Power Questions That Set Up A Successful Ask

Here’s a natural, friendly and much more successful approach to closing major and capital campaign gifts. 

We are showing you a step by step approach to open up a Gift Conversation.  In addition to helping you close gifts, this also helps develop warm, easy relationships with all major gift prospects.  

It can help fundraisers build relationships where donors feel heard and understood. Relationships that build trust and credibility – and gift investments.

This approach lets the donor lead the way to the gift.  Your donor will feel entirely in control. Even more, they will never feel “presented to,” pushed or confronted.  Most of all, they are much more likely to end up with a generous major gift coming from their heart!

Discovery and Qualification Questions Lead the Way to the Gift

This approach helps you continually qualify your donor in terms of their interest. The question is always this: should you continue to invest time with them?  Or turn to another donor prospect? 

You can get this entire set of questions in a downloadable pdf by clicking here. 

Try out these conversational questions that will inspire your donor, help build their interest, and ultimately open the Gift Conversation.  

1. I’d love to know what inspired your gift.

We do a lot of explaining and sharing information with our donors. But we don’t ask donors to talk to us enough. You want to find out their “Donor Story.” 

Think of yourself as a detective. Your donor has contributed to your nonprofit for a specific reason. It’s up to you to find out why.

It may be something in their past. It may be a friend who is influencing their interest. Or, it could be something deep in their heart, part of their personal moral values.

When you discover why your major donor has made a gift, then you are able to create a deeper cultivation and stewardship experience for them.  It helps you acknowledge and thank them in a personal way that speaks to them uniquely.

2. I’d love to know your story.

Your donor probably has an amazing story to tell about why they care. 

It’s a story that may come deeply from their heart. Consider this – they would probably love to share their story. They may have a lot to say about why they support your organization.  But no one is asking!

This question helps you find out if your donor is a wildly passionate True Believer in your cause.

Just how interested or enthusiastic are they? This question helps you qualify your donor and determine if you should spend more time with them – or not.

3. May I ask, how did you come to be so generous?

We recommend this question to our clients, because it helps discover the donor’s philanthropic priorities. What do they like to support?  Where else are they involved? What are their commitments? Who else may be influencing their giving decisions?

If you want to design a successful ask, you need all this information. Again, you don’t want to assume that they are an “A” level prospect when they are really a “C” or “D” level, because they are more committed to other causes than yours.  

Most major gift prospective donors are happy to share their philanthropic vision with you and they appreciate being asked. It creates openness and trust when you discuss these issue.

Thanks to the very smart Kent Stroman’s book, Mastering the Art of Conversational Fundraising for this question.

4. May I ask what your impressions of our organization are?

Asking your donor for their “impressions” gives them a wide open door to share whatever is at the top of their mind.

What do they really think? How do they really feel about your nonprofit, your colleagues and even your own work?  Is your donor satisfied with their interactions with you? 

Asking this question is like opening a box of chocolates — you never know what you are going to get!  

You may be surprised by the answer. Only by finding out what is on your donor’s mind, will you be able to move forward in a trusting relationship that might culminate in a major gift.

5. I’d love to know what part of our work interests you most?

Now it’s time to get specific. Exactly what part of your work is your donor most passionate about? Is it the kids? Is it the whole family? Is it your service network or finances? It may even be the garden. You never know until you ask.

Many fundraisers make the mistake of assuming their donor’s area of interest – and then they are surprised when the donor says no to an ask.

Once you find out your donor’s interests, then you can help them learn more about their favorite area. You can design personalized engagement experiences that will delight them, as they get more and more involved.

Then it’s easy to simply segue into a Gift Conversation. Before you know it, you are discussing their gift and what they want to accomplish.

6. Ask for advice and input.

We highly recommend asking for advice and input.

I once asked a corporate prospect for his advice on how we should approach the business community for sponsorships. He shared with me what he thought was important.  I delivered it in a proposal the next day. And, by sharing the right information that he wanted to see, we closed his $100k sponsorship on the spot.

You can ask donors and major gift prospects:

• “How can we fund this project for the community?
• “Who should be at the table?
• “Who would be good donors to support this effort?
• “Who can open the door and make an introduction?
• “Do you think a certain donor in our community would be interested?

This engages them in the strategy part of your fundraising effort. They know so much! And they can be so very helpful.

And, when donors start offering advice and assistance, then in a way, they are feeling like they are “insiders” and they suddenly are on your team. 

7. Could you see yourself becoming more involved with our organization?

This question helps determine the true extent of your donor’s interest. Don’t assume anything – just ask.

Your donor may ask you what you mean by this, and you can mention volunteering, serving on a committee or becoming more financially involved.

This question qualifies your donor and helps you discover whether and how they might like to be involved.

Your donor will tell you what she is interested in and what she wants to do – but only if you ASK her. Again, this terrific question comes from Kent Stroman and Mastering the Art of Conversational Fundraising, which we highly recommend!

8. If you made a major gift, what would you like to accomplish?

When you have an engaged, interested donor, who has capacity – then it’s perfectly fine to ask them this question outright.

You are, in fact, a fundraiser. And your role is to facilitate your donor’s interest in giving to your organization. It’s your job. Of course you should be having discussions like this with your donor.

Again – don’t assume your donor’s interest area.

Make no mistake, they probably have a very clear notion of what they want to accomplish. You’ve been helping them learn more and more about their area of interest and they have probably been pondering this question all along.

9. Would you like to know more about how you could impact your favorite project?

This is one of our favorite questions – because it clearly opens the Ask Conversation.  One of our mottos is to “ask for permission to ask.”

We like to let the donor lead the way. If they are ready to have this discussion, they will let you know.

Typically, a donor will say, sure, I’d like to know how I could make an impact. And you can have some suggestions at hand. We like to have gift suggestions at three different levels.

For example,

“You could help 100 more kids with a gift of $xxx, or you could help expand our reach into a new city with a gift of $yyy, or you could endow this program area, and make sure this work is continued for good, with a gift of $zzz.”

Then you just sit quietly and let the donor consider this. You’re moving from the hypothetical discussion of what they might like to accomplish into something much more specific.

Pretty soon you will have closed this gift – you’ll have a happy donor and new funding for your mission!

10. Have you ever thought about doing more?

Now, you’ve develop an open trusting relationship with your donor by carefully listening to them and their preferences. Once the idea of a gift is on the table, keep listening to their ideas.

Asking this last question causes your donor to stop and think about their own financial situation, their personal interests and passions – and your organization’s work. This is the moment of truth when your donor is weighing all of this in their head.

Once, in a board workshop, I tried out these questions in a role play with a high-capacity board member who had volunteered to chat with me.  When I got to this particular question, she stopped talking, pondered a minute, looked straight at me and said, “you know, I just might want to do more.” (!!)

There we were, with the donor actively considering another gift – and we never once confronted her with a formal ask.

BOTTOM LINE: Listen Your Way to a Major Gift

Use these powerful questions to setup a wildly successful mega gift!