To me, fundraising is simple. We’re extending an invitation to invest in a cause, in an organization the donor has come to believe in. It’s helping donors do the great things they want to do.

How lucky we are to do that, every day!

Weaving together inspiring stories with four decades in the trenches, this nationally recognized expert charts the road-map to success in Winning: The Five Truths of Fundraising.

How do relationships begin? What’s the most important skill to master? Winning uncovers the fundamental keys to achievement everyone can master in a warm, approachable style.

For more than 40 years, the author, Rob Cummings, has been a development leader for many of Chicago’s oldest and best-known institutions. Winning draws from his acclaimed Weekend Briefing, delivered every Sunday night to 1,500 fundraising professionals across the United States and around the world.

Long before the concept of storytelling became fashionable, I knew that telling a story was the best way to engage a donor with the organization. I also realized that a story is how fundraisers can learn. Sharing a story, a true story, with fundraising professionals at an early stage of their career has proven itself time and again as the best way to teach the important lessons of our craft. When I began writing The Weekend Briefing over a decade ago, I saw that stories resonated with younger fundraisers, but also with those in the profession a long time. And it didn’t matter whether the person served a small organization or a big, sophisticated shop; the stories and lessons had the same impact.

A few years ago I began to think about a book that could distill the most important lessons I have learned into concepts everyone can practice.

These five truths of fundraising really are the road to winning.