My mother always wanted to be a journalist. Unfortunately, she graduated from high school as the Great Depression was ending, and going to college was not in the cards for her. She was an adamant lover of books, something she passed on to her children.

When I was seven years old, I read my first "life-changing" book; To Kill a Mockingbird. I was sitting at the bar that divided our kitchen from our den and said aloud to no one in particular, "Maybe I'll be a writer when I grow up."

My mother came out of the kitchen, took me by the hand and marched me into our guest room, where her desk and her IBM Selectric typewriter we kept. She sat me down and her typewriter and said, quite simply and quite directly: "Start." I did.

I don't typically write great literature. ( I do, however, write world-class sarcasm.) One of my first mentors, the head of my high school's English department once told me, "You use words like they are blunt objects."

With Linda Wise McNay, Ph.D. and Ailena Parramore.

Leading a nonprofit is challenging and rewarding work. Nonprofit board members, CEOs, Executive Directors and fundraising leaders - and those who aspire to those roles - are expected to engage donors to raise money effectively. Yet, most have received little or no training or support in advancement.

In Fundraising for All, veteran fundraising consultants Linda Wise McNay, Ailena Gibby Parramore, and David M. Paule demystify fundraising.