Product Description

The Ask is a complete resource for teaching anyone—experienced in fundraising or not—how to ask individuals, in person, for a contribution to for a local nonprofit or a special event or community project, an enhanced annual gift, a major or planned gift, or a challenging capital campaign gift. Written by fundraising expert Laura Fredricks, The Ask shows what it takes to prepare yourself and others to make an effective ask and includes over one hundred sample dialogues you can use and adapt. Step by step, the book reveals how to listen, what to say, and how to follow up on each and every ask until you receive a solid and definitive answer. In addition, The Ask covers such topics as how to

• Examine your views on money before making an ask
• Learn the ins and outs of asking for money
• Work with others to make an ask
• Determine if you should or should not ask a friend, colleague, or peer for money
• Figure out how many asks you can do given your time constraints
• Deal effectively with all the responses you will get to an ask

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80612 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
"If you ever thought it was difficult or uncomfortable to ask for money, think again. This book empowers you to go out and do it again and again."
--Rachel Wawn, development manager, The Healing Foundation, London, England

"The Ask is a commonsense approach on how to ask anyone for money. It will enhance the skills of countless people around the country who need to ask for money so that philanthropy will grow immeasurably."
--John Burke, director of major gifts, The Passionist Missionaries, Union City, New Jersey

"Asking people for money is one of the most difficult ‘sales’ we can make, and no matter how noble the cause, having the right tools at our disposal can make the difference. This book provides all the tools necessary to complete the ‘sale.’"
--James Duffy, CFO and executive vice president, Vertrue Inc., Stamford, Connecticut

"Most of us, when put in a position to ask for a contribution for a worthy purpose, are uncomfortable making the approach. But when someone requests a donation from us, we do not think any less of them for asking. Insights offered here will help the reader bridge this gap and confidently ask the next time."
--Michael O’Reilly, vice chairman, The Chubb Corporation, Warren, New Jersey

"ASK and you shall receive. Get this book and you will be prepared for ANY ask, no matter the size or cause. It's the ‘go-to’ book for truly effective fundraisers. ASK for it today!"
--Sarah Holland, president, The Visibility Project, New York, New York

"With over one hundred sample dialogues, you can't afford not to buy this book!"
--William Bartolini, vice president for development, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

From the Inside Flap
Raising money face-to-face is an essential component of the health and vitality of any nonprofit or for-profit organization. However, most people have little, if any, experience asking for money and often feel out of their element when they try to do the ask. Even professional fundraisers, top administrators, board members, volunteers, and salespeople struggle with asking for money.

The Ask is a complete resource for teaching anyone—experienced in fundraising or not—how to ask individuals, in person, for a contribution to a local nonprofit, a special event, or a community project, as well as for an enhanced annual gift, a major or planned gift, or a challenging capital campaign gift.

Written by fundraising expert Laura Fredricks, The Ask shows what it takes to prepare yourself and others to make an effective ask and includes over one hundred sample dialogues you can use and adapt. Step by step, the book reveals how to listen, what to say, and how to follow up on each and every ask until you receive a solid and definitive answer. In addition, The Ask covers such topics as how to

• Examine your views on money before making an ask
• Learn the ins and outs of asking for money
• Work with others to make an ask
• Determine if you should or should not ask a friend, colleague, or peer for money
• Figure out how many asks you can do given your time constraints
• Deal effectively with all the responses you will get to an ask

If you want to develop the fundraising skills you need to achieve greater success and learn how to ask for money with confidence and willingness, this is the book for you.

From the Back Cover
Praise for The Ask

"If you ever thought it was difficult or uncomfortable to ask for money, think again. This book empowers you to go out and do it again and again."
—Rachel Wawn, development manager, The Healing Foundation, London, England

"The Ask is a commonsense approach on how to ask anyone for money. It will enhance the skills of countless people around the country who need to ask for money so that philanthropy will grow immeasurably."
—John Burke, director of major gifts, The Passionist Missionaries, Union City, New Jersey

"Asking people for money is one of the most difficult 'sales' we can make, and no matter how noble the cause, having the right tools at our disposal can make the difference. This book provides all the tools necessary to complete the 'sale.'"
—James Duffy, CFO and executive vice president, Vertrue Inc., Stamford, Connecticut

"Most of us, when put in a position to ask for a contribution for a worthy purpose, are uncomfortable making the approach. But when someone requests a donation from us, we do not think any less of them for asking. Insights offered here will help the reader bridge this gap and confidently ask the next time."
—Michael O'Reilly, vice chairman, The Chubb Corporation, Warren, New Jersey

"ASK and you shall receive. Get this book and you will be prepared for ANY ask, no matter the size or cause. It's the 'go-to' book for truly effective fundraisers. ASK for it today!"
—Sarah Holland, president, The Visibility Project, New York, New York

"With over one hundred sample dialogues, you can't afford not to buy this book!"
—William Bartolini, vice president for development, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

Customer Reviews

A much needed book to aid in the process of training volunteers in the fundraising process.
Asking (soliciting) people for money can be a stressful or challenging endeavor. But, you know, so is just about everything we do the first time. And how do we learn to do something the first time? Someone teaches us either verbally or by way of writing a book. This book does a wonderful job of explaining "The Ask" part of not-for-profit fundraising in its 10 chapters:

1. Soliciting Money Usually Causes Jitters
2. Prospect Research and Evaluating a Prospective Donor for Gift-Giving Readiness
3. Who Should Do the Ask?
4. How to Prepare for an Ask
5. Asking for Non-Major Gifts
6. Asking for Major Gifts in Annual Campaign Setting
7. Asking for Planned Gifts (Deferred Gifts)
8. Asking for Major Gifts in Capital Campaign Setting
9. How to Respond to Prospective Donor after Making the Ask
10. Follow-Up for Each Ask

The author is certainly qualified to write the book. She has a number of years experience working in a major gift setting for a well established university in New York. It surprised me when I stumbled across this book in the bookstore that there was enough material on the subject to actually write this book. But apparently there is more than enough to talk about on the subject. I probably would have titled the book "Soliciting Major Gifts" instead of The Ask. But then I would not have included Chapter 5 either.

Let's face it, face-to-face gift solicitation is predominantly a major gift thing. There might be some face-to-face gift solicitation of donors for sizeable (but not major) gifts, but for the most part that is the exception not the rule. Major gifts as I know them are $10,000 and up. Many are six figures! Now that is something to get jittery over.

I would have liked the book better if it had not been as wordy as it was. Instead of providing the chapter titles in this review as they were written in the book I changed them a bit. I think my titles explain the contents of the book better. I also found the list of TEN (10) basic categories of responses to an ask included in the book to be way too long. I'm familiar with there being just four: (1) Yes I will give, (2) No I won't give, (3) That's too much, and (4) Let me think about it and get back to you. And there was some overlap of "guiding principles" included at page 213 of the book - so I think there could have been fewer principles included in that list.

I have a feeling this book will get its most use from board members of nonprofits and leadership teams heading up capital campaigns at nonprofits. It is my understanding that most people involved in major gift solicitations at the big nonprofits (schools and hospitals) already have a system in place for helping major gift solicitors feel at ease doing an ask and doing it well. In fact, this book is probably a public version of one of those schools' in-house guides. 5 stars!

Not Just for Big $$$
One of the best things about The Ask is it is not just about major gifts. Fredricks outlines how to seek donations for special events (auctions, luncheons, golf tournaments)and the annual fund as well as major and planned gifts and capital gifts. She also guides the reader through overcoming personal factors in money that can make a person hesitate or even indefinitely postpone an ask. She directs "the asker" to consider the prospect's views on money before asking, too. There is also an outline of the "essential elements" for any kind of ask from which both novice and experienced askers can benefit. This is one of the best of its type around!

The Ask
I find this book to be very detailed and specific, giving useful examples of how to exercise the theories of fundraising covered in the book.

However, the book is extremely America-centric. Most other countries have not caught up to America in the field of philanthropy. For this reason many of the recommendations cannot be adopted or need to be scaled down for Australian fundraisers.