Communicating the Ask
All charitable organizations need generous contributions to meet their obligations and reach their potential. People with discretionary resources want to make a difference in the world through their charitable contributions. How do you connect those in need with those who want to make a difference? Properly communicating the ask.
This sounds easy, and there is no reason that it should be difficult, if you follow a few basic rules. Meeting personally with people to learn their story, and to determine what they are passionate about doing, is the most important. Then, staying in touch and encouraging them to help through personal communications (visits, phone calls, emails) and the mass communication of your nonprofit (newsletters, email blasts, and events) will help keep them engaged.
Cultivating the Proper Relationships
As you move through the community, doing your work, you should prioritize and spend more time with people who can, and do, help you prosper and grow. Donors and volunteers should not remain as simple names on a list, with no personal connection. You should initiate a more personal relationship and spend some time with them. Learn what it is they have to give and how they might like to make a difference. Then, you will be ready to ask for their help.
When you approach someone for their financial support, you are best prepared if you know them well. Nurture a relationship with them so you can learn their interests and where their passions lie. Then, try to tie your requests into their personal philanthropic objectives. If you have not had the chance to develop that kind of rapport, then you should try to approach them with someone they do know well—someone they admire or respect.
Making a Specific Request
Call on the prospective donor formally to ask for their help. Don’t go with a mixed agenda of several other things, and don’t go see them in a casual setting. Arrange for a formal meeting in their home or office, and go with a single-minded purpose to ask them for a very specific gift.
In communicating the ask, make sure that you ask for a specific amount. They need to know what it is you need to make this project a success.
Where possible, you ought to try to tie this request to a commemorative or memorial giving opportunity. You might say: “We hope that you might consider a gift of $1 million per year over the next five years, for a total gift of $5 million to commemorate the new Phillips Auditorium and Music School Endowment.”
People, and especially potential large donors, want to know what you need to succeed with the initiative. When you ask for something that is not specific, and well-defined, you are creating conditions where it is very difficult to have both the donor and the recipient feel good about their gift.
You should also emphasize the benefits resulting from their investment. For example: “This incredible new facility and endowed teaching fellowship will change the lives of children from struggling families with whom we plan to create a symbiotic relationship. This will ensure that they will have no-cost access to shows and concerts for years to come, and the opportunity to learn music and receive instruction at modest prices in perpetuity. People throughout the entire community will be able to come and enjoy special performances and concerts, but it is these children of our community whose lives will be forever changed.”
Summary
If you take the time to learn the hearts of your donors, work diligently to calibrate their own goals with the objectives of your institution, and approach them with a clearly articulated and specific request, you will find that you have created the conditions for your success. By properly communicating the ask, both you and the donor will be enthusiastic about the new course you have set.
CDS has been a leader in nonprofit fundraising for the past three decades. Contact us if you need more intensive help with your major gift fundraising, strategic planning, or in preparing for a capital campaign.