Did you ever find yourself making creative excuses to let your donors off the hook from giving?
Like...
The market is down.
Nursing homes have been hit.
He has so many other people after his charitable funds.
He did not reply to my message, he must be upset.
Here’s the thing, it’s not your job to give yourself reasons to not ask or to ask for less. That’s pure yetzer hara!
Your job is to ask.
Let your donor do his job, which is to decide, based on your ask, whether to give at the level you asked at.
And your ask should be according to your needs, not his perceived abilities.
I’m not talking about when your donor tells you clearly he can’t help. That’s different. I mean making rationalizations about his abilities that may or may not be true.
If you find yourself making such rationalizations or ‘chesbonos’ for your donor, what can you do to get back on track?
Firstly, recalibrate.
- How much did he give last year?
- What do I need to ask him for this year?
Then, energize yourself by clarifying;
- Why do I need these funds? (How will people's lives be impacted?)
- Why is that important? (If I did not have these funds, why would this be detrimental?)
- Why do I need them now? (You need to be good at expressing urgency. Note, not emergency.)
- What story can I tell to speak to the donor’s emotions? (Always good to have a story to tell.)
When you plan out your next donor ask, watch out for the voice in your head that will try and harm your good intentions.
B'Hatzlacha Raba Raba,
Avraham