The ultimate goal of any fundraiser is to find the ‘the optimum ask’ - a gift that stretches the donor, but doesn’t break the spell.
In the quest for this optimum amount, there are lots of ways you can calculate it, for example:
· The ‘0.5-1% of their estimated wealth’ rule of thumb
· Basing it on previous giving - to you and similar sized causes
· Or looking at the giving of their comparable peers
All of these are brilliant ways to assess your ‘ballpark’. BUT none of these are going to find you that magical, aspirational ask that’s the maximum gift they would consider.
Every fundraiser has their stories of asking for what they thought was the right amount only to get an easy yes and realise they should have asked for double. Or of pitching it so high that the ask can’t be rescued and they walk away with nothing.
The truth is that you’re never going to get it exactly right without mind-reading. So, if this is information that only the donor knows, might we try asking them…?
For the last few years, I’ve been coaching fundraisers to (sort of) do just that: I call it the aspirational ask.
THE ASPIRATIONAL ASK
Share the size of the need, the scope of your ambition, and ask them how much of it they’d like to make possible. Do not ask for a specific amount.
How does it work??
If you want to enable 200 young people to (add cause here!) through offering bursaries of £1k, you have 2 options:
1. Prescriptive, standard ask:
“Can you fund X life-changing bursaries?” where you have determined, through a number of calculations, what the X should be.
2. Aspirational ask:
You, the fundraiser, paint a picture and let them place themselves in it:
“We want to transform opportunities for 200 young people this year. Each bursary costs £1k. I’m speaking to the small core of people like you who really get our work and I’m asking each of you how many of those 200 transformations you’d personally like to make possible.”
They then offer any number up to 200. Most of the fundraisers I have coached to use this method report that it significantly increased the gift size their usual prescriptive, comfortable ask would have raised. But without any of the danger of an over-ask.
The risks of the aspirational ask
The biggest risk is that they under-offer, suggesting a mid-level, not major, gift.
The best way to guard against this is to paint a clear picture of your vision in your ask, for example “I want to find 5-10 families to take the bursary programme to this scale.” This makes it clear that you’re not looking for 5 of 200.
But if you use this method and still get an offer that’s smaller than the minimum you wanted, here’s what you do:
· First things first, remember to be grateful and not show you’re disappointed!
· Secondly, say “As you can tell, we are incredibly ambitious for our bursary programme, but I don’t have a list of 40 families who might each give 5 bursaries. Are there other families who you think would like to join you in making this possible?”
OR
· If it feels possible, you could say “As you can tell, we are incredibly ambitious for this bursary programme, but I don’t have a list of 40 families who might each give 5 bursaries. Would you consider giving even more bursaries and influencing some other families to do the same?”
It takes confidence and a leap of faith to not prescribe the amount; to not ask for something in a known comfort zone. My advice is to try it with an existing donor first - someone who is ready to step up their support.
For the fundraisers I coach, those who have tried this approach are surprised by the increased gift size and predominantly use this approach now. They are thrilled to be untethered from prescriptive asks; from the pressure to mind-read!
Give it a go; show your donors the scale of your vision to improve lives and let them suggest the size of the role they want in it.
I really look forward to hearing how it works for you…!
Ilana Jackman is a fundraising Coach & consultant, working with charities across the sector to support them to raise even more money to do even more good. To talk about your alumni participation rates or any other fundraising challenge, email Ilana at ilana@ilanajackman.com