50 Asks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop

Are you raising money for a nonprofit organization with a small development office or no paid fundraising staff? Do you want to raise more money? Are you stuck in a rut with your fundraising program? Do you want to feel motivated and re-energized about fundraising? Do you need an action plan?

50 Asks in 50 Weeks will help you:

--Raise more money;

--Create a basic development plan; Identify new prospects;

--Ask for gifts more frequently;

--Review the basics of fundraising;

--Work with your board on fundraising;

--Hire your first development staff member; and

--Work as a cohesive development team with your executive director, development staff members, and board members.

About the Author

Amy M. Eisenstein, MPA, CFRE, is the principal and owner of Tri Point Fundraising, a full-service consulting firm for nonprofit organizations and foundations. Her firm serves a wide variety of social service, educational and healthcare organizations.

Before creating Tri Point Fundraising, Amy served for more than ten years in the nonprofit sector as a director of development for large and small nonprofit organizations. These include the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College at Rutgers University, and Shelter Our Sisters, a battered-women’s shelter. For these organizations she raised millions of dollars through event planning, grant writing, capital campaigns, direct mail as well as major and planned gift solicitations.

Amy is a frequent speaker at conferences and a facilitator of board retreats. She currently serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – New Jersey Chapter and is chair of the 2010 New Jersey Conference on Philanthropy. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from the Wagner Graduate School at New York University and her Bachelor’s Degree from Douglass College at Rutgers University.