Steve Thomas was thrilled when editor and fundraiser extraordinaire, Guy Mallabone asked him to contribute his wisdom to Guy’s new book. The idea behind the book is to celebrate Canadian fundraising with contributions from 22 of Canada’s leading fundraisers. Excellence in Fundraising in Canada, the Definitive Resource for Canadian Fundraisers went on sale November 29th.

Steve’s chapter on “Direct Response Fundraising” takes the reader through the donor lifecycle and provides insight into the many fundraising channels used today. Steve provides a solid overview of multiple channels including:

• direct mail
• e-mail
• direct dialogue
• print ads
• radio
• special events
• SMS
• telemarketing
• television
• websites

Charities can use one or more of these channels. Ultimately though, according to Steve, it’s all about integrated fundraising: “the nirvana for direct response fundraisers is to integrate a number of channels.”

Steve admits, however, that while we often talk about multi-channel fundraising, it is still all too rare in Canada. One good example of integration in fundraising would be World Vision. Steve advises us to pay regular visits to www.worldvision.ca to stay abreast of what they’re doing.

To find a short excerpt from Steve’s chapter, please visit his blog.

If you’re a fundraiser, or want to be, this is the book to have handy! Click here if you’d like to order a copy.