Advice for Fundraisers

Guess What? If you are in the nonprofit world, we are all fundraisers!

Well, what I wanted to talk to you about today was the best advice I can give you as a fundraiser. It’s critical advice, because, frankly, we are all fundraisers if we are in the nonprofit world. We are always spreading the word of the organizations we hold near and dear to our hearts. We are always looking for those that we can share our passion and make those critical investments we need to continue the good work we are doing!

Fundamentally, fundraising is about making the right ask, of the right person, at the right time for the right activity. This might sound daunting, but think about the first part of that four-part strategy — the right ask.

Many times, this is where many fundraisers fail to move off the starting blocks. What exactly is the right “ask”. The reality is….you don’t know until you try.

Let me start this conversation by saying this, how many of you have your big fundraising drive late in the year? When you get home from work on those short November and December evenings, how many solicitations have you received from organizations (maybe just like yours) asking for that “end of year push to get us over our goal”. If you are like me, quite a few. And your organization is now competing for the same attention.

In all my years of this work, I have never seen a law, a rule, or commandment that says you can only solicit donations during the last two months of the year. In other words, what’s stopping you from asking the other 10 months of the year? What if you tried a series of small appeals throughout the year, rather than just one big one at the end of the year?

Thinking about new ways of doing things might help you create ideas that you can discuss and implement with your team, with the end result of getting new and larger donations for your organization!

Above all else, the reason you aren’t getting is often do to one fact — you aren’t asking. Rare is the donation that comes without someone asking, either from you, a team member or a community advocate.

The right ask still means you have to ask.