MEDIA CONTACT: Lisa Freed
561-297-3022, lfreed@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, FL (August 3, 2006) – Dr. Jay Mendell, professor of nonprofit management at Florida Atlantic University, has written “Black Sheep Fundraising: Rethinking Major Gifts for Your Stigmatized Nonprofit,” a 175-page instruction book on how unpopular charities must reform their fundraising efforts.
Mendell references “unpopular charities” as those working with health-related or religious issues that often stir controversy, including AIDS, autism, abortion, eating disorders and alcoholism.
“Charities expend too much effort in justifying, explaining and defending their ‘black sheep’ clients,” said Mendell. “Since it is almost impossible for a fundraiser to ‘re-educate’ a prospective donor, there are better ways to establish rapport with a prospective donor, such as collaborative problem solving of community issues.”
“Black Sheep” is available for free on the Internet and can be downloaded at black-sheep-library.com. Mendell’s goal is to have 2,500 nonprofit organizations download this “how-to” book by December. The book also is available for sale as a bound paperback at any bookseller online.
Mendell has been an FAU professor since 1976, teaching undergraduate and graduate classes in grant writing, fundraising, visionary management and nonprofit management in the School of Public Administration in the College of Architecture and Urban and Public Affairs.. He received a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. and a Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
For more information on “Black Sheep Fundraising: Rethinking Major Gifts for Your Stigmatized Nonprofit,” call Dr. Jay Mendell at 954-755-8928 or e-mail mendell@fau.edu.
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