In fundraising, there's a long-standing tension between the "art" of fundraising and the data-based "science" behind it. Stephanie Willis is a Database Consultant at Creative Fundraising Advisors, an Apra Board Member and President of the Apra Foundation, and a Gallup-Certified Strengths Educator who has spent most of her career where the two intersect. Her new book, The Art and Science Approach to Fundraising Data and Research, looks at a shared language for both sides of the work. We sat down to talk about making the switch from consultant to published author, how she made it happen, and what might come next.
How did you land on writing a book as something you felt like you wanted to do?
So I've been in the industry coming up on 15 years, I thought I would be a teacher but someone took a chance on me to be a prospect researcher—I knew nothing about fundraising: I knew about higher ed, I knew about databases, I knew about research from school, nothing else. And I can’t believe in the short time I was there that I saw all these things: they were launching a campaign, they went through a database migration, they had a big wealth screening project. Moving down to Indianapolis, I had to find a new job, and so I lucked out and became a librarian. But I missed prospect research, and took an opportunity to do some contract research for an organization, I stayed involved in Apra, and then I got on the board and eventually got back into prospect research at United Way. Fundraising there was so different than university fundraising on so many levels: I had to get really creative. So in 2019 I’m back at a university, and what happened was I became a database administrator. And I did not want to be a database administrator! But that somehow led to where I am today— I had these weird journeys of seeing different sides of fundraising, different parts of it, the data, the research, the soft skills; at Creative [Fundraising Advisors] I have been able to see so many different clients, organizations, small-shops clients who wear just a ton of hats.
And so I found myself writing help guides and teaching these concepts—because someone took a chance on me way back when, and so a lot of my consulting has been teaching. And at the recommendation of others, not me, they’re like: What if you put this into a book? And I didn’t see any other book out there like mine; you usually see data analytics, but I had never seen anything about fundraising data research and supplemental skills.
Speaking of StrengthsFinders, I love a good personality test: if you get the right 100 multiple-choice questions, you can find out what you need about anybody. And personality-wise, shifting from being good at what you do to becoming a market expert is a big mental shift. How was that for you?
I definitely know my strengths: I’m an achiever, I like to work hard, I love the thinking, focus, discipline—I knew I could write the book. But I think I, like many people, struggle with impostor syndrome a lot because I take my own knowledge for granted—other people have to know this, right? And we're in a society that is constantly a comparison environment, and that can be really hard. So when people reach out, it reminds me: that's why I went through this process. Because if I can make more people feel seen, that’s great.
That’s beautiful. It seems like, maybe by definition, to be involved in philanthropy you have to really care about something.
So the book has this secret undertone of replacing fundraising with philanthropy, because philanthropy is about building relationships, because people are more than data points, they’re more than their wealth screening. And nonprofits do have people that care, so then they’ve got to make their donors don’t care—and if they don’t care, leave ‘em alone. One thing I’ve learned is that if a donor is surprised that you’re asking them for money, you’ve done your job wrong. They should understand it’s coming.
You mentioned going from working in the trenches to consulting to ”I should write all these things down”—was that a gradual process? How long have you actually been working on your book?
I was noodling on the concept of writing a couple of years ago. I started with an outline, and in the fall of 2024 I committed to myself: I’m going to just sit down and write. The advice people gave me was to just set up an environment for yourself that you feel comfortable in, and just let the words come to you. And so I would think about it during the week, because I cannot compartmentalize writing the book, so for three or four months I would just pick a topic and then plan to write on Saturday mornings. And probably like once a month I would find myself knocking out a chapter in a couple of hours, and I enjoyed the writing process—and then we’re in early 2025 and I stopped writing completely. It was just that impostor syndrome, it was doubts: “Who wants to read this?”’ and “It’s never going to go anywhere,” all of that.
What I didn’t realize was that I had told people I was writing a book because I wanted them to ask me how the book was going—because if somebody asks me and I’m not writing, there’s that accountability piece where I want to show them I’m not the type of person who’s going to start something, and then stop.
Depending on your inner circle for encouragement seems like a necessary part of it, even for people who are super motivated and dedicated—and I’m sure it helped that you were writing about what you knew.
Right, I didn't write about anything that I hadn’t already had really extensive experience in—I’ve been doing so much of this for so long, and I did not want to write anything that I had to cite sources for: I had an English degree, so I think it worked out for me, for sure, I just didn’t really realize writing would be my preference.
You've been a Gallup-Certified Strengths Educator for over 15 years. How has that framework shaped the way you approach prospect development?
It’s definitely not “I know my strengths and thus I’m a more complete person,” but I would say, trying to figure yourself out—I wanted to call attention to that, because it’s about finding your strengths and what you’re good at, and the more you stay in those areas, the more engaged you’re going to feel. I can say “These are my strengths, this is my lane, and I feel good about myself.” And I started realizing how many skills there are, skills no one talks about, that are really needed to do this work: If you’re trying to do a database migration, or push a research profile process out, and you don’t have a good relationship with that person you’re working with—that’s why I have a chapter about customer service. Because there’s so many hidden elements: whenever I would present to a group, it was always like “Okay, what now?” You got your results, but now what? And that’s my favorite part, because we don't all have to be cookie cutters of each other.
Now that you’re finished and it’s out there, what advice can you give someone who may want to do something similar?
To always have others who give you that encouragement—I would say I had about three or four people I would bounce ideas off of, a couple in the writing space. And think about: What is your accountability system? Because it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be tough. I had two people in particular who would tell me to just keep writing, just do it. I'm so thankful for those people because if they hadn't kept me going, I don't know if we would be having this conversation, really. And so I did a little more, and a little more, and then it was June 2025 and it was halfway written.
Oh wow, so that second half happened a lot faster than the first half!
I talked to a few publishers after, you know, using my prospect research skills to vet them, and within a day after we spoke I had my publisher, and they asked when I was going to finish the book. And in true Stephanie fashion I said: Probably by the 4th of July—it was the end of June, I had half the book written. So I wrote the other half in a week.
That’s amazing.
I can get so locked in—people say “I wish I had your work ethic!” but oh my God if I could get rid of it; I just cannot turn it off. I would wake up randomly at 3:00 AM and bust out a chapter on this or that. So if anybody wants to write a book: there is no process, there is no “what makes sense.” I am apparently motivated by deadlines that are unrealistic. But it’s done and it’s crazy to have it sitting in front of me. It’s surreal.
I’m sure you’re proud & that it feels good to be done—is writing something you want to do more of?
I would not have been ready to write this book a minute sooner than when I did it, and so it doesn’t have to be a quick thing—I am so proud that this is a book I haven’t seen on the market so far, and that’s what would get me to write a new one, if it was the right fit, if there’s something that’s not being talked about in that style. It’s got to be fun, exciting—people don’t want to read dense information, so my leading idea is something that isn't a start-to-finish kind of book. I love the standalone chapter element, so I was thinking: What if I wrote a book on various topics in the industry? Right now it’s data migration, data hygiene, the foundational stuff. But what if the next one was on AI, ethics, what’s trending? Because that’s my main thing, I want to do what I feel passionate about.
Stephanie’s book, The Art and Science Approach to Fundraising Data and Research, is available now.
Join Apra Carolinas as we host Stephanie on her virtual book tour on July 30, 2026! Register here.
