Asking people for money, for any worthwhile proposition, is both the most difficult and the most important part of fundraising. Each fundraising campaign is unique and thus, uses a variety of methods to ask for money, such as direct mail appeals, special events, pledge programs, products for sale, and so on. But the single hardest way to raise money is for candidate, board, staff and volunteers to ask people directly for donations. 

Experience has shown, however, that it is almost impossible to be successful raising dollars, particularly with a major gifts program, without face-to-face solicitation of the prospective donors.

Equally important to “the ask” is the strategy for each ask and the follow-up for each ask – the attention to detail. This begins with the creation of a fundraising plan.

The first step in any fundraising program (no matter how small or how large) is the creation of the fundraising plan. This document should spell out:

• How much money is to be raised (needed)
• When that money is needed (against a calendar)
• What the money is to be used for, and
• How it is to be raised.
  • Identify the prospects
  • Determine their interests
  • Define their giving capacity
  • Categorize the prospects by capacity
  • Create the appropriate collateral materials to support the ask
  • Determine the ‘right’ individual to make the ask
  • Determine the ‘right’ time to make the ask

Once we have defined the aforementioned, your success will be driven by the attention to detail of the ask, the response, the follow-up, and the collection. Newgrange is second to none in its tracking and management of the data collected and monitored for a successful campaign.