Fundraising Management

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.11208
• Published date: 01 December 2000
• Date: 01 December 2000
• Author: Robert M. Sheehan Jr.

BOOK REVIEWS

Fundraising Management

Robert M. Sheehan Jr.

Effective Fundraising Management, by Kathleen S. Kelly.

Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1998. 663 pp., $49.95 cloth.

The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management, by Stanley

Weinstein. New York: Wiley, 1999. 307 pp., $49.95 cloth.

TWO books on the same topic, with such similar titles, could

not be more different. Kathleen Kelly, formerly a full-

time fundraising executive who is now a professor at the

University of Southwestern Louisiana, builds on her former writings

and experience to produce the first text designed to support academic

courses on fundraising management. It is theory and research based

with extensive references, and yet includes excellent practical rec-

ommendations for fundraising executives. Weinstein has spent thirty

years in the nonprofit sector and is a founder of a fundraising con-

sulting firm. His book represents practical advice on important

fundraising topics, based on his personal experience. There are no

references or theories discussed; it is pure advice from a successful

consultant.

These two books are a product of serious concern that has arisen

in the philanthropic community during the past ten years on the

need for more and better books on fundraising, particularly those

that tie it to research and theory. A grant from the Lilly Endowment,

for example, supported Kelly’s work on her book. Weinstein’s book

is part of a series that Wiley is developing in collaboration with the

National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE). NSFRE has a

publishing advisory council that helps promote this type of book.

NSFRE also awarded Kelly its prestigious Award for Research in 1998

for her book. More serious books need to be written on the topic of

fundraising before it can continue to gain credibility in the academic

community. Both of these books make helpful contributions to the

field of philanthropy.

Kelly’s intention for Effective Fundraising Management was to pro-

vide the academic community and fundraising executives with its

first book on fundraising that is theory and research based. She suc-

ceeds at this wonderfully. She is careful to discuss fundraising in the

larger context of philanthropy. She provides important historical

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