I got pretty passionate about last week’s blog post about not getting “entitled.” I equally passionate about Fundraising Secret #4: you’re not begging!

Let me repeat that: YOU’RE NOT BEGGING.

Fundraisers are not panhandlers. Beggars take money from anyone they can. We don’t. We have gift acceptance policies and ethical guidelines that inform who we accept money from and how.

We’re change agents. We are not expendable. Without funds, our organizations wouldn’t function.

Fundraising is one of the best occupations in the world. We’re helping people connect what they do every day in their job with their passion, desires, and interests. We’re actively involved in helping people gain a healthy perspective on their life and their possessions. Our job is to help move people from “making a living” to “making a life.”

We’re building peoples dreams:

• dreams of the people that employ us,
• dreams of the people we serve, and
• dreams of the societies that create the space to dream those dreams.

We’re spreaders of good news and light. Primetime news may tell us all the bad things happening, but we get to trumpet all the great things happening in our communities.

Each of our causes are worthy of investment. And there are people wanting to give to causes like ours.

Why wouldn’t we invite people to invest in the incredible things we’re doing?

So the next time someone jokes about you begging or dunning them or always having your hand out, be polite on the outside, smile and say something like, “I never miss an opportunity, do I?”

But on the inside scream “I’M NOT A BEGGING!”