'We Kept Showing Up’: Volunteers Visit Donors

Coping in the Downturn

By Raymund Flandez

Behind the approach: Many nonprofits faced pressure to trim spending on fund raisers as the recession grew deeper. But staff cuts made it challenging to coax big donors to keep giving.

What’s working: Amherst College (No. 289) laid off five full-time employees and one part-time worker in its fund-raising department as the economy weakened. But it needed to reach out to a large number of potential donors anyway because it had announced a capital