Top 20 Fundraising Books

In seeking to identify the top fundraising books for nonprofits, we reached out to 10 of the individuals/teams on our Top Nonprofit Blogs list who specialized in fundraising.  Each of these experts was asked to provide a list of their top 3-5 fundraising books they would recommend. The books with the most votes are ranked first with all ties being settled by a combination of relative rankings (compared to all books evaluated) based on number of ratings, average stars, and age of the book. We hope you find the list helpful. We certainly found some new gems in the process.

2. Relationship Fundraising
By Ken Burnett
2002

3. Asking Styles
By Andrea Kihlstedt
2012

4. Fundraising Guide to Irresistible Communications
By Jeff Brooks
2014

5. Fired-Up Fundraising
By Gail Perry
2007

6. The Essential Fundraising Handbook for Small Nonprofits
By Betsy Baker, Kirsten Bullock, Gayle L. Gifford, Pamela Grow, Lori L. Jacobwith, Marc A. Pitman, Sandy Rees, & Sherry Truhlar
2013

7. Keep Your Donors
By Tom Ahern and Simone P. Joyaux
2007

8. Building Donor Loyalty
By Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay
2011

9. Asking
By Jerold Panas
2013

10. Retention Fundraising
By Roger Craver
2014

11. How to Write Fundraising Materials That Raise More Money
By Tom Ahern
2007

12. Fundraising Principles and Practice
By Adrian Sargeant, Jen Shang
2010

13. It’s Not Just About The Money
By Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels
2014

14. Major Gift Fundraising for Small Shops
By Amy Eisenstein
2014

15. Train Your Board and Everyone Else to Raise Money
By Andrea Kihlstedt and Andy Robinson
2014

16. How to Raise More Money for Any Non-Profit
By Joe Garecht
2013

17. Donor-Centered Leadership
By Penelope Burk
2013

18. How to Win Friends & Influence People
By Dale Carnegie
1998

19. Ask Without Fear!
By Marc A. Pitman
2008

20. Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (And Staff Too)
By Kay Sprinkel Grace
2009