Your Board and Everyone Else to Raise Money by Andrea Kihlstedt and Andy Robinson
How to Raise More Money for Any Non-Profit by Joe Garecht
Donor-Centered Leadership by Penelope Burk
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Ask Without Fear! by Marc A. Pitman
Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (And Staff Too) by Kay Sprinkel Grace
Click through to the Top 20 Fundraising Books list to see the covers and links to get them on Amazon.
Some Surprising Fundraising Books for Your Summer Reading List
A couple years ago, I put together a list of 5 surprising books that will help your fundraising. These books are:
Asking Styles by Andrea Kihlstedt
Go for No! by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz
The Art of Persuasion by Bob Burg
First Things First by Roger Merrill, Rebecca Merrill, and Steven Covey
Ask Without Fear! by Marc A. Pitman (of course!)
You can read more about why these books were listed at 5 Surprising Fundraising Books for Your Summer Reading.
Fundraising Books I've Read More Than Once
I read 50-75 books a year. But this spring, I tried creating a list of books that have helped me as a fundraiser and that I've read more than once. Given my volume of reading, this 44 book list is remarkably short.
The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications: Real-World, Field-Tested Strategies for Raising More Money by Jeff Brooks
Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications & Stronger Relationships by Tom Ahern
It's NOT JUST about the Money by Jeff Schreifels
A Spirituality Of Fund Raising by Henri J.M. Nouwen
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Retention Fundraising: The New Art and Science of Keeping Your Donors for Life by Roger Craver
God & Mammon: Asking for Money in the New Testament by Jouette M. Bassler
Favor the Road to Success by Bob Buess
Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
The Fourth Turning by William Strauss
Epic: The Story God Is Telling and the Role That Is Yours to Play by John Eldredge
Asking: A 59-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift by Jerold Panas
Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort by Steven Van Yoder
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
The Pollyanna Principles: Reinventing "Nonprofit Organizations" to Create the Future of Our World by Hildy Gottlieb
Life is Tremendous by Charlie Jones
Godly Materialism: Rethinking Money and Possessions by John R. Schneider
Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell
How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
Personality Plus: How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself by Florence Littauer
How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People by Les Giblin
The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce H. Wilkinson
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate by Gary Chapman
Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
Getting to Yes: Negotiating an Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin
Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story by Kendall Haven
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board by Max DePree
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
Ask Without Fear!: A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors With What Matters to Them Most by Marc A. Pitman (Goodreads Author)
The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
You can see this list on Goodreads, and add to it yourself. It's at: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/88054.Best_Books_for_Nonprofit_Fundraising.
That's 62 Books!
Photon cropped from an orginal by Aloha75 on Flickr. Used with permission. https://flic.kr/p/7MaG75
So there you have it. Three lists of books. With only 7 being repeated across the lists, that makes a total of 62 books to help your nonprofit fundraising. Refreshingly, not every book deals with fundraising directly.Which book popped out at you?
As we saw in The Crisis in Nonprofit Leadership, many nonprofit leaders simply don't know much about nonprofit fundraising. Use this month to get one book smarter.
Which book will you choose?
The post 62 Books to put on Your Nonprofit Leaders Summer Reading List appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.
