I wish I had a magic wand that would make money appear in your bank account without having to ask for it.
I wish that you had a generous leprechaun who hid pots of gold for you to find.
Alas.
When I’m working with clients to become better fundraisers, I feel like they want a magic, full-proof formula to make every ask a yes.
There is no way to become better at fundraising except to just do it. A lot. And get comfortable with rejection. After all, rejection is not about you.
We spend so much time and energy on trying to engineer the perfect ask so that we don’t even ask. In this world, our donor intuits our wishes and offers a gift. And, this might even happen to you once in a while.
But, if you want to be a consistently great fundraiser, luck is not a strategy.
You must ask. Consistently, graciously and often.
For example, you can Youtube how to ride a bike, you can google the physics of bike-riding, you can study the components of a bike and learn the history of bike-riding. It doesn’t mean you know how to ride a bike.
As fundraisers, we have the unique privilege of moving resources to make real change happen in the world.
Everything that you want is on the other side of uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable will not kill you. Screwing up an ask will not kill you. When you approach fundraising with a beginner’s mind and a clear heart, you will either win or you will learn.
Either is a gift.
Remember, fundraising is just a math problem. The more asks you put out, the more no’s you’ll get, but the more yeses you’ll get too.
To my career fundraisers, does this resonate? Tell me your recipe for success.
