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How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals

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Revised edition of the author's How to write successful fundraising letters, 2nd ed.

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

16 people are currently reading
39 people want to read

About the author

Mal Warwick

30 books490 followers
Mal Warwick has been reviewing books on his blog, www. malwarwickonbooks.com, since January 2010, typically posting three to five reviews per week. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Northern California Book Reviewers and serves on the board of directors of the Bay Area Book Festival. He is also a member of the Author’s Guild and has been a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since the 1970s.

Mal’s most recent book is Hell on Earth: What We Can Learn from Dystopian Fiction (July 2017). He is the author, co-author, or editor of 20 other books, including The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers and the best-selling fundraising text, How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals, Third Edition.

Mal is a principal in two businesses: a fundraising agency for nonprofits named Mal Warwick Donordigital, which he founded in 1979, and the One World Play Project, manufacturers of a virtually indestructible soccer ball that benefits more than 50 million children in 176 countries. The One World Play Project is a B Corporation and a California Benefit Corporation. Mal serves on the board of directors.

For three decades—the 1980s, 90s, and 00s—Mal focused on the nonprofit sector as an author, consultant, and public speaker on marketing and fundraising for nonprofit organizations and on the private sector as an advocate for socially and environmentally responsible business policies and practices. He is the founder of Mal Warwick Donordigital, which maintains offices in Berkeley, California and Washington, DC. The firm has served nonprofit organizations nationwide since 1979. MWD is a Founding B Corporation and a California Benefit Corporation and is now employee-owned. Mal remains as chair of the board.

A serial entrepreneur, Mal has been active in promoting social and environmental responsibility in the business community nationwide for more than two decades. He is the co-author of Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun with Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s. Along with Cohen and others, Mal was a co-founder of Business for Social Responsibility in 1992 and served on its board during its inaugural year. In 2001, after more than a decade as an active member of Social Venture Network, he began a six-year stretch (2001-7) on its board, serving as Chair for four years. He also was a member of the Founding Advisory Board of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002-3.

Among the hundreds of nonprofits Mal and his colleagues served over the years are many of the nation’s largest and most distinguished charities as well as six Democratic Presidential candidates and scores of small, local, and regional organizations. Collectively, Mal and his associates have been responsible for raising more than one billion dollars in the form of small gifts, all of them from individuals.

From 1965 to 1969, Mal was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan.

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Jodi Ralston.
Author 10 books5 followers
May 3, 2019
Great book! Writing fundraising letters seemed like something others can do, not me; it would take years of study. Years of study can help--as well as years of practice and experience--but now writing material that can raise funds seems approachable, not impossible.
Profile Image for Anthony Smith.
28 reviews3 followers
January 9, 2026
A bit outdated (2013; the internet is an entirely different place today). But the principles are still very, very sound and the vast majority of what he writes still applies. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews

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