Tough times don’t have to spell financial distress for nonprofits. You just have to know how much to ask for and how to ask for it.

By Kevin Gault

Lysakowski adds: “One piece of advice I’d give to fundraising organizations in this difficult economy is to focus more on their internal assets. Sometimes fundraisers think they have to go out and find new donors, new foundations or new corporations to contribute, and they don’t take full advantage of the people who are already supporting them. They should spend some time focusing on the top 10 percent of their current donors and try to cultivate them and make them larger donors rather than focusing on the external pool of donors.”