Are you active behind the scenes of a nonprofit organization? Are you currently studying to begin a career in the nonprofit sector? If so, you may find the fourth volume of the Dove on Fundraising series to be a valuable companion. Kent Dove, one of America's preeminent fundraising practitioners, along with four professionals well entrenched in the nonprofit world, have collaborated to produce a first-of-its-kind guide to creating, managing and sustaining the key aspects of a successful development services program.

Part One describes the necessary functions in planning and implementing this type of program, which includes evaluating information systems, building a donor database, and establishing a research infrastructure. The authors also discuss the importance of proactive prospect research, as well as the various ways to seek out and compile information on individuals, corporations and foundations. The chapters that conclude Part One offer an overview of creating a gift stewardship plan, as well as the various ways in which a nonprofit can acknowledge and thank donors to prepare for future solicitations.

The second half of the book is an extensive resource section that provides a series of visual aids and sample documents from real-life organizations, which support each of the major points addressed in the preceding text. Included here are prospect tracking reports, gift agreement templates, essential Web site addresses, and a summary of the rules regarding charitable tax deductions.

Conducting a Successful Development Services Program is superbly written; the prose is clear and concise, and the contents are well indexed in the back of the book. The chapters of Part One and the subsequent resource sections follow a logical progression as they describe the range of services that envelop the fundraising process. This "all-in-one" volume has the unmistakable feel of a textbook-something that Dove et. al. intended, given the elusive nature of this topic and the authors' clear objective to encourage the teaching of fundraising in educational settings. Conducting a Successful Development Services Program is an important book, particularly while development services remains an area that hasn't yet been fully defined. As fundraising becomes increasingly competitive, and the trend for fundraisers to be specialists continues, the discrete functions, collectively called development services, will need to be elevated to, as Dove describes, "their proper stature and professional place within the nonprofit framework."

For additional citations to literature on this topic, refer to Literature of the Nonprofit Sector Online, using the subject headings "Fundraising-administration."