Are You Asking For More When They’ve Given Enough?

Last weekend’s meal at a folksy chain restaurant got me thinking about asking for more gifts when your donors may feel they’ve given enough.

As I handed over my credit card to pay for our southern meal served in central New Jersey, the woman at the register offered, “Scooter Pies are on sale today. They make great snacks.” My first thought was her faulty premise. Fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts make great snacks. Scooter Pies make make awful snacks. My next thought was more relevant to my purposes here.

Isn’t it enough that I just bought thirty-five bucks worth of lunch? But, they’re in business and I respect–and have come to expect–a dose of cross promotion. Hell, I do it myself. I spared her my diatribe on healthful food choices, said, “No thanks” and signed my receipt.

She had a rejoinder. “We have a sale on summer clothing.”

That’s over the line. Two entreaties to spend more money when I feel I parted with enough mere moments ago.

"Spare Change for Change", courtesy of dcjohn on Flickr.

I beseech you. Don’t cross the line into hounding when your donors have recently made a gift. Evaluate your policies about what goes into gift acknowledgement letters, for instance. It’s fine to suggest they buy a ticket to an event, or urge consideration of a planned gift, but if the plea is for an outright gift of cash when that’s what you’ve just received, it may be inappropriate. If not in the acknowledgement, you still need to be sensitive to asking too soon after a gift. Let your gratitude linger, so you don’t come off as ungrateful.

This is all fact sensitive so there are no bright line rules about timing and number of asks. I’m encouraging you to heighten your scrutiny so you don’t turn off your donors.

If you’re not conscious of your donors’ sensitivities, you might get yourself a diatribe. And it won’t be on the virtues of dried, unsulphured apricots.

3 thoughts on “Are You Asking For More When They’ve Given Enough?

  1. Thank you for bringing this up. I have always pushed for acknowledgments to be just that, a thank you, and a true show of appreciation rather than a stepping stone to upselling. I also suggest that the person doing the request is diligent about what other kinds of relationships the donor has with the organization (information management) – did they just do business as a vendor? Did they used to be on the board and spent years volunteering? Too many times these simple things go unacknowledged. And anyone who says it doesn’t matter, hasn’t been on the other side enough to understand that it’s one of the things that gives fundraisers a bad reputation.

  2. Excellent point Tony. I believe it comes down to two things – Opportunity Awareness and Information Management. If an agency is clear on the universe of opportunities that exist (within their organization) for donor support then they are well on their way to successful ongoing appeals. The other element – Information Management System – has everything to do with managing information and “Moves” relative to an agency’s donors. A nonprofit agency that is able to track each meaningful contact with a prospect/donor is better able to position themselves for success with their next series of “asks”.

    If an agency is missing one or both of these elements, then they are likely missing many meaningful opportunities to build authentic donor relationships.

  3. Tony M. is right on with his comments. Fund raising is about building a relationship with your donor base. If the relationship is all about the money then it is not a true relationship that benefits the donor and the charity.

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