What's wrong with asking donors to give?
To hear some people in our industry, there's plenty wrong with it.
If you are struggling with the idea of asking, it's might be time to rethink your career choice.
Fundraising is beautiful ... because giving is beautiful. When you embrace this truth, you are on a path to mastering this strange work we do.
Check out this important post on the Veritus Group Blog, Serving Your Donors Means Asking:
What you do as a fundraiser is this: in one hand you take a need in the world and with the other hand, you bring a donor who has a passion to address that need – then you help these two to come together.... Fundraising is about love. That needs to be part of your heart and soul. If you have that, you're always compelled to ask.
Some fundraisers feel guilty because they think fundraising takes something away from donors.
Some feel embarrassed or debased by having to go to donors and ask. They think they are simply entitled to support.
Worst of all is the strange belief that somehow donors are the enemy, that they are using our causes for their own unhealthy reasons, and that fundraising just enables that.
Why would anyone tolerate participating in a system if you believed any of those things? It must be utterly demoralizing every single day.
And it guarantees poor results.
It must be like a hamster trying to run in a wheel that won't even turn.
Fundraising is about love.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 30 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you'll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com. 
