Review: 'The Sustainable High ROI Fundraising System'

The concept of fundraising should be a simple and self-explanatory one. It’s right in the name: As a fundraiser, your job is to raise funds. But, as Joanne Oppelt points out in her book, The Sustainable High ROI Fundraising System, there’s more than one way to crack an egg, and not all fundraising methods will yield the same return. Fundraising isn’t a one-size-fits-all process; different methods will work better for organizations of different sizes, longevity, and mission focuses. What Oppelt seeks to do, both in this book and in her career as a development consultant, is to create a system that accounts for all these potential differences and enable nonprofit executives fundraise at maximum efficiency.

What makes Oppelt qualified to create such a system? To start, she’s been working in the nonprofit sector for more than three decades. In her current work as a consultant, she “help[s] deeply mission-focused nonprofits build sustainable revenue systems.” She works toward a world where philanthropic organizations of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds have the tools and infrastructure they need to survive and thrive, no matter what financial stressors are thrown at them.

This book represents the culmination of all those years of experience. In an effort to make her strategy accessible to all, Oppelt outlines the steps she takes when working with nonprofits—in under 200 pages....

Read the full book review by Audrey Silverman, a fundraising professional working in the Jewish nonprofit sector.