Imagine you’re in campaign mode now. You’ve got your big donors you know you can rely on.
You’ve also got a collection of mid-sized donors who’ve been giving nice annual checks in the low thousands. Though you’re grateful for their dependable support, you know that some of them technically could give much more.
And you sort of wish you could do something to inspire them to give bigger. Even - 10 times bigger.
What if you could make this happen?
Ultimately, it comes down to the difference between asking for cash, and asking for something more tangible, more meaningful.
When you just ask people to support your organization, they can’t quite visualize what they’re accomplishing. They’ll pour some money into you like they pour into other organizations, but they don’t quite get the feeling that they’re achieving or providing something special or unique.
How can you give them that feeling?
By making your ask about something specific.
Like… getting them to sponsor one specific unit.
You need to cover a student scholarship. Each scholarship comes to 10x more than X Donor’s usual gift.
Choose one student who needs the scholarship. Tell the donor his story, and what investing in his scholarship could accomplish for his life.
Then ask for that 10x gift.
Or… asking them to cover a new project launch.
Tell your donor all about an exciting new initiative you’re thinking of embarking on. Explain that you need a specific amount of seed money to make it happen. Will he 10x his usual gift to kick off this new project?
Or… asking them to become a matcher.
Explain to your donor: if he gives 10x his usual gift, he’ll be able to be one of the “matchers” in your campaign. Which means he won’t just be giving his own gift - he’ll be directly triggering many many more.
Instead of just a plea for more money than usual, you’re giving him the opportunity to accomplish something tangible for you.
Or… asking them to help you cover the last bit of a campaign.
“We’ve raised $100K for this project so far (you’ve already sold them on the cruciality of the project). We’re $10K short of the target. The project can only happen if we’ve raised all the funds. I only have a few more people to approach. Would you give us a massive boost and allow us to launch by covering the last $10K?”
Don’t just ask for cash. Ask for something tangible. Something whose value they can easily grasp. Something they can point to with pride and tell themselves, “I really enabled something great here.”
Much brocha and hatzlacha,
Avraham
© Avraham Lewis & Co.