The key to feeling great about asking people for money is to ask them for something that they have lots of. Great fundraisers work hard to know what their donors have in abundance, and then ask them for that.
Some of your donors have lots of $5 gifts and when you ask them, they will gladly share one with you. Some of your donors have lots of $100 gifts and when you ask, they will gladly share one with you. Some of your donors have lots of $1,000 gifts and when you ask them, they will gladly share one with you.
Asking your donors for what they can contribute freely frees them from giving out of guilt. A guilt gift can be a scarcity gift, one that requires sacrifice. I believe in sacrificial giving, but to push for sacrificial giving constantly can come across as begging.
I have created a special online class Creating A Custom Donor Upgrade Letter. Inside that class, you will receive a Microsoft Word letter template and Excel that you can customize to get started. Plus, I walk you through the process step by step. The class is a steal at $99.97 and everything I do comes with a total satisfaction money-back guarantee. You will use this technique over and over in the years to come.
With my personal guarantee you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
David
Get a digital copy of David's book: Visionary Fundraising today CLICK HERE
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You can connect with David at www.davidoaks.net
The key to feeling great about asking people for money at ever increasing amounts begins with asking them for something that they have lots of. Great fundraisers work hard to know what their donors have in abundance, and then ask them for that.
Some of your donors have lots of $5 gifts and when you ask them, they will gladly share one with you. Some of your donors have lots of $100 gifts and when you ask, they will gladly share one with you. Some of your donors have lots of $1,000 gifts and when you ask them, they will gladly share one with you.
Asking your donors for what they can contribute freely frees them from giving out of guilt. A guilt gift can be a scarcity gift, one that requires sacrifice. I believe in sacrificial giving, but to push for sacrificial giving constantly can come across as begging.
The key is to find out what your donors have in abundance and ask them to share it! What gifts do your donors have in abundance?
Still with me?
Some of your donors have lots of $50,000 gifts.
Some of your donors have lots of $250,000 gifts.
The key to feeling great about asking your donors for money here at the end of the year is to ask them for an amount you know they have plenty of. What I am about to tell you is HUGE.
Asking your $25 donor to give $1,000 is off-putting and pushes them away. When you do this you are confirming their greatest fear, that you don't know them and they are insignificant to your mission.
Asking your $1,000 donor to give $25 is off-putting and pushes them away (it makes them feel like you are a stranger and don’t know them).
Your primary role as a fundraiser is to know what gifts your donors have in abundance and ask them for one. But how do you know that? Here’s how. Look at your donor’s last gift. That is the amount you can easily ask them for here at the end of the year.
But if you always ask donors to give what they have always given, you will not likely see your income multiply over time. You should ALWAYS be nudging them into larger gifts. Harvard University has more million dollar donors than anyone else and the majority of them gave less than $100 to start with. Yes, some of your $100 donors can be nudged up to some quite large gifts!
How do you do that? Look at their last gift.
In your appeals, give them some options. Ask them to consider giving:
- The amount of their last gift or
- The amount of their last gift multiplied by 1.25 or
- The amount of their last gift multiplied by 1.50 or
- The amount of their last gift multiplied by 1.75 or
- The amount of their last gift multiplied by 2.0
But, how do you send printed customized appeals with these amounts to all of your donors?
You can do this by creating your appeal using the mail-merge feature in Microsoft Word. All you need is to export into an Excel sheet the amount of your donor’s last gift and with some spreadsheet rules, create new columns for multiples of that gift (just create the sheet if you can't export). Then, using the mail-merge feature, merge those amounts into your personalized appeal in Word. If you are a techie, this will not be hard.
The result is a personalized appeal, calling the donor by name that invites them to make an impact with amounts they can easily do, if motivated.
If the last paragraph leaves you lost as a ball in tall weeds, I understand! For you, I have created a special online class Creating A Custom Donor Upgrade Letter. Inside that class, you will receive a Microsoft Word letter template and Excel that you can customize to get started. Plus, I walk you through the process step by step. The class is a steal at $99.97 and everything I do comes with a total satisfaction money-back guarantee. You will use this technique to multiply your income over and over in the years to come.
When you ask donors to give what they have in abundance, you leave them with a positive experience of giving. And when they have a positive experience of giving with you, they will look forward to staying in contact with you and deepening your relationship with more and greater interaction in the future.
This is how you continually nudge your donors to give more year after year. This is how your next year's budget is always larger than the previous.
This is your year!
David
P.S. My students continually multiply their income each year with custom appeals. You can too. Get my class Creating A Custom Donor Upgrade Letter class today. With my personal guarantee you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
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