Relationship Fundraising
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A Donor-Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money, fully revised third edition.

Ken Burnett.
The White Lion Press Limited 1st edition 1992
Jossey-Bass/Wileys Inc 2nd edition 2002
Civil Sector Press/White Lion Press 3rd edition 2024
Published 2024. £47.00 +postage and packing.
Softback, 564 pages. ISBN 978-1-998796-09-0

It’s 32+ years since the first edition of Ken Burnett’s Relationship Fundraising and 22+ years since the 2002 second edition. How the world has changed since then! One comment from readers, repeated consistently, echoes down the ages. It says the fundamental tenets of relationship fundraising haven’t changed. Experienced and novice fundraisers have made this point, over and over again.

This reworking of a timeless classic sets out what’s great about fundraising, what’s gone wrong and what still needs to be done about it. Expanded by 15 additional sections of new content, this third edition of Relationship Fundraising not only brings the text up to date but also sets out a road map for the changes fundraisers should make now, so that campaigning fundraising can achieve its full potential for good in the 2020s and beyond.

Ken Burnett uses words to provoke change, challenging, stimulating, informing and inspiring fundraisers – the gateway to donors – to help their organisations and their supporters make the differences they want to see, so they can change the world for the better. Now, in addition to encouraging continuous advances in the donor-based approach to the business of raising money, this book will catalyse real, lasting change that will enrich the lives of fundraisers, their donors and the people, issues and causes that together they transform,
around the world.

Some selected reader’s comments

See also from this author The Zen of Fundraising, Friends for Life, Tiny Essentials of an Effective Volunteer Board, The Field by the River, Storytelling can change the world and The essence of Campaigning Fundraising.

‘Relationship Fundraising was in many ways a book ahead of its time. I remember reading it when it came out and being inspired by its simple truths. It is a book I have recommended to many people and the well-thumbed copy on my office shelf has been consulted by many colleagues over the years.’

Simon Collings,
writing in Professional Fundraising magazine.

‘The book that changed my life’

“The wisdom, common sense and wit crammed into Relationship Fundraising helped me realise what fundraising truly is. It’s about humanity. Decency. Treating people really well and helping them to change the world. With that epiphany, fundraising transformed from a job to a lifelong mission for me. And the technical guidance shared in its pages has helped me to be a better fundraiser ever since. An absolute must-read for anyone who comes within an ass’s roar of a fundraising department.”

Colin Skehan,
Head of Donor Relations, Trocaire, Ireland.

“World book day; Harry Brown handed this book to me 19 years ago and said: this is all you need.
He was right! Thank you @kenburnett1.”

Jo Ballantine,
a fundraiser writing on Twitter.

More reader’s comments