Nonprofit
Fundraising Tip: Don’t Fear the Ask
A quick read to help you walk through the fear.
I was attending a nonprofit conference on planned giving and was super excited for it! I had the chance to meet with former colleagues and the topic of fundraising professionals fearing the ask, asking a donor for a donation, came up as being an ongoing issue in nonprofit fundraising.
I smiled while listening to this topic. It brought me back to my first major ask in the world of nonprofit fundraising.
I had just begun as director of development and began looking at past donors. I created a list of donors to call and introduce myself to, including some who had not donated in over a year, or more.
This was the case with one particular donor, what we call a lapsed donor. Their last donation was more than two years past, and the size of the donation was in the top ten of our our annual donations. I knew I had to call them, and was petrified! Being new to nonprofit fundraising, I was new to making a direct ask. I wasn’t new to the mission, to passion for the mission, or to building relationships. This all helped.
Rather than put this particular call off for another day, I decided to make the call. First, I called a fundraising peer and talked through the upcoming…
