When asking for a donation know what you want, why it’s wanted and the positive impact the donation will be to those receiving it.
‘When asking for money, it’s generally accepted that if you ask for specific amounts, offer suggestions on giving levels organisations can have a better ‘return’ than those who simply ask for ‘support’.
$20 will give a child school lunches for x
$50 will allow a child to attend school activities for x
$100 will give a child school books for x
When people can see that their donation is “earmarked” for a specific purpose they’re more inclined to give – they can “see” a result, a benefit.
In reality it’s only part of it – knowing when to ‘shut up’ is important too.
Using the ‘pitch it and zip it’ approach will help ‘close’ the donation request.
Asking for a donation is no different to someone in sales asking for the sale – options are given, price is given, then any salesperson with experience will zip their lips and wait for the customer to make comment.
The first person who speaks after the ‘offer’ is given generally loses the ‘sale’.
It’s no different when requesting a donation, ask for the amount you want and ‘zip it’, wait for the person you’re talking to speak, they’ll either say that’s too much, or I can’t afford that, both signals that they could give but the amount asked for is too high for them, they’re not saying they won’t give. You still have the opportunity to ask for a lesser amount.
When asking for a donation it often pays to start high and come down, you can’t ask for $20 then when the person says yes increase the amount asked for. But if you ask for $100.00 and they say it’s too much you can come down – but don’t come down too quickly, they’ll tell you what they can give.
So next time you ask for a donation, paint a picture, tell the person you’re talking to how important their donation is, then ask for an amount – then ZIP IT.
charitymattersnz.com 