Board member and philanthropist, Paul Balser, is an experienced asker. He takes his role as a solicitor very seriously and has raised millions of dollars for his favorite organizations. But even Paul gets anxious about asking. In the video below, Paul says “There is nobody who does this seriously who doesn’t worry about whether they are doing it right!”

And if Paul Balser feels that way, you know your board members do too!

Develop a Training Plan to Help Your Board Members Learn to Ask

In the video below, Andy Robinson, author and trainer extraordinaire talks about the importance of training board members about their roles in the fundraising process. Though a professional trainer himself, Andy suggests that organizations do more than just bringing in someone from the outside on rare occasion to conduct a board training. This “drive by” training method should be only part of your training program.

 Three Things You Can Do to Train Your Board to Ask for Gifts

While you may think that the best training is done by consultants or trainers in special board sessions, people learn best when they learn small bits and then have a chance to practice them and then learn something more. So while you should take advantage of having a great trainer come to work with your board, you should develop a year-round board training plan.  Here are three things we suggest:

1.  Create a Training Plan. Involve two or three board members in working with you to develop a year-round board training plan.  This might be the role of a special committee that oversees the board functions (including nomination) or it might be an ad hoc group.

2.  Bring in Outsiders.  Make use of experts to train your board.  You can hire consultants for special training each year. And you can invite experts from your local college or university development office to come to a board meeting to talk about best practice. In the same vein, consider inviting donors to come and speak with your board about how they prefer to be approached.

3. Take Advantage of Web-Based Training Material.  Throughout the year, provide opportunities for board members to learn from external resources. You might suggest that a board member participate in a fundraising training webinar and then report to the rest of the board. You can also distribute interesting and helpful links to board members when you see them in the professional blogospere.

You will find that the more comfortable board members feel about fundraising and the more they believe they can do it successfully, the more willing they will be to carry out their fundraising roles!

Watch another video by Andy Robinson.

For another perspective on fundraising training, read Paul Jolly’s blog post.

Also learn 10 important tips on training fundraisers. Note, this is a members only part of the site. Not a member yet? Join NOW.

It’s been just over a year since I began working with Sarah Weisberg, coaching her on how to raise funds for the Biobus. This renovated San Francisco city bus chugs around the country to school after school, serving as a special mobile classroom with high quality microscopes. Its remarkable staff of young scientists inspire school children with the wonders of the natural world around them.

Sarah Weisberg, herself a biologist, works on the Biobus as teacher and administrator and even a driver of this big lumbering bus. But Sarah also took on the task of raising $100,000 to cover the operating expenses of this remarkable operation. I offered to coach her if she was willing to let me video her about her fundraising progress throughout the year.

In this final set of videos below, Sarah will tell you how much money she’s raised, what she’s learned, and how she plans to raise money in the next year.

Embedded in Sarah’s simple fundraising lessons are the core concepts of effective fundraising for any organization whether it’s a little start-up like the Biobus, or a large, well-established institution. Peel away the extraneous stuff and what you get is what Sarah did.

How Biobus Sarah Raised $200,000

What Did Sarah Learn? Here’s Her Fundraising Advice

What’s Next in Sarah’s Fundraising Adventure?

Thank you, Sarah Weisberg!

I thank Sarah Weisberg from the bottom of my heart for sharing her fundraising stories with the Asking Matters community! I enjoyed her energy, her charm and her willingness to try out new approaches. I loved editing the videos and watching her open, excited face.

I’m not at all surprised that Sarah has succeeded in her fundraising. Who could resist Sarah? Not me!

Andrea Kihlstedt

Click here to learn more about the Biobus.

Watch the entire video series of the Fundraising Adventures of BioBus Sarah. Start with the first episode. In these wonderful, short videos you will see Sarah transform from being a total novice into a successful fundraiser with the courage and ability to ask for a major gift!

Click here to learn more about the Biobus.

By Lori L. Jacobwith

Lori L. Jacobwith brings more than 25 years of professional speaking, coaching, and training to her work with social profit organizations. In addition to working as a Development Director, Executive Director, and President/CEO for various organizations Lori has provided training & coaching for thousands of organizations and their boards nationwide. Lori’s strategies & tools have helped organizations to collectively raise more than $200 million from individuals.

It’s true. You have to ask to receive, right?

After coaching and training more than 3000 nonprofit organizations and their boards and staff the biggest challenge I see is people rarely actually “ASK” for the gift.

They are scared to ask for the wrong amount.
They are scared they’ll get a no.
They are scared to “do it wrong.”

If those fears strike a chord, I have some great news for you. While yes, it is important to ASK I believe and have witnessed time after time when being clear and bold about what the funds are needed for can actually cause people to make a contribution…even without saying: “Won’t you please give now.”

As marketing guru and author Seth Godin says, “nonprofits sell feeling good.”

Your community of donors, volunteers, referral sources, and others want to feel like they are helping you do something you could not do without them. But the key here is: They have to KNOW what it is you want them to do.

When you are transparent about costs, goals, and the impact of a gift, you build a stronger and more committed supporter community. Sharing this information though, can’t be boring and full of charts and graphs. It has to be shared with examples of compelling stories about real people.

Do you know where your organization is right now in meeting your annual fundraising goals?

Do you, your board chair, and CEO know what the current funding gap is for what you must raise from the community through philanthropic support for the rest of the year?

How often do you share those “money” details with your community?

I define the funding gap as the difference between the annual budget and what you have raised to date, this minute in time from ALL sources of funding like grants, United Way support, government funding, fees for service, and so on. It is not “what we expect to raise.” It’s what you have in the door TODAY.

The gap between what you have in the door and what it takes to fully fund your programs is the funding gap information you want to be crystal clear about.

Why share this information regularly?

If your community is not certain you need more of their time, dollars, advice, contacts, whatever it is that is missing – they may, in fact, go elsewhere.

The most important part of sharing this financial information is that in order for it to have any real meaning for your community you must humanize the dollars with stories of real people.

Share an example of someone you’ve turned away or people you HAVE served but share how many are waiting. Talk about who will be impacted by eliminating your funding gap this year.

Communicating about money is not something that comes naturally for most people. But I find when we are authentic and having an actual conversation it feels less like you are announcing a big number or angling for a big gift.

Here’s my suggested framework for any and all communication – written, verbal, online, on the phone, you name it. After you’ve done the perfunctory “hello and how are you?” use this framework:

What’s working well: Share a short example of how your work is making a difference in the life of a real person or how that new program is changing the lives of real people.

What’s missing: Are you turning people away due to limited hours caused by budget cuts? Would more volunteers make a difference? Is there a funding gap you are working to eliminate? Where could I, the listener, fit in to help? This is not an ask, it’s an “update.”

Share a story: A warm, short story that paints a picture of your work and causes people to FEEL something.

Finally, in any conversation with others you want to listen. At least 50% of the time spent communicating with your supporter community should be about them. Listen to why they gave in the first place. Listen for what their favorite program is.

This framework can be followed in no specific order. But remember, if you truly want to engage your supporters more deeply, be clear with them about what is missing at your organization AND ask them a question about what’s working or what’s missing in their own life.

When your organization gets more comfortable talking about “the money” and your funding gap, I promise, people will step up to the plate to learn more about how they can help. And yes, they’ll even make a gift.

To learn more about using clear, bold communication join Lori for an hour-long webinar for Asking Matters on Tuesday, April 30 at 12:30 EASTERN. Lori’s sessions are engaging and packed with examples and information to get your fundraising re-charged.

To learn more about Lori visit www.lorijacobwith.com

Follow Lori on Twitter: @LJacobwith or visit her Facebook page: LJacobwith

Seth Godin is one of today’s foremost business authors and bloggers. We at Asking Matters read his blog daily and are often struck by how applicable his ideas are to the nonprofit world and particularly to fundraising. So with huge thanks to Seth Godin, we publish here another installment in our WWSS (What Would Seth Say about …) series by Andrea Kihlstedt, Cofounder of Asking Matters.

Subscribe to Seth Godin’s blog. Read Seth’s Original Post.

Here’s the thing: no matter how much you paid for your ticket, you never bother to even try bullying the conductor or the gate agent to get your train or plane to leave a few minutes later. It leaves when it leaves, that’s the deal.

Part of the challenge of working with major donors is that it sometimes seems that everything is up for grabs. You should stay up all night for a week. You should rearrange the program or naming opportunities to suit their interests, because even though it’s not in the spec, hey, they are giving a really big gift…

Promising the donor whatever they want is actually not nearly as useful as letting them know what the rules are.

Boundaries eliminate the temptation to let your donors have more influence than they should. State the boundaries early and often and don’t alter them and believe it or not, the donors will be happier as well. They didn’t sign up to design your programs or shape your donor recognition program. They want their gift to have an impact and to be recognized appropriately.  And while they may have some ideas about how to do that better, they’ll respect the expertise and judgement of your organization’s board and staff.  The limits are the limits.

Adapted with permission from the For Impact Daily Nuggets: Blog

by Tom Suddes | For Impact

Here is the ‘Presenter’s Paradox’: More is not actually better in the eyes of the beholder (audience). This is definitely a huge challenge for me… and probably for all of you.

We have soooo much good stuff, content, frameworks, etc. Whether I am presenting at a 25-minute keynote at ASU’s Lodestar Centers Annual Conference or an entire day with Catholic Health Initiatives National Development Team… the challenge is the same: not what to put in, but what to take out.

Here’s a short post at Inc. that quotes a series of studies and Harvard Business Review that summarizes this problem as follows:

“We all face the important task of deciding what information to include in our presentation. However, the present analysis suggests that we often inadvertently DILUTE THE VERY MESSAGE WE SEEK TO CONVEY simply by our efforts to strengthen it.”

This ‘Less is More’ philosophy on presentations is manifested in this simple Framework and Flow of the presentation in the Engagement Tool shown below.

Here is a great example of less is more, simplicity, the power of an Engagement Tool that For Impact used to guide a conversation with a large prospective donor.  It’s simple and clear and leaves lots of room for discussion.

This was the exact Engagement Tool/handout at a transformational visit between a great For Impact organization and their huge working partner. Name and logo removed. Four people on the For Impact side. Seven people from the prospect/partner side. Total request of the partner was $3.5M to fund all three circles. Gift history to that point: $0.

End result: $21M commitment. This is not a typo. Twenty-One Million.

Again, Less is More.

Upcoming Web-Interview with Tom Suddes: Just Ask

Tom Suddes will be our guest in the Fundraising Masters Series on Thusday, April 18 from 12:30 to 1:30 EDT. Don’t miss this rare web-appearance by Tom. Participants will get a download of the Engagement Toolkit and a full explanation of how to use it.

Sign Up by Clicking Here.

Lauren Phipps, Major Gifts Officer at the New York Civil Liberties Union, had just been assigned a portfolio of more than 200 donors and it was her job to raise money from them. When I met with her, she was very excited. She said that she didn’t know many of people on her list, but that she was planning to make a fundraising call a day–every day–to get to know them better.

Lauren Phipps Has a Portfolio of Donors 

When I checked in with Lauren again recently, she told me that even with the best of intentions she’s had trouble keeping up the pace of asking for donations every day.  It’s been hard to manage her time and put asking front and center.

That got me thinking about the things that might help Lauren (or you for that matter) actually maintain the discipline to ask for gifts every day.

No matter how good your intentions, if you’re a lone ranger in an office that doesn’t know how important asking for gifts is, you’ll probably find it hard to muster the discipline and energy it takes to ask for gifts every week let alone every day.

But if everyone in your organization gets behind that work and supports it fully, you’ll find it much easier to keep it up.

5 Ways You Can Make it Easier to Ask for Gifts

These five tips will support you in asking for gifts so you’ll find it hard not to ask!

1. Spend time with your colleagues setting personal asking goals and then reporting to one another on your progress at the end of the week.
2. Let your supervisor know how important that work is and ask for her support. Imagine how good it would feel if she  took the time and attention to ask you how your donor calls are going.
3. Find a more experienced fundraiser to mentor you so when a call seemed off or you weren’t quite sure how to approach a particular donor, you could talk these through with a mentor.
4. Track the number of in-person calls and visits you had with donors each week. Post your results prominently in your office. If you can, get your colleagues to do the same.
5. With your most important donors, get someone to sit with you while you make the calls so you can discuss them in advance and debrief how each of them went afterwards.

In the video below, Lauren describes how the development staff in her organization supports her Executive Director’s work with donors. She says it works like a charm!

Lauren Phipps Helps Her Executive Director Make Donor Calls.

Approaching your work with donors with the help and encouragement of others in your office will give you the courage, discipline and energy to ask donors for contributions every day.  And with that sort of laser focus on asking, you will raise more money.

Lighten your load by learning Ten Tips to Make Asking a Bit Easier.

Want to know how to CREATE a culture of asking? Take a look at this Members’ Only recorded training by Andrea Kihlstedt. She outlines 8 simple things you can do to make asking part of the fabric of your organization.

Not a member yet? Join NOW.

Who is the Authentic You? Can You Be A Great Fundraiser As Your Authentic Self?

If you’re a front line solicitor, often meeting with donors in person to ask them for gifts, you might sometimes wonder who you really are.

When you meet with someone conservative, you’re conservative. When you meet with a progressive, you’re progressive.

When you meet with a Cornell professor, you wear Birkenstocks. The next day with the banker, it’s heels and stockings.

When someone waxes eloquent about a political figure they support, you nod sagely but then vote for the other guy.

Today you’re for gun control, tomorrow you’re a supporter of the NRA.

In the heat of the last presidential election, I went to visit a major donor on behalf of a client. It turned out that she was a Republican and felt quite strongly about the outcome of the election. And as she walked me to my car and stood watching me depart, I was painfully aware of the Democratic sticker on my rear bumper.

Was it a mistake to drive a car with a political sticker?

Do you have to sell out to be a good major gift solicitor? Do you have to become vanilla? Or can you show your true colors?

Do You Wear Brightly Colored Socks?

My friend Dave Dunlop, who developed the famed major and principal gifts program for Cornell University, once told me that Si Seymour, the granddaddy of major gift fundraising instructed young fundraisers at Cornell not to wear bright colored socks! Why? Because they would call attention to themselves by doing so.

I confess to being partial to brightly colored socks. Should I reform my ways? Was the great Si Seymour wrong?

Do you have to give up your identity be a great major gift fundraiser?

Does it pay to pretend to be like your donor?

I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t pay to pretend to be like your donors. Even when you try, you’re not likely to succeed. It’s more important just to be yourself.

Now does that mean wearing your most outrageous outfit? Or letting loose with an F-bomb because you do that sometimes in other circumstances? No, of course not.

Follow these simple simple suggestions and you’ll find that your conversations will be more authentic and more rewarding than when you pretend you’re someone you’re not.

How to Ask for Gifts While Being the Authentic YOU

1. Your major donor conversations should be all about the donor. If you’re curious about who the donor is and what they value; if you make it your job to understand and help them achieve their goals, they won’t care a hoot if you are wearing bright socks or gold necklaces or Birkenstocks. They won’t even care if you agree with them politically or are in their socio-economic group. They’ll just feel good that someone who is genuinely interested in them has come to visit.
2. Don’t argue, but don’t lie. If you are visiting a donor whose views are diametrically opposed to your own, resist the urge to “take the donor on.” If they ask about your views, share them. But a visit with a major donor, unless you know your donor enjoys a good debate, is not a time to argue for your views. It’s not even a time to show how smart and well-informed you are. It’s simply time for you to wonder about the donor. Because the visit is All About the DONOR.
3. Substitute curiosity for judgement. Curiosity is the primary skill of a great major gift fundraiser. When you’re genuinely curious rather than judgmental, you’ll find yourself enjoying the company of people who are very different from you.
4. Resist the urge to make fun of your donors. When you are talking to colleagues, discipline yourself not speak ill of your donors. It may be that you just met with a donor who has blue hair and rouge-pink cheeks and whose ideas seem cockamaimie to you, but you’ll do better at fundraising–and in your life–if you choose to share stories about her generosity or spirit or good humor rather than smiling to her face and laughing behind her back.
5. Get out. Finally, If you find yourself unable to enjoy conversations with people who don’t agree with your views and who live in ways you don’t approve of; if you find yourself demeaning the very donors you are building relationships with, it’s time to get out of this business.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy some more brightly colored socks.

Andrea Kihlstedt

How far will you go to be like your donors?  Let us know your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook.

Take a look at this interview with David Dunlop about the Characteristics of a Great Fundraiser.

A Simple but Transformative Way to Retain Your Most Important Donors

By Andrea Kihlstedt

Like you, I’ve been reading a lot about the dire donor retention stats. Or, better put, the statistics about fleeing donors. It’s as clear as day that getting a new donor costs more than the donor is likely to give!

The good news: I’ve got a simple suggestion for you!

Set aside one day every week for reaching out and communicating with your top 50 donors and anyone else you have identified as someone who might realistically move into that group.

Imagine this: Every Wednesday from the time you start work until the time you close up for the day you do only one thing: reach out to your major donors.

• You call to schedule meetings with them.
• You send personal emails to them with the most recent photos of someone you’ve helped.
• You follow up on your last meeting with someone.
• You send flowers to a donor whose birthday is coming up.
• You deliver chocolate chip cookies to the people who have made the biggest difference to your organization.
• You write a personal thank you email or note to a donor who has touched your heart.
• You meet with someone to ask for a gift.

Make Every Wednesday Donor Day

You literally fill your Wednesdays with major donor work. It’s front and center for that entire time.

Commit One Day Per Week to “Donor Day” and Here Is What Will Likely Happen

1. You’ll spend the rest of the week making sure you’re set up for your major donor day.
2. Your donors will start to feel appreciated.
3. You’ll get to know your donors better–much better.
4. They’ll start making more and bigger gifts to your organization.
5. Your colleagues will get used to not asking you to do anything else on Wednesdays.
6. You’ll have more fun, and
7. You will raise more money for your organization

Try it out for 2 months; that’s eight Wednesdays. Let us know what happens.

Have some ideas for what you’ll do on your donor day? Share it with us in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.

By the way, did you know that in Sweden for many years everyone…I mean EVERYONE…ate yellow pea soup for supper on Thursdays? No matter where you went, that’s what you’d eat. It created an expectation and a comfort and perhaps even a sense of national identity.

by Paul Jolly, Jump Start Growth, Inc.

It’s the name each organization gives to gifts at the level of $1,000, $2,500, $10,000. It usually gets trotted out on the sponsorship form for an annual event, and on the response device for solicitations. And not given any thought in between times.

But giving circles have power far beyond what those uses would suggest. They provide a framework for handling “middle level donors”: a strategy in between the mass approach you use for small donors and the one-on-one treatment major donors get.

Giving circles provide a framework for asking mid-level donors for gifts.

From a staff perspective, giving circles are a gateway to major gifts. While a $1,000 gift is not going to change the trajectory of the organization, it may be the beginning of a relationship that will lead to a $50,000 gift. They make a focus on top donors concrete. And they provide a rationale for unrestricted gifts.

From a board perspective, they facilitate solicitation. Asking a friend for $1,000 may seem random. It is a lot easier to say “I am a member of the Founders’ Circle for X organization, and I would like you to join me with a gift of $1,000”.

From a donor perspective, giving circles provide prestige and a sense of belonging. A donor contemplating a first gift to a new organization could easily get overwhelmed by wondering “what is a meaningful gift?” Giving circles answer that question.

Here are some steps to launch a robust giving circle program if you don’t already have one.

1. Create a powerful identity for your giving circle. Give it a name that reflects the values of the organization. Design a special logo. Have special letterhead printed.

2. Forget about premiums. Your $1,000 donors probably have all of the coffee mugs and pens and mouse pads they need.

3. Think about the giving circle’s benefits as ways to draw members closer. Invite them to monthly exclusive conference call with the director. Invite them (without badgering them to buy a ticket, please!) to special events that highlight the organization’s mission. Send handwritten notes on newsletters.

4. Set the dollar amount for the giving circle at the right place. You want donors to feel that this is a significant gift. You want the board to be impressed with how much they have raised quickly. For all three organizations mentioned above, that level was $1,000.

5. Don’t start with more than 3 giving circles. Isn’t life complicated enough already?

If you are ready to take some baby steps into major gifts fund raising, you may find that using your giving circles is the way to do it. Get ready to sprint!

If you enjoyed this piece by Paul Jolly, you might enjoy other articles and videos by Paul Jolly.

FEBRUARY 14
“Fall in love with your organization again this week. Spend some quality time with your organization’s programs to remind yourself of the lives you are changing. Ask the program staff to change their stories. Reengage your own sense of commitment, for from commitment comes courage.”

Later that day, she sent us an email telling us how that message had gotten her out from behind her desk and walking around the school, watching the amazing teachers and seeing the children who were so engaged and so comfortable speaking Spanish and French and English. She looked at the art that decorated the hallways. She listened to the music of children’s voices and gradually, she remembered why she loved this institution and was so committed to its mission.

By the time Rebecca got back to her desk, the challenges that had been weighing her down earlier that day seemed a bit less daunting. And she was even excited to make the fundraising calls that were on her list for that day.

Not long thereafter, we went to Brooklyn to video Rebecca. Here’s what she told us.

It’s easy to focus on the problems of your institution. In fact, it’s your job! See what’s wrong and find a way to make it better. But now and again, make sure you take time to fall in love with your organization all over again!

How Sister Jeanette Lucey Found the Courage to Ask for Money

If you want to see the power of love in fundraising, watch this video of Sister Jeanette Lucey talking about why she can find the courage to ask for money for her school in Philadelphia. You’ll be moved and inspired by her passion and commitment for the children at her school!

Start Your Week with a Little Fundraising Motivation

Asking Matters members receive fundraising guidance and encouragement 52 weeks a year–on Monday mornings. If you’d like to receive Monday Morning Matters, become an Asking Matters member today.