My Communities

This course has let us know that it is good to request more than you're expected.

Seeking funding is both physical, mental and when not able to get it has a high impact on our professional confidence, This is the reason I want to take this course. I am Lowalem Daniel from Uganda.

1.Is when the answer from a donor is no. Because I feel like I can’t make it again
2.Planning in advance before meeting donors, specifying the purpose and getting ready for any feedback from donors

it went well

ce module est très importants

I think the most challenging part of asking for a donation is the shift in conversation that it requires. It is easy to talk to someone and connect with them - but there will eventually and inevitably come a time where the conversation must be redirected, and you have to directly ask (or suggest) a donation. This can be awkward and shift the tone of the conversation from pleasure to business, which can be awkward. To combat any awkwardness, a primary focus should be making sure the conversation is as friendly as possible, so that when the talk becomes more about money and business, you have a stronger leg to stand on and are more comfortable doing so.

I also think something to be considered is the activity during which the donation request is made. Luncheons are great - but my favorite method of asking for a donation is a more active activity, like golf. You have an extended period of time to be with the donor, and. your focus is not entirely on just talking. With an activity you and the donor can both focus on, there is less pressure on the interaction and more of an ability to bond over things - how beautiful the weather is, swing tips, or simply commenting on good or bad tips.

1: In a country where healthcare is perceived to be well-funded, it can be challenging to let potential donors see that there are still individuals who fall through the cracks. Crafting a strong pitch to the donors and being able to answer valid scrutinising questions on the spot may be what makes me most anxious.
2: Read up, gather facts and statistics.

The enxieties described by Tommy are similar to mine. the module has taught me some of the strategies to over come the enxieties and i intend to put all of them into practice.

It is indeed hard for ask for funds

1. The most challenging part of fundraising is not overwhelming the donor so that they say "NO" because they don't know how to respond to me. Talking with someone, I get so many ideas of how to collaborate that I throw them all out there and hope that they choose what works best for them.
2. Understanding some people are visual learners, I want to minimize options for clarity and put it on paper. If someone wants more info or options, I can verbally share.

That is a good point. Once someone shows they are disinterested, expending lots of energy and resources feels futile. Directing it towards potential donors that have a connection, seems best.

It's good to also share those activities with the donor ahead of time- like an agenda. I found this to be very helpful so everyone is on the same page when the donor comes. Great idea!

Be confident. Rejection might not give you fund but experience which is most important factor.

it is very difficult to recover from a no; but thanks enough I have learn from this lesson that a Thanks message is a very powerful weapon, though we might receive a NO, always leave the door open for the next time

Be confident! The worse is that they say no (not at all) and offer no help whatsoever. In that case, you still have exactly the same amount of funds after the ask as before.

Hello! I guess the most anxious thing in asking is a silence on a meeting when you understand that right now there gonna be “yes” or “no”, because a donor looking at you and thinking deeply.
The best way to make a successful meeting is to make people be interested in it. Like you are giving something in exchange but it is not help or money.

The most challenging of making the ask, to me, is to have done enough research about the prospect to know the correct ask amount.

I write grant proposals and design written appeals for donors, etc. but I have never actually made a fundraising ask in person. I think doing it in person would be much more nerve-wracking because I would feel like I was putting the person on the spot.

The most anxious moment is asking for money. It makes me feel bad because I do not want to be rejected or perceived as a beggar. So, what I do to address that is to conduct research on the donor and identify the gaps he's funded before and then align my speech to that.

I agree with this statement

How do you distract yourself, please?

my challenge is in writing to donors, how do I know what their interest is, will they be willing to sponsor my program if it doesn't interest them.

wow .. that's great idea because I was feeling the same too. so I agree with idea of researching them first to understand their area of interest.

The hardest part is asking for the money and waiting for a response

1. The most challenging aspect is asking for money, I am fine with the networking, but the money feels awkward.
2. I have not fundraised before, but I think that finding a mentor will be good for me.

I feel anxious about letting my team down
I can learn about new ways to interact

What really gets me anxious is how to start the conversation effectively with the donor. The reason for this is uncertainty on what questions the donor will ask and wether I have the right answers to his/her questions.
I find it helpful to do a thorough research on the program and also writing a few notes in a note book to ensure nothing relevant is omitted in the discussion. Not forgetting the principle of listening more and speaking less.

Asking for money its not easy for me because I fell bad every time some one say no.
Im trying to deal with this problems and tgis course its helping me a lot.

The most challenging is asking the donor physically to donate or fund my program . The reason is that I feel insulted if she says no and I will see myself as a beggar which can totally discourage me from the mission.

I solve this problem through sending what-up messages to request. I sent graphics that indicate my organization mission and vision, picture of our activities , our addresses , account numbers. We asked for both kind and funds. We received donations from some while some ignored. I was persistence in sending different messages everyday as a reminder and it worked. Through same method I send thank you messages, call some and send certificate of
appreciation to each donor with each donor's name

To reduce the anxiety , send email letters or text messages . Prepare yourself for no and assumed that that no means not this time. Hope for a better time. Think of what you have not done well and re frame and do it better.

You are on the right lane. With the skills acquired now you can easily brush up

Great Echonyu. We need to be confident. Remember "Practice makes perfect".

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
Asking for the money since it feels blatantly rude, but I believe in my organizations Vison & Misson. also, after this Module, I fell more confident.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
By assessing my fears and always keep in mind that a no is no final or fatal.

That sensation of a donor saying no

I have come across a very helpful articles hope to read more

The most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising for me is continuously meeting new prospective donors and engaging them on the level they expect. To make this easier, I try to have a plan for new prospects for each upcoming fiscal year and a list of how to engage, make the ask, and continue to steward them.

The hardest part for me is meeting donors in person.

I have appreciated that it is okay to ask for more than you actually require and that if one says no; it actually means next time so you should not give up on them.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
The most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising is hearing the word no from a major gift donor on whom you were depending and not having many more/enough strategic major gift donors.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
I plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier is by soliciting more mid-range and/or individual donors, who already support the organization. I would maybe even ask if they would be willing to increase gift size or if they would like to become recurring monthly donors.

This is something that stood out to me as well.I never thought to ask for more than the amount I originally had in mind. Definitely will be trying this approach.

Everything is fine! The course is positive

The most difficult part of fundraising is writing a personlised letter to donors.

This is true

Making the ask is a difficult part of Fundraising (at least for me). I have been practicing and I am starting to see great results. I guess my problem was self confidence.

The most anxious part of fundraising for me is always asking people for the money. It's not setting up meetings or talking to people because I love to do that. It's something about the topic of money, and in my head maybe I see it as taking someone else's resource away where it makes me feel bad/guilty for asking the question.

However, I'm working on getting past this and not feeling guilty for doing my job. If they can't, they'll say no, and if they say yes, great! I know they wouldn't give it to me unless they were able to. Plus like this module said, "No," really might just mean "Maybe later."

1. the most challenging aspect is asking for money. All the time I feel like I`m going to ask this money just for myself and feel a bit anxious what people think about me at that momemnt.
2. I think I just need to be confident. Nobody is going to blame me in something, they just can say no.

For me the most anxious or challenge is asking money to donors, to overcome this challenge , before asking money, first we must get and establish contacts with donors. We should know their interest and be ensured that it matches with our programme.

1. Understanding donor requirements and warming up to them are most challenging to me. Given the dynamic global context, donor priorities are shifting. Again, it is often difficult to match donor’s requirements with available features of the organisation.
2. Stakeholder relationship management using dynamic tools like Salesforce.

wanting to make money the centre of the talk and preoccupied with a YES answer than merely asking for opportunities and money coming out from such conversations in due course. I think as part of asking, stating with calls or appointnments and learning more of their profile and advise on tapping funds while talking less of myself is a great lesson.

For me, approaching larger, existing donors would be difficult as their expectations will be high for the level of treatment they expect; however, now I know some tips of how to relate to donors and tap into their "moral objectives" to encourage a donation.

In my personal opinion it boils down to whether the donor you approach suits the purpose you're seeking funds for I think that is vital. Once that's established the rest falls in place I have no problem making the ask

This right here. It's like the higher the donor's profile is the more complicated it gets. I also approached a high profile donor and while he was willing to give support he had a raft of conditions that I felt would be difficult for my organization to fulfill I unfortunately had to cease engagement with him. It can be hard!

The hardest part for me is to turn the conversation from what we are planning to do into the actual ask. To help with this anxiety I plan to make a short script to help with this transition.

this module really helped eased my anxiety and i am positive that i will effect the knowledge i got

i think the most difficult part will be transitioning from the general discussions to asking proper

the most challenging aspect of fundraising is it seems daunting to ask people, and the nervousness

The most challenging part for me is making the ask.
In my organisation all I do is write proposal but now I have a better knowledge on how to fund raise properly.

Very true im encourage too

@Allissa said in Module 2 Discussion: Making the Ask, Thanking the Donor, Reducing Anxiety:

The hardest part for me is to turn the conversation from what we are planning to do into the actual ask. To help with this anxiety I plan to make a short script to help with this transition.

That's the same challenge I faced but the training has enlightened me.

INTRESTING

1. The most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising is waiting for their response hoping that it will be positive and writting your response in detail. The reason is because you need to streach your brain in other to write what will really convince your donor
   2.the easiest way on how to make it work is to see donor one on one

I agree with your approach for individual donors. Having the time and the interest in making a personal relationship is the hardest part for me when it is someone I don't know at all. I am a shy person, but I believe deeply in my cause.

Having the time and the interest in making a personal relationship is the hardest part for me when it is someone I don't know at all. I am a shy person, but I believe deeply in my cause which motivates me. Learning helps to reduce my anxiety.

Asking for money is the most stressful part, as this even from personal experience, someone coming up and asking for monetary aid, sounds different alarms in your system.

5 anxiety topic were really opned the eyes of the introverts like me

1] What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising ,and why?
The first contact and waiting their response .I don"t like no"s but understand that you will get a lot of no"s before a yes.
2] What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work.
To make it easier for myself i did a lot of reading how to except rejection and how to turn it into a positive .Firstly a no doesn't mend never it just mend just not now.I also realize it is a numbers game. The more people you contact the quicker you will get to your yeses.

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1. The most challenging aspect of fundraising is my client rejecting me

I agree with your aproach .The discusion help me to think out of the box

The most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising is the first contact with the donors. To manage that, it is very important to be well prepared (informations about the donors, ngo materials prepared, communication skills...)

The most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising is the first contact with the donors. To manage that, it is very important to be well prepared (informations about the donors, ngo materials prepared, communication skills...)

The most challenging part in fundraising for me was on transitioning to asking for support e.g. money because I feared rejection. However, with time I have mastered some confidence to deal with fear. in this course, I have also learned that a 'no' answer means to come back next time and that I need to know the donor's interest and merge it with my organization's goals.

master some courage and persue fundraising objectively. experience also is the best teacher. make a step

1. The most challenging aspect of fundraising for me is asking for a donation. The reason is that one can never really know how the potential donor will react ahead of time; he/she may donate or may refuse to donate.

2. One way through which I plan to make this challenge easier is by winning over the potential donor through active listening

Asking for money.
I think I will need to build a relationship and let the donor build interest in our organisation.

That's a perfect approach

That's a perfect approach

The idea of scheduling for a meeting with prospective donors. What to discuss and paying attention to their interest will be a bit challenging. Also the fear of being town down with my request will very challenging as I will feel very disappointed.

That's truth, experience will also equip one to be able to move forward. Am looking forward to having this experience in my organisation as resources Mobilization Officer.

am very interested

am very interested

The most anxious is when i got some question about my organization's program. I'm afraid if i say something that will change their mind from "okay, i want to be part of their program" to "ugh, no. we are in a different path". I tried to make sure that the partner that i meet has a same view as us

I have learned to be more confident when asking my donors and how to thank them

The biggest problem facing was to listen to the donors

Yes it was challenging and it was also a great achievement.

Yes it was challenging and it was also a great achievement.

the topic was very interesting and covered the core of donor fundraising.

For me transitioning to making the ask is a moment of anxiety for me. But with what I have learned I can pitch in a question pertaining to subject concerning my organisation like, do u know about our recent initiatives for our beneficiaries?
How do you think we can improve on them Then? Then I can make the ask.

My understanding here is that, one need to outline the issues behind your fundraising

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?

It's convincing the prospect to make the payment on the spot.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?

To make sure I have good practice in handling objections when the prospects voices out a concern on donating immediately.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
The part where we will need to ask them for the card details and convince them that we are real and calling from the organization itself whenever we call them.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?

Send them a verification email with the info that i am not a scams and answering all their question accordingly in a good tone to make sure they are comfortable.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?

It's convincing the prospect to make the payment on the spot.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?

To make sure I have good practice in handling objections when the prospects voices out a concern on donating immediately.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
Answer: The donor's response to my email would be the most anxious aspect of fundraising. The reason being due to rejection and how can I turnover that without being pushy.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
Answer: To not overthink. Handle it with calm mindset and definitely, be direct and give clear explanation of the initiative I am doing so the donor have the clear view.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
Answer: Approaching donor and getting their attention for me to share more.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
Answer: Build rapport with donor in understanding their interest on charities involvement. With that it will facilitate my end to approach them on their interest.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
Getting the donors to be a donor. Converting the no to a yes.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
To be strong in my objection handling. Giving them the certainty that this is a worth while cause to engaged in.
Having my facts in at my finger tips.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
To get member to get connected and focused when I read the script.
because sometimes, i feel that it takes up the time of the donor.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?

I will try to make the member to interact and get connected in the subject.
I will be able to know that they are in connection with me.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
The most anxious is definitely the ask and the most challenging is handling donors who do not give an outright 'no' but say they want to think about it without agreeing to a call back.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
I meet this challenge by following up with an email brochure with a link to the campaign site and proactively letting them know that I will check in on a scheduled time to clarify doubts.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?

• The ask and to retain an existing Donor is very challenging. As Members might have various reasons to stop at the moment or for not to come onboard - we have to learn to handle different responses accordingly.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?

• Depending on the reasons given from the above mentioned situation, we learn to empathize and to have a view from the member's point of view as well. And we will compile all suggestions to help resolve their reasons.

1: What to you is the most anxious or challenging aspect of fundraising, and why?
a) I believe that object handling is the most challenging part of the fundraising.

2: What is one way you have made or plan to make this aspect of fundraising easier in your work?
B) I believe we need to have a good rapport with members to make fundraising easier. If donors response it means they are engaged.

Asking for the appointment, and transitioning into an ask have been the two most challenging parts.

new prospect is new adventure, need to understand is interest and know how he react it is an anxious period