After reading author David Love's new book Green Green, you can be forgiven for thinking, does this writer fall out of bed every day with a new idea about how to fundraise for charities protecting nature? Affectionately known in fundraising circles as the Godfather of Good, Mr. Love has produced a crisp narrative that is chockfull of practical ideas on how to raise money for non-profits. Mr. Love brings 51 years of experience working with some of Canada's most successful nature charities, including the World Wildlife Fund, to bear on this project. 

 

The author makes it clear in his introduction that his tips and strategies are aimed specifically at charities dealing with nature. I respectfully disagree. In my career working on fundraising projects with more than 50 Canadian charities, I can say with great certainty, every single non-profit in Canada will benefit from reading this book. The casual reader may get bogged down by the numerous technical charts and sample letters - items that will be greatly appreciated by his fellow fundraisers – but Mr. Love wisely includes an abundance of interesting sidebar stories and anecdotes. His list of 18 Holy Sh*t Moments is one of many sections that are both educational and entertaining.

 

A substantial portion of the book focuses on Legacy donations. He predicts there will be a tsunami of opportunities as the wealthy baby boomer generation gets older and wants to be remembered not only for who they are but for also for the values they support. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for fundraisers to engage with donors to encourage them to designate significant sums of money in their wills to their favourite charities. The author does a thorough job of walking the reader through the nuts and bolts of developing a successful Legacy program. 

 

While the book is very much a how-to primer for dealing with donors, something Mr. Love refers to as Donor Love, there are underlying currents in this manual that are quite profound and deserve attention. His insights into what motivates people to give money, time, and vocal support to an organization are strategies the Green movement, in general, is grappling with. How do we get more people to make lifestyle changes and support projects and policies to reduce our carbon imprint? Maybe in the future, Mr. Love will fall out of bed with ideas on how we can do that better. I have no doubt he could write an insightful book on that topic as well. 

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David Love’s book Green, Green is available at civil sector press. Enter SN20 at checkout for a Pivot Green 20% discount.