# 50 Asks in 50 Weeks

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/50-asks-in-50-weeks/
- Published: 2017-02-20T16:33:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop**

**Are you raising money for a nonprofit organisation with a small development office
or no paid fundraising staff? Do you want to raise more money? Are you stuck in 
a rut with your fundraising programme? Do you want to feel motivated and reenergised
about fundraising? Do you need an action plan?**

Amy Eisenstein, MPA, ACFRE, has written a brilliant development planning tool designed
to help nonprofit professionals and board members raise more money for the organisations
they love. She provides easy-to-implement strategies and tips that you can implement
immediately, without any additional staff or resources. If you are working in a 
small development shop—or if you ARE the small development shop—you want this book!

By “small development office,” Eisenstein means an organisation with a budget of
under $3 million, and/or less than three paid development staff members. This includes
a “zero_“_ development staff shop, which is an organisation with no paid development
staff member and where the executive director/CEO, programme staff, and/or volunteers
are responsible for all the fundraising.

## **Why 50 Asks?**

Eisenstein has observed that staff members in average, small development offices
make far fewer than 50 asks per year—and receive far fewer gifts.

While 50 is a somewhat arbitrary number, it still represents a marked increase over
what most small development staff shops are doing now. Most importantly, it’s an
_achievable_ number.

**_50 Asks in 50 Weeks, Second Edition_** will help you:

 * Raise more money
 * Create a basic development plan
 * Identify new prospects
 * Ask for gifts more frequently
 * Review the basics of fundraising
 * Work with your board on fundraising
 * Hire your first development staff member
 * Work as a cohesive development team with your executive director/CEO, development
   staff members, and board members

This expanded edition is a development planning workbook. By the time you’ve finished
it you will have created a basic annual development plan by focusing on three important
aspects:

 * The significance of asking for gifts frequently
 * The importance of having a diverse funding base
 * The impact of asking in the smartest possible way

Eisenstein focuses on these three pillars of successful fundraising (instead of 
just the first) because, although the focus of the concept of _50 Asks in 50 Weeks_
is on asking more frequently, having a diverse funding base is also critical to 
your success. The third aspect, asking in the smartest possible way, recognises 
the danger in focusing too much on frequency—doing so leads to making the kinds 
of mistakes that actually result in a _decrease_ in gifts.

Eisenstein doesn’t mince words. As she stated in her first edition (2013), she continues
to remind you that successful fundraising requires taking action, including getting
out of your chair, picking up your phone, and meeting with donors.

Eisenstein also addresses a big reason you may not be raising the kind of money 
you could: the ways you are spending your time. This isn’t just about being overworked(
though that’s part of it). Frequently, “asking for gifts” falls to the bottom of
a long list of urgent, but ultimately less important, work. Even experienced fundraisers
can get sidetracked with tasks ranging from event planning to managing the database
or writing thank-you letters. While extremely important, though, these tasks (among
many others) don’t lead _directly_ to any additional income for the organization.

To raise more money, you must move asking back to the top of your priority list.
Eisenstein shows you how.[](https://fundraising.co.uk/books/50-asks-in-50-weeks/void(0))

## **About Amy M Eisenstein**

Amy M. Eisenstein, MPA, CFRE, is the principal and owner of Tri Point Fundraising,
a full-service consulting firm for nonprofit organizations and foundations. Her 
firm serves a wide variety of social service, educational and healthcare organizations.

Before creating Tri Point Fundraising, Amy served for more than 10 years in the 
nonprofit sector as a director of development for large and small nonprofit organizations.
These include the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the Associate Alumnae
of Douglass College at Rutgers University, and Shelter Our Sisters, a battered-women’s
shelter. For these organizations she raised millions of dollars through event planning,
grant writing, capital campaigns, direct mail as well as major and planned gift 
solicitations.

Amy is a frequent speaker at conferences and a facilitator of board retreats. She
currently serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – 
New Jersey Chapter and is chair of the 2010 New Jersey Conference on Philanthropy.
She received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management
from the Wagner Graduate School at New York University and her Bachelor’s Degree
from Douglass College at Rutgers University.[](https://fundraising.co.uk/books/50-asks-in-50-weeks/void(0))