Article Review: Guidestar's Interview with Jerold Panas

Last month, Guidestar published a nice, short and sweet interview with Jerold Panas.  I haven't read his book, but I agreed with much of what he said in this interview.  I'm recommending it (the one page article - make your own choice about the book!) as good advice for new fundraisers and good reminders for those who've been in the trenches a while.

Things I want to highlight and restate:

1. He's got a great formulation for three factors that need to be present for a successful ask: relevancy (the mission, organization and/or project needs to be important to the donor), emotional appeal, and urgency (why give NOW?).  One of the questions I get asked a lot is how you know when to make a solicitation instead of continuing to cultivate...so here's one answer: when you know you can make a relevant, emotional, urgent ask, you're there!  
2. He doesn't use the word explicitly, but much of his advice boils down to empathy.  Can you put yourself in your donors shoes?  This is not a generalized phenomenon - we're not talking about you being able to think of several perspectives that groups of potential supporters might have...that's good too, and an extension of honing your empathic skills, but in this case we're talking about specific people.  Do you know your donor well enough to structure a great solicitation - who should make the ask, what questions will the donor ask (or not ask), how should you actually phrase "will you give me money?" Can you project yourself into this person's mind?  (Check back for future posts on building up your empathy levels - it's an incredibly useful tool, for every aspect of your life!)
3. Again, this is my word, not his, but authenticity is an incredibly important part of successful fundraising.  Jerold talks about making sure to "sing your own song."  It's true.  You need to figure out your own, authentic style - for making solicitations, but also for stewardship, cultivation, communications...and it has to be real, passionate, full of integrity and enthusiasm - authentically you.  That's not easy - for many of us, we're trying hard to be "us" in general, to find ourselves, to find balance, etc.  Adding in a quest to then translate that moving target into a professional version of ourselves is a challenge, to say the least - but it's part of life, and it's part of fundraising.