Your consultant knows the best fundraising is fueled by common sense

By Joel Zimmerman

Fundraising as a common sense activity
What is the common sense about fundraising? The average American probably thinks we write letters, e-mails, magazine ads and TV spots to convince people to suspend their otherwise more sensible judgment and impulsively send their hard-earned money to charitable organizations. Many people see this as a dupe. Professional fundraisers, they think, exploit people through guilt, fear, pity and other human weaknesses to get them to contribute to their causes.