Philanthrophy has become a serious business throughout the world, and nowhere more so than in the United States. Even though Americans donate more than $74 billion each year to charity (and this dollar amount continues to climb each year), little to no scholarly research has been done in the area of fund-raising. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast fund-raising theory to actual fund-raising practices utilized by five non-profit organizations based in Omaha, Nebraska. A 22-point questionnaire, created purposely for this study, was administered via a face-to-face interview with those people who are actually responsible for fund-raising activities conducted by their respective non-profit organizations. Their responses to these questions were compared and contrasted to what fund-raising theory suggests
