Penelope Burk is the founder of Cygnus Applied Research, Inc., an international research firm that has conducted surveys and research studies with more than a quarter million donors over the past twenty-five years. Her research has reached back into donors’ lives to find out about the first time they gave, what motivates their philanthropy now, what their greatest and most frustrating experiences in giving are, and what their dreams are for their philanthropic future.
Penelope’s contributions to the fundraising industry can be best summed up as a long list of “firsts”:
- She was the first fundraising author to back up her ideas and solutions with evidence from donors;
- The first to bring the problem of Donor Attrition to the attention of the fundraising industry, pointing out how much money charities were losing by failing to hold onto their donors;
- The first to offer an evidence-based formula called “donor-centered fundraising” that keeps donors giving longer and inspires them to make more generous contributions;
- The first to document what leadership volunteers do best and how they can raise more money for their organizations by saying thank you the donor-centered way;
- The first to document the real impact of the high rate of turnover among professional fundraisers and the first to bring innovative solutions to the table to keep fundraisers loyal, raising more money, and still leaving the office at five o’clock!
Penelope is the author of the fundraising classic, Donor-Centered Fundraising as well as Donor-Centered Leadership and more than fifty seminars and dramatic plays.