The Ask

Chapter 8THE ASK for Philanthropy—The Stories and the Lessons

Having worked in the wonderful field of philanthropy for over 25 years, I could have filled this entire book with my stories about asking people for charitable gifts of every size. But that would not be fair to the readers who want to know about asking for business and for everyday living. Besides, I hope you have found that this book is evenly divided into thirds, with asking advice spread throughout the topics of business, philanthropy, and everyday living.

So Close, Yet So Far

One of my very first fundraising jobs when I transitioned from civil litigation to philanthropy was working as a major gifts manager for a hospital in a very rural area. Although the hospital had a strong direct mail program, with patient and supporter mailings and a planned-giving program with supporters placing the hospital in their will or making trust and annuity gifts, it did not have a major-gift program. For this hospital, a donor in the major-gift program was defined as anyone who could make an outright gift of $1,000 or more. They hired me to create the program.

Since this was my very first major-gifts job, I was clueless as to what to do but excited to get to work. I decided to team up with the direct-mail manager at the hospital and, anytime someone made a gift of $500 or more, I asked her to go with me and visit that person. The purpose was to determine whether that person had the capacity and willingness to support the hospital ...