Fundraising. Those of us involved often have a love-hate relationship with it. We love when people give our organization lots of money, but we hate to ask for it.
You can have a love-love relationship with fundraising. It’s easy. It’s just a matter of perspective. In fact, you may already have secretly that love-love perspective.
Think about your organization’s mission and vision. Think about who it serves. Do you believe in it? Do you care about those people? If you do, you’re already there. When you are asking for money, you are asking to help meet the needs of those you are serving. If, for example, you are help leading an organization that has the goal of reducing sex trafficking or hunger, you know who you were helping and you know what $1,000 gift can do. Likewise, if you are the president or fundraising director of an excellent school, and you know the value of the education your school provides, you know every gift makes a direct difference.
When you are asking for donations, whether a dollar or $1,000,000, if your organization is worthy, asking can be easy. It can even be joyful, because you know when that donation comes in, you are enabled to help more people more effectively.
Your joy will be infectious. If you are asking for that donation in person, your smile will come through your voice. Similarly, if you are doing it through an appeal letter, there’ll be more passion in what you write.
Meanwhile, if you aren’t feeling the joy, if you don’t believe in the mission or care about the people you are serving or you work for one of those nonprofits in which the CEOs make a huge amount of money, it’s time to look for a new position.
Need help asking for donations? Contact us.
