At 02:04 PM 7/14/2004 -0400, Full Name Some people use AOLs \"FlashMail\"
feature to wrote:
>Dear All - I'm a graduate student in museum studies looking to obtain the
>best resources on individual giving- motivations, why people give, how/why
>to appeal to individuals, and any statistics. I'd like to focus on the art
>museum- but I welcome any and all suggestions from other organizations.


Obviously a big topic.  Here are some quick thoughts.

For the "how much" question, consult "Giving USA":
https://www.secured-site.com/aafrc.org/html/giving_usa/

Poke around on the web site of the Association of Art Museum Directors (for
example, http://www.aamd.org/documents.html) to get some other quantitative
data.

The "why" question is easy to answer:  You need to appeal to individuals
because the bulk of giving comes from individual people, not corporations
and foundations.  Statistics from Giving USA will illustrate this fact.

For the motivations question, read "The Seven Faces of Philanthropy" by
Russ Alan Prince and Karen Maru File (Jossey Bass, 1994)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0787900087/104-9281531-9546338?vi=reviews

Francie Ostrower's "Why the Wealthy Give" (Princeton University Press,
1997) is also on target for this topic.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691015880/ref=pd_sim_books_3/104-9281531-9546338?v=glance&s=books#product-details

Teresa Odendahl has also written on the topic of motivations.

The "how to appeal" question doesn't have one definitive source.  I would
start with the classic work by Harold "Sy" Seymour called "Designs for
Fundraising."  Henry Rosso's "Achieving Excellence in Fundraising" is
another classic.  If you are looking more for sample letters, forms, etc.,
see James Greenfield's "Fundraising Fundamentals" (Wiley).  But there are
dozens of publications on this topic.

Finally, for more background, search the Literature of the Non-Profit
Sector at
http://lnps.fdncenter.org/  There are at least 14 entries under "Art museums".

Good luck.

Susan Ruderman

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