Madeline Stanionis, author of new book on email fundraising.

My colleague Michael Stein emailed me about a month ago right before the NTC Conference.  He offered me a review copy of a new book by Madeline Stanionis about how nonprofits can raise money online using email.  I love the title, "Raising Thousands (if Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars with Email." published by Emerson & Church.  All I had to do was blog about the book.  I was gonna read it on the plane to Seattle last month, but with recent sad events - it got lost in the shuffle.

I was particularly interested in the topic because online fundraising strategy isn't my core area of nonprofit tech knowledge.   And, as a volunteer or board member with small nonprofits, we've never been able to go very far in implementing an online fundraising strategy.    So, this book could be incredibly really valuable for smallish nonprofits without lots of resources.. 

Madeline Stanionis is a guru in online fundraising.  Currently she is president of Donordigital, a well-respected firm that helps nonprofits (larger ones) raise money online and mobilize constituents for progressive causes -- so I was little skeptical as to whether the book would be a long sales pitch for her company's services.  IT IS NOT!    The book is like having a private consult with her!  She is sharing extremely useful information in a way that smaller nonprofits can eventually apply it!

There's another thing I really like her book -- her voice.  Now, I've never met Madeline or heard her speak, but she has a great sense of humor and her writing made me laugh.  (And I really needed to laugh)   The book is friendly to visual learner types like me -- with lots of bullet points, charts,  and screen captures.  Better yet, you can read it in a few hours -- and it chocked full of stories from the field and strategy tips.   Her calm, authorative style leaves you with the sense that your organization can do that!

Even though many of the examples are from larger nonprofits like the Humane Society and Earth Justice, at least she apologizes and offers some "translations" for smaller nonprofits.   To test it out, I'm on the board of a small nonprofit that has flirted with the idea of email fundraising, but has stayed clear for one reason or another. (Fear of the investment, a sense that only large nonprofits can do this, blah blah blah, etc.)   I lent the book to a few board members and what do you know ... they really liked it and we're going to discuss how to apply some of this at the next meeting ...

Some other places where you can read more about Madeline and her new book:.

Michael Stein interviewed Madeline Stanionis for the N-TEN Blog
Betsy Harmon (a nonprofit internet strategy consultant) wrote a review here
You can purhcase the book here

Photos from Donordigital