Dear Non-Profit Fundraiser,
Making fundraising asks used to stress me out.
When I woke up in the morning and knew that I was going to be meeting a donor in-person that day... or calling them on the phone... to ask for a five- or six-figure gift, I would get butterflies in my stomach.
I was worried, anxious, and stressed because I wanted the donor to say, "yes!" I knew how important each and every dollar was to our non-profit... and I didn't want to make a mistake and have the donor say no. Even worse, I was worried the donor would be mad at me for asking for such a large gift!
You see, no one ever taught me how to make great fundraising asks. No one explained to me what donors were thinking when I made my asks, or how to handle donor objections and concerns. Instead, I had to figure it out on my own, through trial, error, and lots of time spent reading and going to fundraising conferences.