As leaders, we must proactively reach out in specific ways to people willing to give at different times of the year.
Many nonprofit organizations use a fiscal year that starts in August or September and finishes the following summer. Some do operate on a budget year, otherwise called a calendar year. This distinction is important because people who give operate on a calendar year, the giving year, and the tax year.
Therefore, the trends in our culture are significant.
At Development and Leadership Coaching, we encourage you to amp up asking efforts by the end of October or the beginning of November at the latest. Follow-up efforts will continue until the end of December.
So, what does one ask to ask?
- How do we know the person knows they’ve been asked to give?
Think about all the communication you do throughout the year, all the solicitations you might do, or events you might have attended up to this point. How do these people know we are asking them to do something now?
- How do we know we’re being heard?
If someone knows that they’ve been asked, oftentimes, they haven’t decided against you. They just haven’t made a decision yet. They haven’t taken action on it. They see and ask, understand your question, and then move on. Life gets in the way. They get busy. Things come up, and they get distracted.
A significant amount of work in development this time of the year is not trying to harass people into finally realizing that your work is essential but instead getting them to stop their busy lives long enough to make a decision and take action.
Answering these questions is easier when you’ve developed relationships with donors and can recall conversations with the givers. You can call to mind follow-ups, thanking, and reporting touch-points.
It can be helpful to consider who you’ve asked to include in their giving in the past couple of years, perhaps as a challenge or match.
However, there are many people you are communicating with regarding giving that you don’t yet know face-to-face.
And then there’s everyone else.
This is where mistakes occur.
‘Everyone else’ signals, to most, a generic communications timeline. We send out a bunch of stuff and passively wait to see what happens.
I want to draw your attention to a subgroup inside the ‘everyone else’ clump that can be overlooked – people we haven’t worked with face-to-face but with whom we have been in the same room within the past 18 months. Maybe they’re on an advisory group, maybe they’re on a development committee, maybe they’re a regular volunteer.
This relationship is unique; we haven’t communicated, but these individuals are tuned into our actions. The message needs to be crafted to acknowledge they receive communication and have marked involvement: It may sound something like “Thank you for your involvement here. Thank you for your past involvement in these events. Thank you for being on this committee, on this task force. Here’s what we’re asking people to do.” And then personalize your ask as much as possible. This increases the number of people considering something specific you’re asking them to do.
And then we have the actual ‘everyone else.’
The people we would not know if they walked up to us on the street. They’re on our lists or in our communication; we’ve not been in the room with them that we know of, and these are the folks we’re asking.
Ask.
And follow up.
Sending the appeal is one step in a series of steps.
Ask.
Then, follow up with the potential donor. “I am following up to ensure you received our recent update regarding year-end giving. I want to make sure that you saw it. Thank you for taking the time to consider our request. What questions do you have?”
Phone calls, voicemails, emails, and text messages all do the trick.
Connect.
Ask about your ask.
Will you get some negative pushback from this degree of communication? Absolutely. You’re going to receive negative messages from people who weren’t going to do anything anyway. It makes them mad to be asked, followed up with, or communicated with in a way that says, “You are important, and this is important.” Approximately 10% of your audience falls into this category.
But most people, especially if they know you face-to-face, especially if they’ve been in the room with you, they’ve tuned in, they’re paying attention, they’ve seen your communication, they know you’re doing things, they know you’re asking for giving; they simply haven’t stopped their busy lives long enough to focus on you and take action.
Every year, more and more of our efforts must be spent on the ask as culture gets busier and noisier.
Ask all 2024 long to end 2024 strong!
I would like to encourage you in your asking between now and the end of the calendar year. Let’s connect via text!