Recommended Philanthropy & Storytelling Resources
Leading voices in philanthropy and storytelling that I’m learning from
Professor Russell James III, Ph.D., J.D., CFP, Texas Tech University, The CH Foundation Chair of Personal Financial Planning/Charitable Giving Program Director. Author of many books on Fundraising and Philanthropy.
His books are listed here: https://www.encouragegenerosity.com/
Website: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/hs/pfp/james.php
Dr. Claire Routely has worked in fundraising for over fifteen years, specialising in legacy fundraising for the last decade. Books: Legacy and In-Memory Fundraising, with Sebastian Wilberforce; and Fundraising Strategy (with Richard Sved)
Louise Chawla, Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder, is an environmental psychologist whose work focuses on the benefits of access to nature for children Books: In the First Country of Places: Nature, Poetry, and Childhood Memory; and Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities (with Victoria Derr and Mara Mintzer)
Dr. Cherian Koshy, CFRE, CAP
USA Today Bestselling Author Cherian Koshy is a leading expert on the neuroscience of generosity and the author of “Neurogiving: The Science of Donor Decision-Making” (Dec. 9, 2025, Wiley). A Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®), he helps mission-driven organizations harness behavioral science, neuroscience, and ethical AI to inspire authentic giving. As Treasurer of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Global Board and a member of The Giving Institute and Forbes Nonprofit Council, Koshy shapes the future of philanthropy through research, teaching, and practical frameworks that connect science, strategy, and the human spirit.
Vanessa Chase Lockshin is a fundraising consultant and public speaker specializing in non-profit storytelling, fundraising and communications, author of The Storytelling Non-Profit: A practical guide to telling stories that raise money and awareness, and the creator of immersive online training programs for non-profit professionals. Vanessa’s approach goes beyond strategies and tactics to empower non-profit professionals to be the expert their organization needs.
Tom Ahern is considered one of North America’s leading authorities
on donor communications.
Each year, he delivers dozens of workshops on the techniques of
(and psychology behind) effective fundraising communications. He is
the author of many well-received books: Making More Money With Donor Newsletters (2005);
How to Write Fundraising Materials That Make More Money (2007);
Keep Your Donors, coauthored with Simone Joyaux (2007); Seeing Through a Donor’s Eyes (2009); Turning Doubters into Donors (2020); If Only You’d Known, You Would Have Raised So Much More: Airtight Answers to 40 Questions Essential to Your Fundraising Success; and more!
Websites:
aherncomm.com (Portfolio)
thecasewriters.com (Portfolio)
Professor Adrian Sargeant A 30-year background of research into the science of donor behaviour. He was the first holder of the endowed Chair in Fundraising at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy based at Indiana University. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University and a Visiting Professor at the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at the Queensland University of Technology.
He is author of a book with Professor Jen Shang: Fundraising Principles and Practice; Building Donor Loyalty: The Fundraiser’s Guide to Increasing Lifetime Value; Fundraising Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice; and others.
Professor Jen Shang, the world’s first PhD in Philanthropy; Jen and Prof. Adrian Sargeant co-founded the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. The Institute exists to grow personally meaningful philanthropy around the world.
She is author of Meaningful Philanthropy: The Person Behind the Giving and has co-authored with Adrian Sargeant Fundraising Principles and Practice.
Ian MacQuillin MCIoF(Dip) is the director of Rogare, which he founded in 2014. He’s recognised as a leading thinker on fundraising ethics having devised a new normative theory of professional ethics – Rights-Balancing Fundraising Ethics, with articles published in the Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing and Journal of Business Ethics. Ian has also created the new field of Anti-Donation Theory with which to better understand the negative attitudes some people hold about being asked to give to charity.
He is a visiting fellow at Kingston Business School (part of Kinston University); a member of the certification committee of the European Fundraising Association, which assesses the qualification/educational programmes of EFA members; and associate editor (ethics) and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing and Philanthropy.
Ian has worked in the fundraising sector since 2001. As editor of Professional Fundraising magazine from 2001 to 2006, he was widely acknowledged as being a key influential advocate for and critical friend of fundraising, regularly being voted into the top 10 most influential people in fundraising.
Rene Bekkers, Ph.D. is a full Professor of Philanthropy and the director of the Center for Philanthropic Studies at the Department of Sociology of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam.
James Andreoni is a professor in the Economics Department of the University of California, San Diego where he directs the EconLab. His research focuses on behavioral economics, experimental economics, and public economics. Andreoni is well known for his research on altruism, and in particular for coining the term warm-glow giving to describe personal gains from altruistic acts. (His papers are highly technical and feature many equations!)
Dr. Beth Breeze, OBE is Principal of Harris Manchester College. She began her career in the non-profit sector as a fundraiser, researcher and manager. In 2011, as a mature student, she completed a PhD on contemporary UK philanthropy and has since specialised in researching, teaching, and advancing public understanding of the role and impact of private giving. Dr. Breeze has written a number of books: Rich Expectations: Why rich people give (with Rhodri Davies and Theresa Lloyd), Advising Philanthropists: Principles and Practice (with Emma Beeston), The Fundraising Reader (with Donna Day Lafferty and Pamala Wiepking), In Defence of Philanthropy (2021), The New Fundraisers (2017), The Philanthropy Reader (with Michael Moody, 2016), The Logic of Charity (with John Mohan, 2015) and Richer Lives: Why Rich People Give (with Theresa Lloyd, 2013).
Professor Antonio Dasmasio: Trained as both neurologist and neuroscientist, Damasio has made seminal contributions to the understanding of brain processes underlying affect and consciousness. His work on the role of emotions and feelings in decision-making has made a major impact in neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. He is the author of several hundred scientific articles and is considered one of the most eminent psychologists of the modern era He is one of the most cited scientists worldwide. One of his areas of study involved patients with damage to the emotion-processing regions of the brain. These individuals retained IQ and logic yet became paralyzed in decision-making over even trivival choices.
https://berggruen.org/people/antonio-damasio
https://dornsife.usc.edu/profile/antonio-dasmasio/
Books about using stories in fundraising (just a few of the many good ones)
The Storytelling Fundraiser
The Brain, Behavioral Economics, and Fundraising Story
by Professor Russell James III
Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes
How to Make a Persuasive CASE for Everything from your Annual Drive to your Planned Giving Program to your Capital Campaign
by Tom Ahren
Stories THAT Stick
How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business
by Kindra Hall
Neurogiving
The Science of Donor Decision Making
by Cherian Koshy
Made to Stick
Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
The Storytelling Non-Profit
A Practical Guide to Telling Stories That Raise Money and Awareness
by Vanessa Chase Lockshin
Winning the Story Wars
Why those who tell – and live – the best stories will rule the future
by Jonah Sachs
The Dragonfly Effect
Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media To Drive Social Change
by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith with Carlye Abler
“Stories create community.” – Peter Forbes