It is all in how you ask

Yes, our mothers taught us long ago (well, maybe not that long ago for some of you), that how we ask can be as important as what we ask for. Even if we aren’t told this directly, as kids, we figure this out pretty quickly. Sometimes, when we grow up and become fundraisers, we forget this important lesson.

Let me share a recent fund-raising experience. I’ve been raising money for a project that costs about $70,000. We’ve raised some money from foundations, a few large gifts from individuals, but we are still not at our goal. We put a plea for funds in our emails. We even held a raffle to raise the rest of the money. The gifts trickled in.

Then, one morning when driving to work, I was listening to the radio about someone running for Congress who was raising buckets of money. His trick? He asked people for small gifts – but a very specific amount. And he did it all online.

That week we were scheduled to send out an email newsletter to all our constituents. We had asked for funds in the appeal before without much success. But, this time, I adapted the technique to ask for a specific amount. I tied it to the number of daily visitors to the website, and came up with $17.98 – and that is the number that we asked people to give. By not rounding up the amount to $20, we made the number seem very manageable. After all, practically everything we buy is priced like that. Plus, it was a small enough gift that nearly everyone could afford it.

We sent out the email, and within an hour we had 23 gifts – far more than any other email appeal. And, most of the gifts were for more than $17.98, and none were for less.

We are still working toward our goal, but by changing how we asked, we got a lot closer.

See you in San Diego
Just a reminder that I’ll be teaching the National Fundraising School in San Diego in September. If you haven’t attended or if you have a board member or staff member who you think would benefit, you can find details on American Humane’s website.