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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 Human Services lens

The instinct to build every part of a development program at once rarely survives contact with a shop where one person owns the case, the donor base, the appeals, the thank-yous, and the monthly tally, often on top of another job title entirely. The reason people give that matters most here is the hardest one to overcome: everyone believes your work matters and assumes someone else is already funding it, which is why shifting an ask from "we need" to "you can" is not a style choice but the only way through that assumption, and why fixing thank-yous has to come before launching anything new when there is no budget to replace a donor who quietly leaves.

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.