Relationshift: Revolutionary Fundraising

Bassoff and Chandler outline twenty dangerous myths that make up the belief systems of most fundraisers today. The book calls for a shift to a relationship building focus to replace the "scientific" approaches featured in the old fund raising books. For over thirty years I have been associated with non-profit organizations, church and para church ministries in professional and lay capacities. I have read books, and articles, and spent hours in board and committee meetings. After reading "Relation Shift" I am taking a new look at giving and receiving and am ready to make the relation shift in fund raising. The book is refreshing, enlightening, and highly motivating. Each chapter is filled with stories, examples, and illustrations for building relationships with your donors. The authors provide twenty positive reality shift statements and seven steps on the rope ladder to success to help you make the change, to break free of the twenty traditional, self defeating myths of fund raising. I was especially challenged by the reality shift suggested in lieu of myth number ten. Myth: "You don't have enough staff to raise the money your organization needs." Reality Shift: "The number of people you have is not as big a priority as the depth of the relationships you yourself create." Steve Chandler known for his books and seminars on relationship selling is one of America's most resourceful and successful fundraisers. Co-author, Michael Bassoff, nationally known in the field of health science development, as president of the TGen Foundation has been responsible for raising millions of dollars in gifts for research. These men are well qualified to write this revolutionary fundraising paradigm shift. This book should be required reading for every non-profit officer, director, and staff member. "Relation Shift" is a proven approach for building new relationships that lead to having all the money you will need for your cause.

This wonderful book was underlined and highlighted so many times I couldn't read it anymore.....I had to start fresh and buy a new one. Of all the books on fund raising I've ever read, including MegaGifts, this book is the one that really shows you how to do it, and how to change yourself and your whole approach so that you can attract major gifts. When I gave this book out at a staff retreat, my people had read it by the second day and wanted to devote the third and final day to just this book. Our major gifts now account for more than 2/3 of our revenue, and our days are spent building relationships instead of fund raising. Our annual goal was passed in six months after that retreat! This book returns the joy to fund raising because it teaches you how to communicate with donors and donor prospects in a way that both parties enjoy and look forward to.

It's got to be the best book yet written on fundraising. The SHIFT they're talking about is the SHIFT that changes a life of scraping and struggling into a virtual heaven of support. Beneath the simplicity and drama of this book is the most sophisticated relationship science I've ever seen outlined, with plenty of specific examples to back it up. A true precision structure for the ultimate networking skill.

I have read all the books on fundraising I could find, and I have finally found a book that showed me a fresh, new way to do it. This book is going to annoy and upset people who miss the gold inside its simplicity. I have worked with upset people like that, people who want to hide out inside all the old fundraising dogma, and turn fundraising into a bureaucratic, linear process. This book explodes all of that narrow and dull life and opens the whole field up to the kind of creativity you normally associate with entrepreneurs, not fundraisers. This book is revolutionary in that it allows a fundraiser to think big and cultivate major gifts while 99% of the others are doing the same old same old bureaucratic desk-straightening and filing all day. There will be those who are infuriated by this book because it tells the truth. Fundraising is like falling in love. You have to be at your best as a relationship-builder for it to be wildly successful. But what a great handbook for how to do it! I wish I could give it ten stars.

I wish that this book was available when I started in Development 10 years ago. My sometimes painful experiences in Major Gift Solicitation highlight that the authors know what they are talking about. The best advice that anyone attempting to fundraise can hear is explained beautifully in this book: develop and nurture significant personal relationships with your donors. This advice really works. For example, my wife and I adopted our son as a result of the personal recommendation of a major donor-turned-close-friend.People (and people within foundations) give to people. The key to success in raising money is to be viewed as a resource and friend, rather than one of the hundreds of development officers who call an executive's office over the course of a year.Buy a copy for yourself and one for all of those in leadership positions within the organization. Then put it into practice!