Tag Archives: Afghans

In the fundraising profession, the act of requesting funds from a donor is called “the ask.” When you are writing a fundraising letter and you arrive at the place where you must actually, ahem, request a donation, you have arrived at the ask. And the ask, as you probably know, is one of the toughest things to get right in fundraising.Where in the letter should you mention money? Early on in your letter you should let your reader know why you are writing. Somewhere “above the fold,” usually in the second or third paragraph, describe the reason for your letter. Here is an example:“The people of Afghanistan have already suffered 20 years of conflict and three years without rain. One and a half million are dead. Two million are disabled. And now this: the UN is predicting that “the number of Afghans facing hunger and deprivation will soon reach 7.5 million.”“Something has to give. Or someone has to give. That’s why I’m writing to you during this crisis. Will you give? You can save lives and avert disaster by sending a donation to Doctors Without Borders right now.”How much should you ask for? Ah, the perennial question. As fundraising letter expert Mal Warwick would say, “that depends.” How much money you request of each donor depends on many variables, including: size of the donor’s last gift size of the donor’s average gift amount that most organizations like yours ask for specific need that you are presenting to the donor size of your donor base donor’s capacity to give (assuming you know it) donor’s affiliation with your organization (is the donor a brand new supporter or one of your board of directors?) length of time the donor has supported you (is it one… Continue reading