Secrets of Successful Grantsmanship: A Guerrilla Guide to Raising Money
Directed at local nonprofits, such as a rape crisis center and a dance company, Golden's fund-raising advice differs from standard counsel on grant proposal writing. After 20 years in the development business in Cleveland, she believes creating that thick document is a time waster and the lowest priority on a leader's task list. A better place to start is to systematically consider how foundations and governments make grants: some respond to emergencies, some to a chronically unmet need, and some to ongoing requirements, such as operating expenses. Golden gives a pep talk--replete with aphorisms from Mao Tse-tung and Che Guevara (neither noted for sympathy with capitalist philanthropy)--on thoroughly preparing oneself and one's organization for the initial contacts and meetings, and for sustaining the personal relationships made thereby for the future health of the nonprofit. Her practical guide is capped by addresses of 190 public and special private libraries that the Foundation Center in Washington, D.C., routinely stocks with its materials.Gilbert Taylor