The Practice of Nonprofit Leadership
The Practice of Nonprofit Leadership
12 Days of Major Gift Fundraising - Day 7: Making The Ask
Today is Day 7 of the 12 Days of Major Gift Fundraising. The topic is Making the Ask and Nathan answers these important questions:
What Should I Take To the Meeting?
Where Should We Meet?
What Should I Ask For?
What Do I Do After I Ask?
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The Hosts of The Practice of NonProfit Leadership:
Tim Barnes serves as the Executive Vice President of International Association for Refugees (IAFR)
Nathan Ruby serves as the Executive Director of Friends of the Children of Haiti (FOTCOH)
They can be reached at info@practicenpleader.com
All opinions and views expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily represent those of their respective organizations.
Welcome to the practice of nonprofit leadership. I'm Nathan Ruby. We are on day seven of the 12 days of major gift fundraising and we are at the big day, the big crescendo, the day where we're going to ask our donor to make a gift. We have identified and qualified our donor as a major gift prospect. We've spent weeks, months, maybe even more than a year cultivating, and now it's time we are ready to make that ask. Now, this is not overly complex, but there are some things that you need to know that will make your ask so much easier, less stressful and get you way more yeses. Now, if you go to any fundraising conferences or search the internet for help on how to ask for a major gift, you will find a gazillion of resources. On making the ask yes, a gazillion is an official fundraising term. Making the ask is a fundraising topic that is talked about almost ad nauseum. It is just oh my gosh, there's just so much information on there. But what we're going to do today is we're going to break it down, we're going to put it into a cup three to be exact, three simple steps and we're just going to make it easier so that you can do this. And we're just going to make it easier so that you can do this. Now, the three sections that we're going to break this into is one what do you need to take with you? Two, where should you make the ask, as? In what location? Where should you physically be located to make a major gift ask? And third, what do you need to say? And I guess, by default, if we're going to define what you need to say, then that would also imply what you don't say. So we're going to talk about that a little bit too. But where do you, what do you need to take with you? Where should you have this visit? At what location? And then, what do you need to say? Those are our three sections. So let's get at it into section number one. What do you need to take with you?
Nathan Ruby:I am a, I was taught and I continue to use a simplicity mindset. I take less things than than others, do I? Just, I prefer to keep it simple, make it easy, uh, for my, for my donors, and so typically, I have a major gift packet that I take with me, and it has two primary things inside that packet. The first is a letter from me that basically says you know, thank you so much, uh, for considering this gift. Uh and uh, a little bit, you know, thanking you so much for considering this gift and a little bit, you know, thanking them for their previous gifts.
Nathan Ruby:A basic overview, a one paragraph overview of what the ask is about and what we're asking them to do, and then I include the dollar amount that we're going to be asking for, and so that cover letter think of it as a cover letter and it doesn't have to be asking for. And so that cover letter think of it as a cover letter and it doesn't have to be very long. Three paragraphs Thank you for your previous giving, thank you for your willingness to consider this gift. Paragraph one. Paragraph two an overview of what the ask is about, what you're asking them to do, and then the third paragraph is restating the amount of gift that you're asking for. So that's the cover letter, and then a case statement, and a case statement a fundraising case statement is a document. Now, it's a document, so it can be one page, it could be two pages.
Nathan Ruby:Some case statements in a larger major gift campaign or in a capital campaign effort, or in a major gift campaign a big one it could be multiple pages long, but for us today it's probably more like one page, maybe one piece of paper, front and back at the most. But for the most of you could get by with just a simple one page document. But for the most of you could get by with just a simple one-page document. So the case statement is a document that clearly explains why your nonprofit exists, what specific needs it addresses. So how are you changing the world, how are you impacting the world, and why supporting your organization is important, especially from a major donor perspective. It's essentially a persuasive pitch that outlines the impact your nonprofit makes, how donations will be used and why the donor's investment will make a real difference. And I think another piece of this I mean that's the guts of it, that's what's on the piece of paper.
Nathan Ruby:But in addition to just the facts that are laid out on a piece of paper is the case statement also needs to connect emotionally with the donor, and that comes in in painting a picture of how their gift is going to be used, but also from an emotional standpoint, of connecting with the vision and mission of the organization. What is your output, what is it that you're doing? And then making an emotional connection. That's really important. And if you don't have that and if you don't write it from an emotional standpoint, just the facts only, it's not going to be as effective as it could be. So you think of it as a story, think of it as a story of your nonprofit's work, and it's presented in a way that helps potential major donors understand exactly why they should invest their philanthropic dollars to your organization. So that's a case statement.
Nathan Ruby:So those are the two things that I would have with me in a folder. So the letter from you, a cover letter of sorts, and then a case statement. Now, if you want to throw in, if you have some brochures that your organization uses, if you have an annual report, if you want to throw in, if you have some brochures that your organization uses, if you have an annual report, if you have those types of items, you could do that. You can use that. Those are great. Just another way of telling your story and getting the impact of your organization across. Those are great. But if you don't have those, don't worry about it. Just the, the uh letter. Uh, the cover letter and the case statement. Those two are enough. And if you, what I would do If you don't have, like branded folders, the two pocket folders from you know, the ones you used to take a high school.
Nathan Ruby:If you don't have those pre-printed, don't worry about it. Don't spend a ton of money on it. Just go to Walmart or go to Office Depot or Office Max whatever it is today or whatever office supply store you have. Just go grab some of the inexpensive, not expensive you don't have to spend money on this. If you want, try to get a color that's as close to your branding of your organization as you can and just use that. Don't spend any extra money on that.
Nathan Ruby:You're not going to get the gift. You're not going to get it or not get it, based on the folder, and whether you have brochures or not have brochures, that is not going to significantly influence the outcome of this gift. Okay, so that's what we're taking with us and I'm going to tell you how to use this packet a little further. Okay, so that's what we're taking with us and I'm going to tell you how to use this packet a little further down here. So we have our letter, we have our letter that we're taking, our cover letter and then we have our case statement and anything else that you have that you think that the donor would enjoy seeing. All right, where are we going to have this visit at? What location it's really doesn't make a lot of difference to um, you know, I have done them all over the place.
Nathan Ruby:The only thing that I would recommend is that you find a place that is either semi-private or totally private, and that means you know your office or, uh, their home or their office, or you know if you are going to go to a, uh, what would be an example? If you're going to go public and in today's world, I get it you you may want to be in a more public location than a not public location. If that's the case, find somewhere to go in an off hour. So what does that mean? The biggest coffee shop in town, whether it's Starbucks or Panera or whatever, the biggest location in town. Don't go at nine o'clock in the morning when everybody's there. Or if it's a big lunch spot, don't go at noon, when there's a thousand people all trying to get in there.
Nathan Ruby:Get somewhere at some time where you can get some privacy. There's not likely to be people sitting right next to you, and the reason for that is if you were sitting at a table in a in a. Let's say, you're in a restaurant and you're sitting at a table and you're getting ready to make an ask and the donors next door neighbor or somebody a colleague from their work or whatever is sitting at the next table. Your donors are not going to be comfortable, and if your donors are not comfortable, you're going to lose them. So you've got to be somewhere, that is, I mean, you're asking them to write a uh, you know a check that would qualify them in your major donor program. So it's going to be a size, a check of some size, and we just we don't want to put the donor, we don't want the donor to be ill at ease, and so it is best to get some location that is at least semi-private at least, and the more private the better, all right. So that's where you want to do these, but other than that, wherever the donor is comfortable, don't get too. You know there is no right or wrong. It's whatever works best for you and the donor, where the donor can feel comfortable.
Nathan Ruby:Okay, so that was. What do we need to take with this? See, this is so far. This is pretty simple. What are we taking with this? What's in the major gift packet we just covered. Where should you meet at from a location standpoint? Okay, here we go. This is the actual words that are going to be coming out of your mouth.
Nathan Ruby:What do you say when it's time to actually ask the donor to write a check? All right, these visits are probably going to be the shortest visits that you've done in this entire process. Typical cultivation visits, depending on exactly what it is that you're doing. Very common for a cultivation visit to go 45 minutes, an hour, hour and a half. I've been in two hour, two and a half hour long visits, depending on the the personality of the donor. And, uh, you know when was the last time they had a visitor visitor to come talk to them? Uh, you, just, you never know. But these visits tend to be much, much shorter, typically about 30 minutes. Um, and I'm not saying get in and get out, but I'm kind of saying get in, get your business done and get out. It's.
Nathan Ruby:These go along pretty quickly because once you ask, unless they give you an answer right on the spot, typically they are going to need time to think they're processing and the more you're there talking, the less they're going to need time to think they're processing and the more you're there talking, the less they're going to be able to process. So we want to get in, uh, have some time together to reestablish the relationship, make our ask and then we and then we move on. So we'll go into a little bit more detail about that. Okay, we are going to go back to the McIntyres, because that's our donors we've been talking about. But today we're going to give the McIntyres a first name because we have been cultiv and if you are not on a first base name with your donors, that's probably an indicator that you haven't developed a strong enough relationship yet. So you may not be ready to ask Now. I have some donors in the past who were very, very formal and I did get very generous, very wonderful, major gifts and I called them Mr and Mrs the entire time. So I guess I'll take that back. There is a time where you will continue Mr and Mrs, but that's pretty rare. So for today, we're gonna assume that you've built a really solid, really good relationship with your donor and that would imply a first name basis.
Nathan Ruby:So our donors are Ted and Sandy. Ted and Sandy McIntyre wonderful people and you need to call up. This is another. This is not something you text, this is not something you do via email. You do this on the phone. I mean, face-to-face would be even better, but that typically you're. Typically, when you're face-to-face, you're not asking for a next meeting out of random, so we're going to do this on the phone. And so what we're going to do is you're going to call and today we're going to assume that Sandy answers the phone. Could be Ted, doesn't make any difference, either one and so you would. You know, hi, sandy, how are you and yo? This is Nathan, and you'll catch up for a few seconds on what's going on. This is Nathan and you'll catch up for a few seconds on what's going on. Then we get to.
Nathan Ruby:We are going to ask for the visit, and here's how you do that. You say would you and Ted be available for a visit next Monday, the 10th, at 4 PM? No-transcript. Okay, so there's three pieces here. That one sentence is three pieces. First of all, you've said would you and Ted be available? So you are saying that you want both of you in this visit. If you don't have both people husband and wife, and this is the same if this is a business, you need to have the CEO and the president. You need to have everybody there that needs to be there. But in this case you need both of them, because when you make your ask you know what's going to happen if only one of them is there. Well, let me talk to Sandy. Oh well, I'm going to need to talk to Ted, and then you're expecting the spouse to make your ask as good as you would have. So we want both of them there. So would you and Ted be available? And then we're giving them Monday, the 10th, at 4 pm. We're giving them a specific time.
Nathan Ruby:Now, in your cultivation process you have spent several months, weeks, at least months, working with them. You've scheduled phone calls, you've scheduled visits, you've scheduled times to do things, and so you should kind of have a sense of what day of the week is better than others, what time of the day is better than others. I mean, if your donor goes to work to you know, goes to work at eight o'clock and they have an hour long commute, you you probably don't want to ask for a visit at seven 30 in the morning because they've already gone to work. So you should have a sense of what time will fit. Now. It doesn't mean that it's going to be, you know, a good time for Ted and Sandy, a hundred percent of the time. But at least you have an idea of what you should suggest. All right, but I'm giving them a specific date and time. Now, if they say no, monday the 10th won't work. But I could do Thursday the 14th at four, great, but we're suggesting a time.
Nathan Ruby:And then the last piece, and this is probably the most important of the three, I would like to share with you a funding proposal. You've got to include that in the sentence, not breaking it into two sentences, because listen to the difference. Would you and Ted be available for a visit next Monday, the 10th, at 4 pm? I'd like to share with you a funding proposal Versus would you and Ted be available for a visit next Monday, the 10th, at 4 pm? On the first time, when it's included in the sentence and when you get a yes, sandy is saying yes to the visit and to the funding proposal. So if she says yes, then you're already I don't know a third of the way halfway home to a yes, because they know that you're bringing Sandy knows that you're bringing a funding proposal with you. So guess what, when you get to the visit.
Nathan Ruby:When you get to the appointment and you walk in with a fundraising proposal, guess what? They already know what you're doing. They know, you know, you know, they know, you know. It just takes all of the stress out because everybody knows what's going to happen. So nobody's shocked, nobody's surprised, nobody's blindsided. It's just very simple that way.
Nathan Ruby:But if you don't include that in the sentence, here's what you get. Would you and Ted be available for a visit next Monday, the 10th? And Sandy says well, let me look at my calendar. Oh, yeah, absolutely, you'd love to have you when, where you know where. Do you want to come to the house, whatever? And then you say and I would like to bring with me a funding proposal. Well, now you've backed Sandy into a corner because she's already said yes to the visit.
Nathan Ruby:It would be rude to say, oh, you know what, maybe that won't work. I'm sorry, there's something I didn't see on my calendar. That's awkward for Sandy, and our job is to not make our donors awkward. So the other thing that you run into is, if you do that, if you separate those two sentences out, and you say, oh, and I would like to bring a funding proposal with me, you then have a.
Nathan Ruby:Very often you will get a email or a text a couple of days later saying oh gosh, nathan, I am so sorry, but you know Ted checked his schedule and he can't. He can't make that time, so we're going to have to revisit, reschedule, and Ted doesn't really know what his schedule is. So we're just you know, when we get it figured out, we'll let you know. Well, awesome, that's ambiguity right there. I mean, how? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to follow up? Am I not supposed to follow up? So I learned that the hard way early in my career. So say it together would you and Ted be available for a visit next Monday, the 10th, at 4 PM? I would like to bring with me a funding proposal. Then, when she says yes, then you know that they know that you're bringing a funding proposal.
Nathan Ruby:Okay, have I beat that into the ground enough? All right, so that's how you. That's how you do that. All right, now we are um, that's how you do that. All right, now we are walking in.
Nathan Ruby:We're at let's say it's at Ted and Sandy's home, just for ease. So we get to the house, we go in, we sit down. They're going to offer you something to drink, or cookies, or pie, whatever. They're going to offer you A little tip here. They're going to offer you a little tip here. If a donor invites you, ask if you want a drink or if you want they offer you hospitality, accept the hospitality. I don't care if it's a few extra calories. Just skip dessert that night If you have your cookies at three o'clock in the afternoon. In the afternoon. If they offer hospitality, accept it. It is a way to build relationship and trust when you accept hospitality. So that's a little extra one in there for you today. That wasn't part of what I was thinking. I was going to say so we're going. We sit down Now typically when I make an ask, and this is this is the way that you're going to be doing this.
Nathan Ruby:Also when you, when you're ready to make an ask, you've established a fairly strong, strong relationship with the donor. You're going to know, you know the grandkids and you're going to end up maybe not, you've not personally met the grandkids, but you are aware of them and you know that they're playing soccer, going to Harvard, whatever it is that the grandkids are doing. So you are going to catch up with the, with the family. You know how's how's little Susie and soccer practice and how did this go and how you, you, you are, you have this good relationship and you are reestablishing the relationship, just like friends would. So you're going to spend not an overly amount of time In a cultivation visit.
Nathan Ruby:I might spend 15 minutes in that part of the visit, in that part of the meeting, in this, in an ask it's about five. We're not going to go on and on and on and on, because, remember, we've told them that you're bringing a funding proposal with you. That's what they're focused on. So we're going to just reestablish the relationship, talk about a couple of family things and then we're going to get right into it. So we're getting down to business. So how I do it, how I trigger the conversation, is I will say something like Ted and Sandy, thanks for having me over today. As I mentioned to Sandy on the phone, I did bring with me a funding proposal for you to consider. Okay, so we've now transitioned into the business part of the meeting. We're getting, we're, we're getting at it. Um, and they and we've now made an official uh, translation or not translation transition.
Nathan Ruby:Now, I mentioned the proposal, but I do not hand it to them Now. Actually, I do not even take it out of my briefcase although now I don't have a briefcase anymore. I actually have a backpack that I use, that I like very much, and I'll have it in the backpack, but I will not take it out. I do not hand it to them because, as soon as you hand somebody a folder or a piece of paper, what happens? Their attention automatically goes to the folder and what's in it. If you hand them a folder, they're going to open the folder, they're going to look, they're going to be reading your letter, they're going to be scanning it, they're going to be looking at the brochure that you have in there, and when they're doing that, they are not listening to you.
Nathan Ruby:And I want them 100% focused and engaged on what I'm saying, because I am remember we've talked about this where giving, especially major gift fundraising, is personal. This is a personal ask from you to them, and I want their attention, I want it to be focused on the relationship between us and to be in the moment. If I hand them a packet, I'm going to lose them, okay, so I'm going to give them the packet at the end when I leave. The packet is a reminder of all the things that we talked about during the ask so that they could go back and review it. So the packet is a leave behind once I leave. So we did the.
Nathan Ruby:Uh, ted and Sandy, thanks for having me over today.
Nathan Ruby:As I mentioned to Sandy when I spoke with her on the phone, I did bring with me with me a funding proposal for you to consider.
Nathan Ruby:Now I'm rolling right into. I just want to. This is again, this is how I do it, this is what I say. I just want to thank you both for your past support. You have made such a difference in the name of the organization, passion for our organization and especially a passion for the name of the program, whatever it is. You know, the, whatever, the, if you, if they're really interested in.
Nathan Ruby:Remember, I used the example of the symphony and I was talking about the trumpets. So, going back to that example, I would say I know you have a passion for the symphony and especially for the trumpet section. That's how I would say that because we're bringing their hot button back, we want them to be thinking about what is it about your organization that gets them the most excited? Right before we go into the next sentence, which goes well, let me back up, so I'll I'll string it together so it makes sense. I know you have a passion for our organization and especially a passion for the trumpet section, and that's why I'm asking you to consider a gift of $10,000 in order to help us, whatever it is that you're asking them to do, and that's why I'm asking you to consider a gift of $10,000 in order to help us, whatever it is that you're asking them to help. That's it. That's the ask. It's literally one sentence.
Nathan Ruby:Once you say that, then you stop talking. That was about five seconds of silence there. That was only five seconds. Silence can be awkward and it could be unsettling for a lot of people, but it's not unsettling for you because this is part of how you ask. Once you've asked them, once you've asked them, I guarantee you their mind is whirring. It is going 100 miles an hour trying to process what you just said and how it impacts them. They are going to lose whatever thought process they had. They will lose it because you were talking, adding clutter into their head with stuff that is not going to be helpful to them to make a yes decision. So I know, silence can be hard, but you make the ask and then you're quiet. So let me go back and string that all together again. So so it sounds the way that that I would do it and I'm suggesting you do it.
Nathan Ruby:Thank you both, and we're going to use the symphony because that that'll help it flow a little bit easier. Thank you both for your past support. You have made such a tremendous difference in the community and by bringing live music and bringing classical music to the top people of whatever your town is. I know you have a passion for the symphony and I know you have a special passion in your heart for the trumpet program or the trumpet section. That's why I'm asking you to consider a gift of $10,000 so that we can continue to bring this wonderful music to the people of whatever town we're in. That's how you do it. That is an ask and then, like I said, then you're quiet and then you let them answer.
Nathan Ruby:Now one adjustment that you can make. I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast. There's a lot that come from faith-based organizations. If that is you, if you're coming from an organization that has a faith component, you can add the word prayerfully to the ask, and that's why I'm asking you to prayerfully consider a gift of 10,000. You could do that if you would like to. You don't have to. That's totally up to you.
Nathan Ruby:Now there is only one way that you can mess this up. You don't have to be, you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to be super smooth. You don't, you could. You could be awkward, you could be, you could stumble on your words. None of that matters, that doesn't make any difference.
Nathan Ruby:But the one thing that you can mess up is if you don't ask for a dollar amount. Your ask has to be specific, and it becomes specific when you ask for a dollar amount If you let the donor fill in the blank. So let's go back to our ask and say and that's why I'm asking for you to consider a gift in order to, for us to help, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is that you're doing, if you, if you allow the donor to fill in the blank themselves, that gift, that amount, is going to, in my experience, almost 100% of the time. I think there was once, I think there was one time when I asked a donor for a gift. I gave a dollar amount and they said, well, I was really thinking more and then they gave me a bigger number. Um, the time that I that was once, and at the times where I didn't give a number at all, let me think yeah, I don't think there's any. Uh, I don't think I've ever gotten to where a donor filled in the blank with their own number and it was bigger than the number that I was going to give. So you are going to leave a ton of money on the table by not giving a dollar amount, an ask amount. And the other thing about that is, if you don't give them a dollar amount to consider, you're not giving them enough information that they don't know how to answer your question, cause you're just saying would you know, I'm asking that you make a gift in order to help us, you know, do whatever we're doing. Well, what gift do you want? What do you want me to do? So they can't really give you an answer because you haven't given them enough information to give you an answer. So the only way you can mess this up is by not giving a dollar amount.
Nathan Ruby:And I will rephrase, I'll say this again I said it earlier I think day six or day five, if don't be afraid of over asking if you ask for 10,000 and the donors never given a gift more than 5,000, they will not get mad at you. They will not. They will not be angry. Now they may. They may laugh at you and they may make fun of you. I've had that happen a lot, um, but they're not going to be mad at you ever. I've never had that happen. So don't be afraid of throwing a number out there for them to respond to Okay, that's it, we covered it. That is how you ask. Um, it is.
Nathan Ruby:I'm going to say again, it's not complex. I'm not saying it's easy, because this is very difficult for most people. And if you are struggling a little bit and your heart beat runs crazy and you're nervous and you get flustered doing stuff like this, don't worry, you are not out of the ordinary. You are probably right smack in the middle of everybody else when it comes to that. So remember yesterday, on day six, we were talking about cultivating and I mentioned that I had a video for you to help you kind of get through the difficulty of that first phone call, of calling your major gift prospect for the first time, setting that first visit, and hopefully you found that helpful.
Nathan Ruby:I've got another video for you today, and the reason for that is when you make an ask, after you've made that ask, there are only three answers that your donor can give you. Yes, which is our favorite that's our most preferred is when they say yes, so is yes, no, or maybe those are the only three things. Now. They may not say yes, no, or maybe They'll be. They may use a different phraseology for that, but at its core it's either yes, no, or maybe that's it. Now, the cool thing is, it doesn't really matter which answer you get, as long as you say the right things after they give you their answer. And in this video, this, this episodes of this podcast is already getting a little long. In the video we could go in a little deeper and I give you some insight, give you some things so that we make sure that you get it right.
Nathan Ruby:It's free, just like yesterday's offer. There's no cost to it. Just email me at info at practice and P leader dot com. The email is also in the show notes. You can just click on that. Shoot me an email, just say that you want the video on asking and I will make sure that I get the link sent to you. Well, tomorrow we will be covering what's called stewardship, and this is the step that takes place after the donor says yes, because, seriously, who is going to tell you no after that awesome ask that you just made? Right, I mean, everybody's going to say yes. So I am looking forward to tomorrow. It's going to be a great episode, and the reason I'm looking forward to it is because most fundraisers get stewardship totally wrong. They totally mess it up, but you won't, because you'll know exactly how to do it right. I'll see you tomorrow. That's all for today, until next time you.