The ‘ask’ in any business is a form of art. Whether we’re a non-profit asking for financial donations, a entrepreneur asking for a 15-minute meeting, or a corporation seeking buy-in from employees, the ask can be detrimental or successful.
Today, I received a letter from a former parish. (One I spoke about HERE.) After spending nearly 23 years volunteering most summers and during Mass, I left the Church shortly after Ava’s baptism. I volunteer and ‘tithe’ my money elsewhere now, mainly for the National Cervical Cancer Coalition and the organizations I feel passionately about. I received an, ‘ask’ in the mail this evening. It was a typical format, (letter, newsletter and enclosed form,) but the language of the letter is what made me think of the term, “Bad Business.”
I wanted to make sure I was being fair. I read the letter out loud to a colleague, to which he stated something I cannot replicate. I then went word for word to pinpoint exactly what went wrong. The paragraph that struck me the most, started like this:
“I especially find it hard to ask people for money, but the reality is that too is part of my job. According to our records, the Hindes household did not make a pledge or any recordable contributions to the 2007 capital campaign. If you could see your way to make a $1,000 sacrificial gift, either all at once or spread out from 2-3 years you could help us become debt-free by 2013! Your parish family needs you to keep us financially healthy as we continue the work of Christ.”
Whether for corporations or organizations, the ‘ask’ needs these 3, basic, principals to be successful.
1.) Are you in active communication with those that you perceive to support you?
You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence and success. The problem is, you just don’t see them. - Jay Abraham
If you want someone to truly understand your need, you must first understand their hesitation to give. I haven’t gotten a phone call, a letter, anything from this church except for them asking for financial assistance. This, to me, is a huge issue. Business and non-profit organizations that choose to call out people for not giving you ‘recordable’ donations can leave a terrible taste in the mouth of someone who is already angry with how they are handling other elements. Though I understand that every non-profit is deeply hurting from the recession, I think a tweak could make their campaign successful. If I received a letter asking me to engage, or perhaps just simply wanting me to open a dialog about why I haven’t chosen to give, I would respond much differently. How the Church can expect everyone else to satisfy their desire to get out of debt from recent cosmetic changes while a record-breaking number of people are losing their homes? Seems off.
2.) Is this appropriate?
Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless. - Tim Blixseth
There is probably never a good time for an entity to ask it’s followers for more money, especially during these economic hardships, however; if success is planned for correctly, it will happen. Look at the messages coming from your leadership and other mailings that have gone out. Because this specific mailing directly follows the DVD campaign by the Archdiocese, I found it in bad form. Mismanagement of money is a hot issue in organizations and businesses. The fact that $1million was spent questionably in the DVD campaign might make some parishioners question why this particular Church is in debt. Timing is everything, especially when people are struggling themselves. $1k is an extreme amount of money, and one that honestly made me question the sanity of whoever wrote the letter. One thing this letter lacked, was tangibility. How much did the cosmetic and restoration projects cost? How much was financed? What is the money truly going for? If I was going to honestly want to give, I’d want to know I could make a difference, not just ‘make up’ for never giving. Maybe $250.00 helps with roof repairs, or $500.00 tells me that I’ve paid for the paint. We need tangible things, because we are human beings that want to feel that our hard-earned money is appreciated.
3.) Can I see the human need to support, or appreciate the concern of the ‘ask’?
The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have many fathers, failures have none. - Phillip Caldwell
Bare bones, it’s more than the want to be appreciated, more than tangibility or timing or partnership. Quite simply put, we need to ask ourselves, “does this truly make sense?” As a mother, I have to keep the word, “no!” in check, constantly. I pick my battles and I try to reaffirm. As a manager, I use positivity instead of a hand-holding mentality to take away the word, ‘enforce,’ and insert, ‘empower.’ Great campaigns, function the same way. We need to keep our ideas, communication and actions in check so we don’t disassociate ourselves from the overall vision. Humans, have an ego. Successful companies and organizations remember that locks cannot be opened without first inserting a key and stroking the ego of it’s public. This is especially true for business. When a leader is asking of his or her followers, it’s very important to recognize and appreciate them for who they are. Buy-in only happens when individuality and mutual respect is clearly in place. Without those two, resentment and a feeling of being left out can thrive. To gain my support, I must first believe that the need truly exists and other sources have been exhausted. Otherwise? I’d be one of many people, who gave and never felt ‘special’ or ‘unique.’
It all comes down to this: “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year.” - John Foster.
