Terry Axelrod has been raising funds for nonprofit organizations for twenty-five years, both as a professional and as a volunteer. She is also the founder of three charitable organizations and a professional social worker. Based on her experiences as a fundraiser, she developed the Raising More Money model which she uses to train and coach nonprofit organizations in how to build self-sustaining individual giving programs — that is, how to turn one-time donors into lifelong donors.

The author describes her model as part of the "new reality" of fundraising. Individual donors want to be asked for donations in a much more personalized way than in the past. In the "old reality," according to Ms. Axelrod, nonprofit organizations were dependent on grantwriting and special events. Fundraising from individuals was not a necessity, and no one really had to know how to do it. But in her new situation, fundraisers must get to know these individual donors to learn what motivates them to give and what it would take to have them give more. The Raise More Money model was designed to reconnect fundraisers to their passion for their cause and to provide a system for growing and cultivating a base of lifelong donors.

In the book, Ms. Axelrod lays out her model for cultivating and retaining these donors. Using charts and diagrams she meticulously plots the route that nonprofit organizations should follow in her model to create these lifelong donors. Although there are a lot of good ideas and strategies here, the author's recurring theme of old and new realities is a little annoying. Some of her generalizations about fundraising are not really new at all. For example, she states that "cultivating life-long donors" has not been a priority for fundraisers; but most savvy fundraisers have done just that for some time.

However, there is much to like here, such as her descriptions of the new type of young donor or her insights into identifying new potential donors. The "point of entry" system she describes for introducing potential donors to the organization should be helpful to new and experienced fundraisers as they implement their prospect identification and cultivation programs.

For additional materials on this topic, refer to Literature of the Nonprofit Sector, using the subject terms "Fundraising-donor relations" or "Fundraising-individual solicitation".