From the Ground Up: Digital Fundraising For Nonprofits Paperback – September 2, 2020

Very happy with it!

Based upon a colleague friend’s recommendation, I ordered the book From the Ground Up. Digital fundraising for nonprofits, by Brock Warner, CFRE.It’s a great little gem with all the basics anybody and everybody could need for digital fundraising.Online advertising, social media, welcome emails, payment processors, google analytics, and so much more.In two sittings, I was able to learn all the basics I needed to help someone like me, who ‘grew up’ as a direct marketer almost 4 decades ago, understand the new technology better and implement it along with all other channels.In easy-to-understand words and with examples, Brock explains the basics you need to know as a digital fundraiser.I would like to call this an essential dictionary for the terminology involved with emails, online advertising, web giving, crowdfunding and analytics, testing and more.He clearly indicates some of the great things we fundraisers can do with online channels and then some examples of how we often leave money on the table by not doing other things.I think it would have been helpful to have an index of terms at the end to make it easier for lookup, but that’s my only suggestion.If you’re ‘struggling’ to understand the ‘black box’ of digital fundraising, this is a great book to help you do just that.

For example, advice regarding LinkedIn: “Charities would be wise to create and maintain a company page….”Advice for Youtube: “take time to ensure your channel page is up to date…”

This book is a one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about the fundamentals of digital fundraising. I've waited for years for such a practical, strategy-focused resource curated specifically for nonprofit fundraisers. As the author recommends in Section 1 "Thinking in Systems," this book teaches you step-by-step how to engineer a comprehensive digital fundraising program that leverages technological change. Whether you are a new fundraising professional looking to learn the fundamentals or a seasoned expert hoping to refresh your skills or level-set your team, this book should be essential reading for anyone tackling digital fundraising for a nonprofit.

Enjoyed this book a lot! A friendly, fun, and easy way to learn about all things digital fundraising. If you want to either make a career shift or just begin to integrate digital into fundraising efforts at your org, this is the book to get! Brock is so knowledgeable and dumps a ton of information into the pages, but does it all in a way that's easy to understand and unintimidating. A great resources!

For those who may be sceptical about digital evangelists trying to change non profits / fundraisers, this book offers a clear view of practical steps to take what has worked well in for-profit sectors, and leveraging that to enhance your approach (rather than replace).This book offers a simple to understand framework to think about digital fundraising, clearly written by someone who’s actually done the work, and not just talking about it. Well worth reading and absorbing the lessons.

Brock Warner is one of the nonprofit sector's most dedicated and brilliant fundraising leaders. He is humble, practical, thoughtful, creative, grounded and deeply committed to building up the capacity of others in the sector. His guide is immensely practical and is sure to help improve results for readers who read and follow his helpful recommendation. I look forward to future books by this talented sector leader.

This book truly provides a holistic review of digital fundraising. I appreciated the step by step overview to understand the functionalities of the sector without losing the historical successes of fundraising but rather honing those skills to leverage to a wider audience. As someone who has been working in non-profit for the past decade with the programs department, it was refreshing to understand the perspective of a fundraiser and their priorities.