For fundraising maven Bernard Ross, a flexible mindset is the key to success.

By David Mckenna

“Guy was working to have prisoners of conscience freed,” Ross explains. “He didn’t talk about the suppression of free speech or about thousands of people being locked up. He talked about this one guy and his wife having a tender relationship.”

Stringer’s curiosity led him to focus on the individual case that most effectively conveyed the plight of political prisoners to potential donors. In doing so, he also was able to drum up belief in his cause, another quality Ross argues is essential to an effective fundraising campaign.