Fundraising: Getting past the fear of asking

As my day slowly died down I attended the last workshop for my day. The title – Fundraising: Getting past the fear of asking. This workshop basically gave you techniques on how to not only ask for donations during fundraising opportunities but how to conduct fundraising events. The workshop itself had me from the jump due to the energetic speaker and his methods on how to approach certain fears most have. For example, when you go from door to door asking for donations but as your trying to explain your reasoning the customer has a totally puzzled look on their face. The reasoning behind that is that your not making your explanation clear enough. He also taught a brilliant ten step plan for what he calls a “Ask” method. Now this method is mainly focused on the event fundraising groups . It came very helpful from my aspect because of easier and more simple ways of getting a yes for donations instead of no. I liked his 5 truths to fundraising and wanted to share them with you all:

5 Truths to Fundraising

1. You need to put yourself in the donor’s shoes.
2. You must ask way more people than the number of gifts you need.
3. It has to be OK with you for people to say no.
4. You will need to ask some people, but you don’t need to ask everyone.
5. What you believe in has to be bigger than what you are afraid of.

He also had 10 tips for making the ask my top three were:

1) Make your gift first. Make your gift before you ask someone else to give. The conviction that is felt by someone who has already given can not be duplicated. It makes a huge difference.

2) Be positive, sincere and passionate about the cause. Upon greeting the prospect, be upbeat and passionate about the organization and its mission.

3) State the need. After greeting your prospect, re-state the importance of the organization and how it makes a positive difference in the world.

The full list can be viewed by clicking here.

The workshop in my opinion was more telling ideas rather than anyone really having a issue. I feel as if everyone was their to hear more fundraising ideas. But overall it was a very informative session. Okay after all that I decided to really find out what was the buzz about concerning this mini-ball. I’m not gone lie I came extremely late but it was still alive and kicking. The competitors where to die for and the personalities on that stage could have blown anyone away. Although it was very flashy and yet humorous at the same time I truly enjoyed myself. Every category was difficult to judge but the best won I would have to say. The mini-ball was a total success and I hope to get involved in one pretty soon.