Читать книгу Achieving Excellence in Fundraising - Группа авторов - Страница 16

The fifth edition, published in 2022, has been released in tandem with the Lilly Family School's tenth anniversary and nearly 50 years after the founding of TFRS. Gene Tempel has passed the baton of editorial leadership to Genevieve Shaker, associate professor of philanthropic studies and TFRS faculty member, while himself playing a guiding transitional role in the most recent edition – his fourth. Bill Stanczykiewicz, director of TFRS since 2016, has joined the editorial team, as did his TFRS predecessor Tim Seiler (1996–2015) for the prior two editions. Sarah Nathan, who assisted with the third and fourth editions, is a former associate director of TFRS, and serves currently as the executive director of the Middletown Community Foundation.

Collectively, we have experience as fundraisers and leaders in nonprofits large and small; as board members and volunteer fundraisers; as educators of undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals; and as researchers and writers. We consider ourselves “pracademics” with strong interests in using research to inform the field. We are also perpetual students of philanthropy and fundraising who are humble in our desire to learn and grow.

This volume also features a new generation of chapter authors, all of whom are Lilly Family School of Philanthropy faculty, staff, alumni, students, and friends, with a number also being affiliated with TFRS.

Of the 54 authors in the volume, 33 are writing chapters for the book for the first time. We are pleased to welcome back authors from previous editions. Several authors' involvement stretches back decades, including Gene Tempel, who has written for every edition since the first, as well as Tim Seiler, Jim Hodge, Marnie Maxwell, and Lilya Wagner – contributors since the second edition. All told, the fifth edition cohort is the most diverse thus far. It is more representative of the fundraising community of today and tomorrow, but we recognize that there is more to be done.

While preparing this book, we discovered that the previous edition has been used in some 450 colleges and universities. This is indicative of growth in formalized fundraising education and of the book's expansion from handbook to teaching tool for students of fundraising, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector. It also continues to serve as a guide for board members, nonprofit professionals, volunteer fundraisers, those who want to “spread their wings” to other fundraising domains, and those who wish to hone their craft by applying research to their work.

Like the field itself, the editions of this book evolve as fundraising practice changes and adapts – while retaining the original purpose of achieving excellence. The gingko leaves on this cover were chosen to symbolize the book's longevity and the collective wisdom it contains. Gingko trees are among the oldest plant species on earth, displaying incredible resiliency, with many trees living for centuries. Gingkoes persist, even in the face of great adversity, including several that survived the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. Every autumn, a group of volunteers collects the fallen seeds of these special trees. Under the banner of the Green Legacy Hiroshima Project, seeds are then sent around the world to promote peace and understanding. Recently, a sapling from one of these seeds was planted on the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, adding additional meaning for the editorial team.

Like the gingko tree, fundraisers are resilient professionals; we hope this volume plants many seeds of knowledge for new and experienced fundraisers alike.