Are You Making The Ask Or Only Getting Halfway There?

The final two months of the calendar year are busy in the nonprofit sector. In fact, M&R Benchmarks Report tells us 40% of all revenue is raised in December.

Said another way: November and December are high-activity times for both donors and philanthropy professionals alike.

With that in mind, we’ll keep this blog short and sweet.

Whether you’re a development staff member, the CEO of your nonprofit, or a dedicated member of your board’s development committee, sometimes we forget to include all three essential elements a solicitation should include:

• A request for a specific dollar amount

• To realize a specific need or opportunity

• To be given by a certain date

No matter through broadbase strategies like direct-mail, email campaigns, digital strategies or even community-based crowd funding; or through one-on-one, face-to-face solicitations over a coffee conversation, be certain your solicitation includes these three elements.

If a solicitation doesn’t include all three of these elements, the open solicitation could linger in philanthropy limbo for what feels like an eternity. For example, if you solicit a $1M donation to support broadening by 3,000 families the annual reach of your early-childhood programming but fail to secure the gift by a certain date, that is of little-to-no-help for the nonprofit. But perhaps that’s not the donor’s fault, after all we as the solicitor didn’t tell them by when you need to receive their commitment in order to realize that vision.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much Bob and I value clear communication when approached by a fundraiser,” shares Kathi Postlethwait, a community volunteer and local philanthropist active in many nonprofits around Central Indiana. “If we’re solicited for a gift, if we’re invited to do something meaningful for a nonprofit whose needs align with our values, we want to know exactly what they’re looking for from us.”

But it’s not only about the clarity that donors are looking for in a solicitation, it’s the ease of responding that comes to a solicitation containing all three key elements.

“When we know exactly what they’re needing from us, how our gift will be used, and by when they need us to respond, it makes our decision-making so much easier by giving us a clear deadline,” Kathi adds. 

Here is one example of a complete and effective solicitation:

“Juan, you know that we’re in the midst of our capital campaign …you’ve been part of this visioning process since day-one, and it’s all coming together just as I know you’d hoped! I’d like to talk today about your own gift toward the campaign. 

Based on what you’ve shared with us through the many conversations together in recent months, we have a proposal for you to consider. My guess is this idea will energize you even more than it has energized our team in drafting it for you.

Would you be willing to make a $500,000 contribution to our capital campaign, with your support directed particularly to the family dentistry suite? Our campaign will conclude on March 31, and it would be helpful to have confirmation of your support by December 31 so we can prepare for a springtime announcement of your gift.”

That sounds pretty clear to both the donor and the solicitor, doesn’t it?

If we, as development-facing staff and board members, aren’t ensuring each of our solicitations includes all three of those elements, we may be setting up the organization and the donor for failure.

WaTasha Barnes Griffin, President & CEO of YWCA Central Indiana

“Our donors are busy people. Our staff is going 100 miles an hour. It’s essential to both sides of the conversation that we’re intentional with those moments we have with our donors,” shares WaTasha Barnes Griffin, President & CEO of YWCA Central Indiana in Muncie, Indiana. “If we’re not crystal clear in our solicitations with donors, the follow-up we have with them after the ask can be confusing and lead to missteps. It’s to everyone’s advantage to make sure we’re communicating well in every single solicitation.”

And so, as you move through the final two months of the year – and for your solicitations that occur at any point on the calendar – check yourself when preparing for a solicitation. Make sure your approach includes those three elements. As a bonus, consider writing down those three elements on a notecard for your reference during the solicitation.

If you’d like to continue the conversation, we’re eager to hear more!

Wishing you well in this activity-filled time of the year,

Michael Pettry, Principal

Cape Fletcher Associates