From time to time, I get asked for sample Fundraising Kicks.

Here are a couple. You’ll see that I keep them short and incredibly practical. I often give you a script or the wording for an appeal. You can see the titles of all the kicks, and sign up to get these in your inbox, over at the Fundraising Kick sign up page.

[FundraisingKick] 3 ways to diversify your asks

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Marc A. Pitman : FundraisingKick
Date: Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 10:40 PM
Subject: [FundraisingKick] 3 ways to diversify your asks

Here’s your next Fundraising Kick!

It’s the 5th week of the year–only 45 weeks left! I’m sending this Sunday night to make sure you get a jump on the week! 🙂

We’ve had some great experience in asking this month. But chances are you’ve been calling on the people that you more easily connect with.

Today, I challenge you to make a list of 8 people that are in a different category than you normally approach:
– Maybe they are people whose business success or social status intimidates you?
– Or maybe you find you connect more easily with men. This week set up visits with women.
– Or maybe you’re just asking for money from people in their 60’s. This week work on setting up visits with 5 people older that and 5 people younger.

We need our donors to come from a diverse set of background and circumstances. Invest in diversity this week.

To your fundraising success!

Marc

PS As always, I love hearing about the successes and the struggles! Let me know how it goes!

[FundraisingKick] It IS a Happy New Year!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Marc A. Pitman : FundraisingKick
Date: Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 9:05 AM
Subject: [FundraisingKick] It IS a Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Fundraising Kick!

As I promised, these emails will be short and to the point. This isn’t about teaching you…you already know what to do. This is about inspiring you to do it!

Did you block out the one hour a week like I challenged you in the last email?

Today, I challenge you to use that 1 hour to call 10 people and set up face-to-face asks.

Just keep them simple. Your conversation could go something like this:

“Hi, this is [your name].”

They’ll say “hi” and wish you a Happy New Year. Then you can say:

“It IS a Happy New Year! In fact, I’m calling to set up a time when I could tell you about a couple of cool projects we’re working on! I’d love to see if they are something you’d get involved with. Would your calendar permit you to get together for 20 minutes next Tuesday in the morning?”

I told you I’d do everything short of reaching through the phone and dialing for you, didn’t I?

Make the words your own, but do the calls. I recommend doing them in batches of 10. You will find they get much easier after calls 4 and 5.

In fact, why wait until your scheduled hour? I challenge you to do it now! Before you do anything else today.

Let me know how it goes!

To your fundraising success,

Marc

Now that you’ve seen how practical they are, head over to the Fundraising Kick sign up page to get them coming to your inbox!

After all, sometimes you just need a little kick.