Nonprofit Management and Finance – serie

application was given describing the research No fund-raising technique is as effective as a personal presentation, a detailed discussion be· techniques, pre-application negotiations with the tween the applicant and the potential funder of granting agency, and the strong features of the the proposed activity held before the written re­ written application that contributed to its success. quest is submitted. If, during the discussion, the Examples that have appeared and continue to appear in GRANTS MAGAZINE were sug­ presentation is made effectively, the chance of success is immeasurably greater and the final gested or contributed by many people, among preparation of the application is comparatively them the magazine's editors, editorial board members, and their colleagues, friends, and easier. It is not, unfortunately, always possible to associates many of whom are successful grantees make a personal presentation. In many, actually or administrators of grant programs. It became most, cases the only form of contact the applicant clear from the number of reprint requests for the has with the funding organization is the written Grant Clinic feature that a compendium of some request. And even in those cases where there has examples that had appeared there would make a been extensive discussion, there always comes a time useful reference volume containing exemplary when a request must be presented in writing in some form. applications.

There was a time when bake sales, raffles, and the like provided non­ profit-making organizations with the funds they needed to flourish. Those days have long passed. Non-profit-making organizations now find themselves competing with one another for public and private sup­ port just to survive. The organizations that will survive are the ones that are not afraid of sophisticated fund-raising methods. Telephone fund raising is such a method. There is virtually no limit to the amount of money telephone fund raising can bring your organization. Telephone fund raising is so successful because it is personal. It allows for dialogue. More specifical­ ly, it allows the caller to answer questions, deal with complaints, negoti­ ate hard, and stress those aspects of the program that interest the poten­ tial contributor most. No method of fund raising other than a personal visit can do this. And, of course, visiting all your potential contributors personally would be impossible. This book provides you with all the information you need to devel­ op and maintain a lucrative telephone fund-raising program on your own. The general principles of telephone fund raising apply universally. Therefore, the principles will work for you, whatever your cause. They also will apply whatever your need. Whether you need a long-term telephone fund-raising program bringing in money at a steadily increas­ ing rate over the years or a short-term program lasting one month, one week, or even one day, this book is for you.

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar the acacia-tree and the myrtle and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane-tree and the larch together; That they may see, and know and consider and understand together, That the hand of the Lord hath done this, ••• Isaiah, 41:19 and 20 (first portion) The need to improve our utilization of the Earth's natural resources is everyone's business, from every country. This book presents papers from all parts of the world on the subject of making new or improved polymers from renewable resources, be they plastics, elastomers, fibers, coatings, or adhesives. In important ways, this book constitutes part II of an edited work published by Plenum Press in 1983, "Polymer Applications of Renewable-Resource Materials. " To that extent, about half of the authors are the same. However, their papers present an update of their research three years later. The other half of the authors are entirely new. Bo~h of these books grew out of symposia sponsored by the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division of the American Chemical Society. The papers for the present book are based loosely on a symposium held at the Miami Beach meeting in April, 1985. Unfortunately, interest in polymers from renewable resources fluctuates with the price and availability of petroleum oil. At the time of writing this preface, the price is low, and appears to be headed lower still.

My values, attitudes, and behaviors, like those of most Americans, have been profoundly influenced by not-for-profit enterprises. My parents were students in one when they met. I was born in one. I learned about God in one, my ABCs in another, how to make a fire and tie knots in another, how to play ball and be part of a team in another, and I met my first girlfriend in another. I prepared for my career at a not-for-profit university, met my wife at a not-for-profit church, went on to several not-for-profit graduate schools, joined numerous not-for-profit profes­ sional and special interest groups, brought two newly born sons horne from not-for-profit hospitals. I read magazines published by several of them, sail Cj. nd hunt with their members, and when I vote I consider a variety of their admonitions. Voluntary not-for-profit enterprises have been molding and shaping me as long as I have been alive, and they will even be represented at my funeral. Therefore, it seems only fair that I should help to shape some of them. I have been at that task for some time now-Ieading seminars, consulting, writing, and serving on boards and committees. This book is an outgrowth of what I have learned through formal study, observation and analysis, and personal experience in more than half the states of the union and many foreign nations.