'Idea Storming' for Fundraising Professionals

FS: There are so many techniques and steps in the book. What are some key takeaways for fundraisers?
BM: Like other experts, there's certainly a place for tremendous expertise in the world of fundraising, and there are proven approaches and methodology in the world of fundraising. We know, especially in the direct-mail area, that certain things work a lot better than other things. There are known successful approaches. The challenge is that all those things that we know as experts, you want to acknowledge those and use those, but then you also want to go beyond those. So this book is designed to help people question assumptions. They're taking a lot of things for granted about how you do and don't do fundraising, and this is an opportunity to maybe, using some of the techniques like questioning assumptions or 20 questions or problem redefinition or wishing, look at things differently. All those techniques are valuable when you're looking for totally new or breakthrough ideas.