We are writers and we are also avid readers, and we simply cannot resist adding a reading room on our website. There are few resources that directly address the language of fundraising. But we have uncovered some. Make yourself at home in this our virtual reading room, and browse through our recommendations:

• Discourse in the Professions, published in 2004, edited by Ulla Connor and Thomas Upton, published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. Both editors are affiliated with the University of Indiana. The book contains summaries of studies in corpus linguistics, some directly focused on the language of fundraising.

• Understanding and improving the language of fundraising, volume 11, winter 1998, edited by Timothy Seiler, published by Jossey-Bass. This is also a collection of studies into the language of fundraising. It is not as current as Discourse in the Professions but it is interesting nonetheless. This book can be difficult, but not impossible to find.

• The Realm of Rhetoric by Chaïm Perelman, the latest edition is published in 2003 by University of Notre Dame. Perelman is widely recognized as the authority on rhetoric. And much of philanthropic discourse is squarely in the realm of rhetoric. If you are at all interested in argumentation and persuasion theory, you need to read this book.

• On Writing Well by William Zinsser, the 25th anniversary edition was published in 2001 by HarperCollins. This is a classical guide to writing nonfiction. It's highly recommended.