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Three Questions Every Fundraiser Must Answer
44 Plays12 days ago
A friend texted Tom asking how to raise money for her kid's lacrosse team. His answer? The same three questions he's used for 30 years — from asking his Sunday school teacher for a $75 check at age 16 to running major gift campaigns at universities and health systems. In this episode, Tom breaks down the framework that scales from youth sports fundraising all the way to seven-figure campaigns, and explains why the single biggest mistake most fundraisers make is asking everyone instead of asking someone.
Looking for fundraising coaching? Check out www.abundantvision.net
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Transcript
Introduction to Fundraising Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a first-time fundraiser, we have the advice you need to take your next step toward major gift mastery.
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm your host, Tom Dauber, President of Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting.
Steph's Fundraising Query
00:00:26
Speaker
So I was recently contacted by a dear friend of mine. Shout out to Steph, if you're listening. Steph reached out to me because one of her kids was in a sport and she wanted to raise some money for that sport. This particular instance, at least, was lacrosse, which is an expensive sport. There's a lot out of gear that you need.
00:00:52
Speaker
And certainly in that school district she's in, there's certainly kids that can't afford to play that it might play if they could get all the gear. And she reached out to me because she was like, Tom, how do I raise money for this?
Tom's Fundraising Journey
00:01:05
Speaker
And as all of you are familiar, that sort of situation, oftentimes we're doing bake sales, car washes, all sorts of things. And I've done those things growing up.
00:01:18
Speaker
remember one time leading a mulch sale when I was very early on in my professional career, trying to raise money for a trip to India. And I spent so much time selling mulch.
00:01:32
Speaker
and trying to get deals, even graveyards. That was my big deal. That was the real big deal I negotiated. I got somebody at a graveyard to buy mulch off me. And I sold them a whole truckload, I think. So we did well there.
00:01:50
Speaker
But we ultimately had to go away from that approach because when we finally evaluated you know, what was the result of our actions?
00:02:01
Speaker
We had to basically stop doing ministry in order to raise money like that. i mean, basically we start a second business in order to fund our primary business. um And there just wasn't time to do both. Right.
Purpose and Vision in Fundraising
00:02:13
Speaker
So with that background and experience, I said to Steph, um okay, there's, there's really just three things you need to do. You need to understand what it is you're doing and why.
00:02:27
Speaker
And so I walked her through some really simple questions. Why does this matter? Whose life is different because of the money you're raising?
00:02:38
Speaker
What impact does this have on your team, on your community? you know so So there's that. That's the first and really most important question. It's the vision question. Why is the world better because of of what you're doing?
00:02:52
Speaker
We should all be asking that question in fundraising. Not just to raise money, but even just to keep ourselves centered as fundraisers in what we're doing and why, and to keep ourselves encouraged when things don't go the way we hope.
Aligning Passion with Fundraising
00:03:10
Speaker
Fundraising can be a hard business. People stand you up for meetings. Stuff goes wrong. When it does, it's important that you have something to go back to, to remind yourself, why am I in this business?
00:03:25
Speaker
What is it about this business that makes me want to be a part of it? So asking that why question, it's critical for every fundraiser and every nonprofit. And if you don't have good answers, well, you got to work on that.
00:03:39
Speaker
You got to work on that. If your job is just a paycheck for you, well, maybe you need to find a different nonprofit. Now, and I'm not saying that you couldn't get excited about something ah as you learned more about i mean, honestly, I mean, most of my career, the bulk of it was at a university and in health science colleges that I had no background in.
00:04:04
Speaker
You know, I had no experience with dentistry ah when I took that job and I had no experience with pharmacy when I took that job. But But the thing is, is as I got into it and I understood more about why oral health care matters, right?
00:04:22
Speaker
And why, or I understood the drug development process and and how I could be involved there um or what, Why is it important for pharmacists to be involved on a health care team? Just all these different things. I was personally able to get very excited about both of
Setting Ambitious Goals
00:04:39
Speaker
those things. Now, not everybody can do that.
00:04:41
Speaker
Some people are just really like, you know, I am passionate about one thing and one thing only. And if that's you, find a nonprofit that matches your passion, because that's what you're going to raise money the best for.
00:04:53
Speaker
Right. so So there's that that passion, that impact question, the why question. The second question is, is how much does it cost? you know What's your fundraising goal?
00:05:08
Speaker
Like you say, here's the impact. Well, what does it cost to get to that impact? Don't let your fear of raising money color the amount of money that you're trying to raise.
00:05:25
Speaker
If you've got the vision and you've got the impact, that's what you should be going for. Don't say to yourself, well, people don't like to give. We're not going to get anyone to give us more than $100 a piece.
00:05:39
Speaker
Because essentially what what you're doing when you say that is you're saying this just doesn't matter that much and people don't care. And the reality is people do care.
00:05:50
Speaker
There are people that want to make a difference in this world. Everyone has passions. You just got to find those people. And that's that's the next piece there.
00:06:02
Speaker
But before I get to that, you got to find the right number. And you've got to really do some homework here. What would it cost? What would it cost, you you know, for Steph, you know, I challenge her to tell me, okay, what does it cost to outfit one kid with all the equipment they need to do this sport?
00:06:24
Speaker
And then I said, well was that all? Is that all the expenses a kid would need to do this for? And was like, well, no, there's a participation fee. And so we had to push a little bit to really uncover what were all the full costs if we really wanted to make a full ride?
00:06:38
Speaker
Because that was the vision, right? Kid that can't afford it, let's make this affordable for them. and And that was the best case scenario. So that's what we were shooting for. So then we identified that number. And then the next question was, well, then how many kids do we want to help?
00:06:54
Speaker
How big could the team be? and of course, that impacted the vision question because the more kids you have involved, the more potential talent you have. How does that impact your vision, right?
00:07:05
Speaker
ah So sometimes these things build upon themselves. They interact dynamically. The vision gets bigger as more money comes in. So there's those two questions. And then the last question is very simple.
00:07:19
Speaker
Who cares about this and has the money to do something about it?
Finding the Right Donors
00:07:23
Speaker
Who is that? Some folks may approach this question or this problem by sending an email.
00:07:32
Speaker
ah You send an email to everybody on the team or or the parents of avat the players and ask them for a hundred bucks a piece. Now, for many of them, if they were missing $5,000 from their bank account, they probably wouldn't notice.
00:07:51
Speaker
That's the reality of it. That's what I said to Steph. Like, Steph, you need to go pay attention. Who are the kids that live in the really nice houses? Who are the kids whose parents show up driving a Beamer, a Mercedes-Benz, or a Lexus?
00:08:08
Speaker
Who are the kids for spring break that they're going to Vail? They're going to a vacation home in in Jackson ah Hole. Not Jackson, Ohio. That that wouldn't be meaningful.
00:08:22
Speaker
Jackson Hole, I meant. Where are the signs of wealth that are perceptible? Now, some of those people may be in horrible debt. I mean, that's that's the reality of life. But for many people, if they're doing things like that, they're probably doing that because they have money.
00:08:40
Speaker
And kids talk. They know who's going to Europe for spring break or you know for things like that. They know who has money. Kids talk. lot of times they shouldn't, but they do. um Point being is once you identify who would care about this and who who has the meaning to do something about it, then you need to go schedule a meeting with them.
Teenage Fundraising Experience
00:09:05
Speaker
Tell them what the vision is. Tell them how much it costs and ask them for help. Now, why am i saying this today? Well, it occurred to me after talking to my friend about this, that fundraising is one of those things that scales.
00:09:24
Speaker
It scales really well. The first major gift I ever solicited was when I was 16. And I'm saying major gift in parentheses.
00:09:36
Speaker
I needed 75 bucks. I wanted to start a student club, student organization, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And FCA at the time, in order to be an official chartered FCA huddle, you had to pay 75 bucks.
00:09:53
Speaker
And I didn't have 75 bucks. Somehow, I instinctively understood that the answer was not to do car wash Instead, it was to go to people with money that I knew would care about this particular thing.
00:10:10
Speaker
So I went to my cross-country coach, who I knew was a Christian and I knew was a business owner locally. I asked him for a gift and he said no.
00:10:21
Speaker
dising I'm like, come on, man. I'm your best runner. What's the heck? So then I went to my Sunday school teacher, also a business owner, also liked me.
00:10:33
Speaker
And he said, yes. and And I'll also add that one of his kids ah was a teammate of mine. So I knew he cared about athletes and he was my Sunday school teacher. So I knew he knew he cared about faith and religious things.
00:10:45
Speaker
And I knew he would take a call from me because he was close to me. And I knew that he was a business owner. And he said, yes. And I walked away from that meeting with a $75 check.
00:10:57
Speaker
And it was fantastic. I was hooked. mean, I didn't know it at the time, but that was going to become my career. So I learned some things. You know, that experience confirmed to me that the best way to raise money was really to go to the people that have it, tell them what you want to do and ask them for help.
00:11:17
Speaker
It also confirmed to me that 50% of the people, even the ones that seem like they're aligned with your interests, are still probably going to say no. And that's what you're going to find.
00:11:28
Speaker
Now, the safe thing to do is to send that email. It's to just send that out to the group and say, hey, would any of you give? You don't risk any feelings of rejection.
00:11:40
Speaker
But here's the reality.
Overcoming Fear of Rejection
00:11:42
Speaker
those Those feelings you have, those fears of rejection, they're not real. They're valid. They're valid feelings. don Don't hear me say your feelings aren't valid.
00:11:52
Speaker
What I'm saying is, People saying no is not a personal rejection of you as a person. It's simply an expression that this isn't the thing they want to do with their money.
00:12:04
Speaker
And that's okay. But you've got to have a good sense of self in order to really stand up to that. So you've got to do the scary thing. You've got to actually put it out there face-to-face with someone. And here's another reason why that's so valuable.
00:12:20
Speaker
There's an adage i learned many years ago, actually while ah leading Bible studies. I'll tell you, a Bible is an interesting thing. You throw a question out, you could potentially get somebody dominating a conversation and just chatting, chatting, chatting, and sharing their views. And and it can very quickly become one person dominating a conversation. But one thing you you learn as a small group leader, ah in any context, whether it's a religious one or a secular one where you're facilitating conversations, is that to encourage group participation,
00:12:53
Speaker
In order to get people to respond, you need to make a direct question. You need to pose the question directly to people, even by name. And if I'm leading a group of people in a conversation, I will often tell them, hey, I'm going to ask you questions by name, especially if people don't participate.
00:13:13
Speaker
Because the adage the old adage is this, a question to everyone is a question to nobody. Sorry, let me say that right. Question to everyone is a question to no one. So when you throw out a call to give at a meeting to a group or by email or by direct mail, people see it, but it doesn't really have the weight that me coming to you as an individual and sitting down in front of you and asking you face to face for something specific,
00:13:50
Speaker
that's That's what we want in fundraising. We want to have personal connection. We want to have real connection. We want personal connection. We want to have real conversation, real relationship.
00:14:04
Speaker
We want people to feel the weight of what we're asking. And that's why it's so powerful to go directly to a person and ask them.
Conclusion: Personal Connections for Success
00:14:14
Speaker
And that's why so many people, when they send out a mailing or send out an email or stand up in front of a group of people and ask for donors, they hardly get any responses.
00:14:28
Speaker
And then they wonder why people don't want to give. It's because you haven't gone to that person individually and and ask them because a question to everyone is a question to no one.
00:14:40
Speaker
Anyway. Take these principles, apply them anywhere you want. I know that they're going to be successful because I've had nearly 30 years. Well, really counting my volunteer and time in college and even in high school, I've got over 30 years of applying them.
00:14:59
Speaker
And I know that they work and I know that they're true. So I wish you the best in your fundraising and look forward to talking again. Now, if you've enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on your podcast provider.
00:15:17
Speaker
I'm your host, Tom Dauber. Thank you for joining me as we journey together towards major gift mastery on the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast.