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Foundations · typically years 0–2Fundamentals & EthicsFree preview

How Fundraising Works

The map you weren't given: where the money comes from, why people give, and what a development program is made of.

Through the Arts & Culture lens

Your revenue map runs through a ladder few donors climb by accident: ticket buyer to subscriber to member to donor, and giving here is unusually social, since patrons often join a table or a membership tier because of who else is at it. The retention cliff shows up as the subscriber who let their season tickets lapse: they are a lapsed donor with extra steps, and without a deliberate stewardship habit they quietly become someone else's audience instead.

Continuing education

1.25 points

Leadership and Management · Relationship Building

Learning objectives

  • Describe the sources of charitable giving in the United States and rank them by share, using Giving USA as the reference.
  • Explain the principal reasons donors give and the most common reasons they stop.
  • Identify the components of a functioning development program and how they fit together.
  • Draft a working plan for a fundraiser's first 90 days in a new role.

Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.

Lessons

Each lesson opens on its own page. Complete written lessons are available now. Downloadable editions open as each one clears review, and video editions follow.

More in this stage

Major & Principal Gifts

Your First Donor Conversations

Scripts, practice, and nerve for the conversations that fund your mission: discovery visits, thank-you calls, and your first ask.

Annual Giving & Direct Response

The Annual Fund, Explained

Appeals, segments, and the giving calendar: how recurring annual revenue gets built, one season at a time.

Donor Communications & Stewardship

Thank-Yous That Keep Donors

Retention is the cheapest money you raise. Build a gratitude system that runs even when you are slammed.