ALAN CLAYTON is the founder and CEO of Revolutionise International, a fourteen-year-old consultancy that works with name-brand NGOs worldwide to "accelerate people with purpose." His firm has helped more than 500 organizations, including UNICEF, WWF, Oxfam, and many smaller and medium sized nonprofits solve their problems through a signature blend of research, teaching, and execution.

Foreword xiii

Introduction: "How Can It Be So Hard to Save a Child?" 1

Learning from the Best 3

Research on the Great Fundraising Organizations 5

Discovering the Red Dot 7

Turning Intuition into Methodology 10

What You Can Expect from This Book 13

The Delight of Doing a Good Thing 15

Part I Triggering the Red Dot 19

1 Two Businesses, One Mission 21

Two Businesses 24

Three Conflicts 30

Cultural Conflict 30

Investment Conflict 33

Communications Conflict 35

Be the Best at Both 37

Respect and Dialogue 38

Education 39

A Shared Ambition 40

What Can You Do? 41

2 From Governance to Growth: The Trifecta 47

The Trifecta Is a Leadership Issue 53

Think Big Picture 55

Focus on Leading People 55

Live with Uncertainty 55

Shifting Mindsets: From Governance to Growth 56

3 Alignment Begins with the New Ambition 65

Cascading Effect 69

Communications Hierarchy 70

Purpose Versus New Ambition 72

"We Have a Problem. You Can Help Solve It." 75

4 Not Any Ambition Will Do 83

Pragmatism to Idealism 86

Why, What, How 90

Differentiate Your Organization 91

Problem 91

Proposed Solution 91

Personality 92

Passion 92

Checklist for a Good Ambition 92

5 Investment and Ambition 101

Deciding Your Financial Aspiration 104

The Power of Long-Term Thinking 107

Understanding Investment 111

Types of Investments 113

Sources of Investment 114

Calculating Investment 115

6 Culture and Ambition 121

Why a Donor-Conscious Organization? 125

What Stops Great Fundraising? 127

Creating a Donor-Conscious Organization 128

Quality Management Systems: Building Blocks for Great Fundraising 128

Memetics 131

Part II Striving for Emotional Excellence 139

7 You Are in the Emotions Business 141

Prejudice Against Emotions 145

Truth Well-Told 147

The Science of Storytelling: Focus Your Emotion 149

Find Your Magic 151

8 Identifying Donor Needs 159

Identifying Versus Changing Needs 162

Why People Give 164

Healing 164

Happiness 165

Self-Esteem 165

Connection 166

Meaningful Life 166

Identifying Your Donors 167

Identifying Your Donor's Needs 171

Psychographic Model 171

Biological Model 175

Identity Model 176

9 Meeting Donor Needs: Creating Great Fundraising Communications 183

Meeting Donor Needs 186

Exquisite Stories 190

Creating Great Fundraising Communications 195

Where Does Brand Fit In? 198

10 Financial Leadership 205

Understand Lifetime Value and Growth 208

Test to Make Ideas Work 210

Test 1: Will Anyone Give to Us? 211

Test 2: Improve Cost per Acquisition 212

Test 3: Look at All the Details 212

Test 4: How Do You Maximize Lifetime Value? 213

Be Proactive 214

Get on the Front Foot 215

Train Them on the Financials 215

Change How You Report Progress and Learnings 216

Help the Senior Leadership Team Manage Risk 217

Be Financially Astute 217

11 Leadership Decisions 221

Hierarchy of Purpose 224

Fear of Criticism 226

12 How to Get Going 233

Eight Steps to Success 238

Build Your Troupe 239

Train Your Leadership 239

Create a New Ambition 240

Embed the Culture 240

Data 241

Create an Investment Plan 241

Line Up and Go 241

Keep Going 242

Bonus: Do it all Again 242

Conclusion 249

Acknowledgments 255

Index 259