Fall, 2005
If you need a pep talk on fundraising, sprinkled with golden nuggets of wisdom, Asking is a good start. If you want to encourage your board or volunteers to get involved in fundraising, give them a copy of this book.
Panas is a humble sage who loves fundraising. His quiet, confident passion ties the short chapters of Asking together into an inspirational essay that’ll make you smile. More importantly, it’ll inspire you to pick up the phone and make a call.
Here’s what Panas has to say…
- Fundraising is a joy. It is not at all like begging. Instead, it is offering an opportunity for people to be a part of a group working together to do something good.
- Some people will be absolutely delighted to help. Some won’t. You have to talk to a bunch that won’t and keep doing it until you find the enthusiastic donors. When you do, all the disappointment will have been worth it.
- Do use a pre-approach direct mail letter but do not depend upon that letter to bring in the money. You, as a fundraiser, are what bring in the money. (Actually, the cause does that. You get to be the agent.)
- Good news! Jerold’s been a fundraiser for many, many years (I’m looking for the exact number of years) and guess what worries him most. It’s NOT asking for the money. He says that’s the easy part. For him, it’s much harder to call for the appointment than to ask for the money. Been there myself.
- Fundraisers do not sell the gift. They “listen the gift.” I’ve been able to simply quote the chapter title several times recently when training volunteers: “No one ever listened himself out of a gift.” Jerold says, “Most prospects won’t really listen or pay attention to what you’re trying to sell until they’re absolutely convinced you’ve heard and appreciated their point of view.” We all know we should be better listeners, but for some reason, we’re far more interested in making our case than just sitting there and listening with interest. I’m doing more research on effective listening (don’t laugh. It IS that important.) I’ll post it here when I’m done.
- Just like you can’t depend on your letter to bring in the money, you can’t rely upon your marketing materials to “make the sell” either. As a Sandler Sales System trained person I must say a hearty AMEN. While I enjoy creating powerful marketing pieces, I realize that fundraising is first of all a personal activity. Marketing material plays a supporting role, but it is not the primary fundraising vehicle.
- No doubt every fundraising book says this, but…donors are not primarily motivated by your need. Panas says, “your donors run away from needs.” Instead, “Major donors give to bold, heroic, and audacious programs….”
- Fundraising is personal. “Work hard at putting people completely at ease and making them feel important.” While Panas doesn’t say this, I think he would agree, your concern for others must be genuine. Prospects have an uncanny ability to smell manipulation.
- When you don’t get the gift, you haven’t failed. It simply means “there isn’t a meshing of the prospect’s passions and interests with the mission of the institution.”
- When you’re making your appeal, be specific. People realize there are millions of people in danger, undernourished, or in poverty. That won’t move them to action. When they know the name of a specific young girl whose life you saved and how you did it, now that’s something they want to be a part of.
- Before you ask others to give, give yourself.
- Great quote: “An obstacle is what you see when you take your eyes off the objective.”
- Don’t talk too much. Panas limits his appeal to 11 minutes.
Publisher information:
Panas, J. (2005). Asking: A 59-minute guide to everything board members, volunteers, and staff must know to secure the gift. Medfield, MA: Emerson & Church Publishers.
