Author: Brian Saber

Boards & Asking Styles: A Roadmap to Success 0:00 Then asking styles, I have been in the non-profit world and fundraising my entire life. As I'm telling you just a bit of background. 0:08 If you could type in where you are listening in from today, in your position, that would be great. Or you were the director of Development, the development staff, executive director of Board members. If you could type that in the chat box along with where you are, that would be wonderful. I love to get a sense of where everyone is at. I am sure if I asked you to hear grew up, saying, I want to be a fundraiser.

Free Nonprofit Fundraising Skills Webinar: Asking Styles: A Revolutionary Concept in Fundraising 0:00 Today, I'm delighted to be here talking about the asking style. 0:04 I am a lifelong asker nonprofit person. 0:08 I did not grow up saying, I wanted to be in the nonprofit world, and certainly not a fundraiser, but I fell into it, like many of us do. I went into the nonprofit world. And the next thing, I knew someone asked me to help with a special, then, somebody asked me to help with a grant, and I became a fundraiser. 0:28 And I spent 25 years at nonprofits, either being the head fundraiser, or being the executive director. 0:35 Before developing, asking matters. Because I thought that I...

Blog post by Brian Saber We all know that asking doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. Your organization and staff have to embrace asking for donations clear across the board in order for you to develop a strong culture of asking. Think of what it would mean if you did have a culture of asking for donations. First and foremost, fundraising would stop being a dirty word! We all know that as soon as we mention the word fundraising most people cringe. Well, that isn’t going to get us anywhere, is it? Here are seven ways to shape a culture of asking and a strong fundraising future at your organization. 1) View capital campaigns as the standard During a capital campaign we invest a tremendous...

This is a guest post by Brian Saber Most fundraising professionals would prefer to do just about anything than ask someone for money face-to-face. Even for those who find it somewhat “easy,” it can be awkward and anxiety-inducing to ask for money, regardless of how good your cause is. Yet, deep down, we know asking for donations face to face for your nonprofit will end up making a huge impact… and the facts back that up. Asking in-person is proven to have the highest rate of success among all methods. Kent Dove of the Indiana University Foundation analyzed different ways of giving. Direct mail has the lowest success rate of the traditional fundraising methods –just 1-2%. Phone calls – not...

This is a guest blog post by Brian Saber, Cofounder of Asking Matters. If we think we can send board members out to fundraise without giving them tools, we might need some analysis. What are we thinking?! It’s a license for complete failure, and the proof is in the pudding. Time and again our board members fail to partner successfully with staff to develop the organization’s resources because we never show them how or provide the training. But They’re So Successful! Yes, we ask people to join our boards because we think highly of them. They might be successful businesspeople or impassioned community activists or enthusiastic volunteers. They might be articulate believers or prominent...