Mal Warwick has distinguished himself through his contributions to the nonprofit sector as one of the world’s leading authors, consultants, and public speakers on fundraising and as an advocate for socially and environmentally responsible policies and practices in the private sector.

Mal is the co-author of Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006) with Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s.

A serial entrepreneur, Mal has been active in promoting social and environmental responsibility in the business community nationwide for more than 15 years. Along with Cohen and others, he was a co-founder of Business for Social Responsibility and served on its board during its inaugural year. In 2001, after more than a decade as an active member of Social Venture Network, he was elected to its board and served as Chair (2002-2006). He also was a member of the Founding Advisory Board of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002-3.

Mal is the founder and chairman of Mal Warwick Associates (Berkeley, Calif., and Washington, D.C.), a fundraising agency specializing in direct marketing. The company has served nonprofit organizations since 1979. Mal also founded its sister company, Response Management Technologies, Inc., a data processing firm for nonprofit organizations, and was a co-founder of the telephone fundraising firm, Share Group, Inc. (Somerville, Mass.). In 1999, he co-founded Donordigital (San Francisco, Calif.), which assists nonprofit organizations with online fundraising, marketing, and advocacy.

Mal has written or edited seventeen previous books, including the standard fundraising texts, Revolution in the Mailbox and How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters, both of which are now in second editions. His two books on fundraising strategy—The Five Strategies for Fundraising Success and (with Steve Hitchcock) Ten Steps to Fundraising Success—are in use throughout the world as strategic planning guides for nongovernmental organizations.

Mal is editor of the free monthly electronic newsletter, Mal Warwick's Newsletter: Successful Direct Mail, Telephone & Online Fundraising™, which has 6,500 subscribers in 67 countries. He is widely in demand as speaker and workshop leader throughout the world. Mal has taught fundraising on six continents to nonprofit executives from more than 100 countries. He speaks annually at the International Fundraising Congress (The Netherlands), the International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation (Thailand and India), the Hemispheric Congress on Fundraising (Mexico), and the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ International Conference on Fundraising (U.S.). 

Among the hundreds of nonprofits Mal and his colleagues have served over the years are many of the nation's largest and most distinguished charities as well as six Democratic Presidential candidates and scores of small, local, and regional organizations. Collectively, Mal and his associates are responsible for raising at least half a billion dollars—largely in the form of small gifts from individuals.

Mal is Chair-Elect of the international Resource Alliance (London, UK), organizers of the annual International Fundraising Congress in The Netherlands and a leading force globally in developing the fundraising capacity of nongovernmental organizations to build civil society. He is also an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Alexandria, Va.) and served for ten years on the board of the Association of Direct Response Fundraising Counsel (Washington, D.C.), two of those years as President. In 2004, he received the Hank Rosso Award as Outstanding Fundraising Executive from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Gate Chapter and Northern California Grantmakers.

Mal also serves on the board of the Institute for the Renewal of the California Dream and SpeakOut California (Sacramento, Calif.); on the board of One Voice: United, a Political Action Committee led by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Oakland, Calif.); on the advisory board of A New America Foundation; and on the advisory boards of several companies, including GetActive Software (Berkeley, Calif.), Important Gifts LLC (New York, NY), and Mission Research (Lancaster, Penn.).

Mal was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador for more than three years. Since 1969 he has lived in Berkeley, California, where he is deeply involved in local community affairs. Early in the 1990s, he co-founded the Community Bank of the Bay, the nation's fifth community development bank, and the Berkeley Community Fund, where he served on the board (with one year as its president) until 2006. He also served for 11 years as Vice-President of the Board of the Berkeley Symphony (1991-2002).

In November 2006, Mal was awarded the Benajmin Ide Wheeler Medal by the Berkeley Community Fund as “Berkeley’s most useful citizen” in recognition of his lifetime contributions to the community.

He is the grandfather of Dayna, Iain, Matthew, Gwen, Andrew, Kaleb, and Benjamin, who live on college campuses or with their various parents throughout the United States.

E-mail Mal.