Fundraising's freshest thinkers take on the sector's toughest topics

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

TH: Be proud to ask people to contribute to your organization. Give them significance in their lives, and you’re making a difference and they are.

JJ: Be sure you are engaging people in conversation, whether they are donors, volunteers, staff, board … be dialoguing. Don’t make it one-way.

CJ: Keep the donors No. 1. Remember that the donor is not going to care whether it’s a development message, a fundraising message, an education message … just as long as you let what the donor wants to see and hear be No. 1.