A gentleman approaches a Jewish guy sitting in a bar and
says, “I really want to become a Jew - how do I join?” The Jewish guy says, “Raise
your right hand and repeat after me…. I pledge…” “Welcome” says the Jew. “You
are now a member!” (Stephen J. Savitsky)
To pledge…pledging… getting pledges… to be frank, if someone
came up to me and said if you pledge right here right now, you could change the
world. I would awkwardly stare back at them, wait a few seconds and say,
“you’re nuts!”
The topic of pledging surfaced in the Philanthropists Panel
of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Jewish Philanthropy
Conference, and Jeff Miller, (a partner at GGFL and an experienced canvasser in the Jewish community) said, “It is just as
important to ask as it is to give.” The problem is people are bad at asking. They
are socially awkward, afraid, and uneducated about the cause. And whose fault
is that? It is ours, the charities, whose responsibly is to teach our
canvassers the means to be successful when we send them out into the wild to
make the ask. To ask someone to give money or time to a cause is an art, which
is why some of the most innovative asks in the past few years have been
electronic.
On Valentine’s Day I got an email from an animal charity
that read, “Send a kiss to a friend today and help save my species from
extinction.” This came out of a small
frog’s mouth with red lips jumping around to carnival music. Quirky yes, but brilliant
at the same time. This particular campaign raised a huge amount of money from the
largest amount of first time donors. The ask was clear, the diva frog conveyed
a direct action for donors to give a small gift, and in return you got to send
someone a smooch! Simple. Effective. Direct.
It is now common for charities to create these online asking
methods that eliminate the person-to-person connection. However, the beauty of philanthropy
is the relationships you get to build with the people who are giving you their
hard-earned cash. Creating electronic relationships might work for one-offs,
but I can promise you that you are not going to get a major gift from watching
frogs make-out.
Making a pledge and asking for a pledge are the bricks and
mortar of fundraising. It is our responsibility as fundraisers to teach our volunteers
to become experts at this. Some companies in the corporate world have mastered
a little thing called customer service. The human-to-human connection which
leads to the more successful pledge all comes down to solid customer service etiquette.
When I call charity offices, typically no one answers and the
directory never has the direct line to whom I want to speak. Usually, the only time I can put a face to a
charity is when I get canvassed on the street by someone from an international
aid organization asking me if I have ever heard of them. Since they are usually
one of the top three charities in the world, it just doesn't make sense that
they ask if I have heard of them. Maybe they should start by asking, “Do you
want to save a life today?” The point is that these people are the face of the
charity. They make the initial ask, and if this ask isn't made with the
greatest amount of delicacy and prestige, this person will be turned off of
this organization forever.
Something is wrong with this picture. Charities that are
asking for something and getting nothing in return need to put a lot more
effort into their customer service. If we put the charities’ upper level
professionals as the first point of contact in an office versus the underpaid
summer student, the donor centric-model might actually come into play. Returning
donors might start to feel appreciated and new donors will get a positive first
impression.
AFP titled this initiative the Diversity to Inclusion Series. Another beauty about philanthropy is
that the charitable sector is enormously diverse. There are millions of causes toward
which people feel an affiliation, and there are endless opportunities for one to
give back. At these conferences, which are based on the philanthropic traditions
and interests of diverse communities in Ontario, we get to see, hear and feel
the differences amongst ourselves as well as the similarities, but also how we
can include each other in the overall theme of tikun olam, repairing the world.
Diversity to Inclusion Series: Jewish Philanthropy Conference
AFP- Association of Fundraising Professionals
June 3, 2013
Ottawa
