The Art Of Asking

1. The Art Of Asking • Gene R. Wurth • Executive Director • American Dental Association Foundation • Dental Philanthropy Network • July 16, 2012 • Chicago, Illinois GROW 360/NPO

2. The Art Of Asking Crucial Questions for Organizational Improvement • Alternative Titles • Playing 20 Questions for Fun and Profit • Inquiring Minds Want to Know • There’s No Such Thing as a Dumb Question • (Well, maybe there is a dumb question) • (Your Suggestion Goes Here) GROW 360/NPO

3. The Art Of Asking Crucial Questions for Organizational Improvement • Alternative Titles • Playing 20 Questions for Fun and Profit • Inquiring Minds Want to Know • There’s No Such Thing as a Dumb Question • Dude, Where’s My Car? • (Your Suggestion Goes Here) GROW 360/NPO

4. The Art Of Asking • Goals for the day: • Examining our work • Tools • Tips • Challenges • Toolboxes • Case studies • Takeaways GROW 360/NPO

5. The Art Of Asking • Our Group Profile • Your Portfolio of Work – (plug in your numbers) • % of time spent on each – MAY total more than 100%!! • Membership ____% • Events ____% • Communications ____% • Fund Raising ____% • Board – care and feeding ____% • Other ____% GROW 360/NPO

6. The Art Of Asking • What are some of the challenges that come from those data? • There are many challenges in all areas, and each can be analyzed using these tools, but let’s focus on fund raising today. • The others can be topics for later presentations GROW 360/NPO

7. The Art Of Asking • What Does it Mean to “Make The Ask?” (Pease add your thoughts after each question for our discussion…) • When someone talks about “Making the Ask” what do you think they are talking about? • What is the biggest ask you have made? • Is “Making the Ask” hard to do? GROW 360/NPO

8. The Art Of Asking • What Makes It Hard? • Not knowing the answer you will get? • Not knowing enough about the prospect or his/her desires? • Not knowing how you will handle rejection? • Not knowing the answers to all of the tough questions you might get in return? GROW 360/NPO

9. The Art Of Asking • What Else? • Not believing in your mission? • Not being able to say that your board fully supports your project? • Not having answers to the hard financial questions you may get? • Not having data to explain why your request should be considered? GROW 360/NPO

10. The Art Of Asking • Valuable Tools • There are many tools at your disposal • Handbooks • Software • Conferences • Share Groups • Others GROW 360/NPO

11. The Art Of Asking The most valuable tool in your portfolio is… ?. The answer opens all doors to your success It is like a Swiss Army Knife – lots of helpful tools within a tool GROW 360/NPO

12. The Art Of Asking The most valuable tool in your portfolio is ?. ?. The answer opens all doors to your success It is like a Swiss Army Knife – lots of helpful tools within a tool GROW 360/NPO

13. The Art Of Asking • Key elements – The Basics… • Who • What • What if… • When • How • How Much • How Often • Why • Other Questions? GROW 360/NPO

14. The Art Of Asking • WHO? • Who is your donor audience? • Who is on your board? • Who are your volunteers? • Who benefits from your work? • Who needs to know about it? • constituencies • regulatory authorities • the media • the general public • Who can we work with to leverage our assets (potential partners)? GROW 360/NPO

15. The Art Of Asking • WHAT? • What is your purpose? • What can you do that no other organization can do, or do as well? • What results can you demonstrate? • What harm is done if you don’t do this work? • What is the best method to share information? GROW 360/NPO

16. The Art Of Asking • WHAT IF…? • You run out of funds? • You suddenly get $1 million? • Your Board can’t agree on your mission? • Your volunteers don’t do the work? • Your staff is confused about their role and purpose? • Some other organization is stealing your thunder - and your donors? GROW 360/NPO

17. The Art Of Asking • WHEN? • Should we get the money? • Should we start soliciting? • Should we start forming committees? • Should we start identifying volunteers? • Should we start identifying prospects? • Should we file state registrations? • Should we report to our donors? GROW 360/NPO

18. The Art Of Asking • HOW? • Do we present our case to individuals? • Do we present our case to the public? • Do we structure our campaign? • HOW MUCH? • Do we need? • Is the right amount for the donor? • HOW OFTEN? • For annual funds? • For major gifts? GROW 360/NPO

19. The Art Of Asking • WHY? • Perhaps the most important question of all!! WHY? • Why do we do what we do? • Why should a prospect want to make a gift? • Why should our volunteers want to work on this? GROW 360/NPO

20. The Art Of Asking • If your volunteer thinks he/she is ready to ask for a gift, ask him/her this question… • “If you go to your very best friend in the world and ask for $1,000 right now, what would the prospect say to you?” GROW 360/NPO

21. The Art Of Asking Why? • How would you respond? GROW 360/NPO

22. The Art Of Asking • More globally…Why do people give? • Survey says… • Of the 20 or so reasons people give, the most important is either… • Someone they know and respect asked them, or • Belief in the mission of the organization. GROW 360/NPO

23. The Art Of Asking • What about tax benefits or donor recognition? • Down on the list – tax benefit is often near the bottom. • What does that tell us about how we should frame our ask? GROW 360/NPO

24. The Art Of Asking • Why all of the emphasis on questions? • Tip 1 - Learn from the lawyers • In a trial, never ask a question for which you don’t already have the answer • In our world, never let someone ask you a question for which you don’t have an answer. GROW 360/NPO

25. The Art Of Asking • Tip 2 - Ask a LOT… and ask OFTEN • Be inquisitive… be childlike • According to “The Ultimate Book of Useless Information: • “A four-year-old child asks an average of 437questions a day.” - Tell your Board chair you are going to act like a four-year-old – see if you get a raise! • Make your work like child’s play! GROW 360/NPO

26. The Art Of Asking • Tip 2 - Ask a LOT… and ask OFTEN • Take all of these examples, and then think of more questions to ask that are specific to your situation • Try to think of questions that no one else would think of • Ask questions that you suspect the prospect / volunteer/ board member / staff member would ask GROW 360/NPO

27. The Art Of Asking • Tip 3 - Have Someone Else Ask the Questions • As staff, you may not have the status or credibility to ask tough questions to board members, prospects, etc. • Find someone they respect or take seriously. • Ask them to ask the questions you want to ask! GROW 360/NPO

28. The Art Of Asking • Now that we have identified the tools, let’s put them to work to meet some challenges… • Challenge 1 – Define Your Needs • What is your organization’s greatest need? • (Try to answer in 25 words or less) • And the answer is……… GROW 360/NPO

29. The Art Of Asking None of the Above! > Organizations don’t have needs… > People have needs. > Organizations can provide solutions to people’s needs! GROW 360/NPO

30. The Art Of Asking • So… when you have to answer WHY , think of what your organization does to address people’s needs • Give some examples now ____________ • Ask your staff and volunteers to provide answers • Make sure your board can provide answers GROW 360/NPO

31. The Art Of Asking • If you can’t provide answers, it is hard to prepare a Case for Support. • How many of you have a clear Case for Support now? • How many of your Board members can present it? • How do you prepare one? GROW 360/NPO

32. The Art Of Asking • Challenge 2 – Your Case for Support • What is the Case for Support? • What should it look like? • How do you create one? • The Critical Question to ask in Preparing a Case for Support is…… _____________________________________ (fill in the blank) GROW 360/NPO

33. The Art Of Asking • The Critical Question to ask in Preparing a Case for Support is…… A question in two parts… If we don’t do _____, who will suffer and why? Can you give examples? GROW 360/NPO

34. The Art Of Asking OREF: Our mission is to support the research – and the researchers – that will advance orthopaedic medicine in the years ahead. Case for Support: If we don’t provide the funds to identify and encourage promising young researchers now, orthopaedic surgeons will suffer for lack of better techniques, and patients will suffer from not getting the best care. GROW 360/NPO

35. The Art Of Asking • So… • you have asked a lot of questions, • you have drafted a mission statement, and • you have asked key the question to have a Case for Support. • Now you ask for a gift, and… GROW 360/NPO

36. The Art Of Asking • Challenge 3 – What if the Prospect says NO? Don’t take it personally! • A NO is really just a YES to one of four questions… (take a stab at the four questions) 1. Is it ______________? 2. Is it ______________? 3. Is it_______________? 4. Is it ______________? GROW 360/NPO

37. The Art Of Asking • Challenge 3 – What if the Prospect says NO? • A NO is really just a YES to one of four questions… (take a stab at the four questions) 1. Is it the right amount? 2. Is it ______________? 3. Is it_______________? 4. Is it ______________? GROW 360/NPO

38. The Art Of Asking • Challenge 3 – What if the Prospect says NO? • A NO is really just a YES to one of four questions… (take a stab at the four questions) 1. Is it the right amount? 2. Is it the right purpose? 3. Is it_______________? 4. Is it ______________? GROW 360/NPO

39. The Art Of Asking • Challenge 3 – What if the Prospect says NO? • A NO is really just a YES to one of four questions… (take a stab at the four questions) 1. Is it the right amount? 2. Is it the right purpose? 3. Is it the right timing? 4. Is it ______________? GROW 360/NPO

40. The Art Of Asking • Challenge 3 – What if the Prospect says NO? • A NO is really just a YES to one of four questions… (take a stab at the four questions) 1. Is it the right amount? 2. Is it the right purpose? 3. Is it the right timing? 4. Is it the right method? GROW 360/NPO

41. The Art Of Asking • Find answers to these questions and you can likely change the outcome • How do you get the answers? • You guessed it … YOU ASK the prospect! (or have someone ask for you) GROW 360/NPO

42. The Art Of Asking • By now, you are dizzy with questions • You are asking yourself why you are asking yourself questions • Tip 4 – Don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees. Know when to quit asking. • Try your answers to WHY on others; test your Case for Support. • If they are sound, move ahead! GROW 360/NPO

43. The Art Of Asking • Some simple tools to help keep on track • Ways to organize your endless questions • Try these and then devise your own • What works best for you is the key • Each of these could be the focus for a complete program of its own GROW 360/NPO

44. The Art Of Asking • Using Tool Boxes -Tool Box 1 – A View From 30,000 Feet GROW 360/NPO

45. The Art Of Asking • Using Tool Boxes -Tool Box 2 – Down on the Ground GROW 360/NPO

46. The Art Of Asking Now let’s see if we can apply a little of what we have discussed today in real- life situations Each of these is a factual case, based on my experience If we have time, let’s discuss some of YOUR case studies GROW 360/NPO

47. The Art Of Asking • Case Study 1 – “I just turned down a half million gift!” • Case Study 2 – “I’m sorry…I can’t make that $1 million gift I said I would” • Case Study 3 – “What do you mean they ‘owe it to us?’ ” GROW 360/NPO

48. The Art Of Asking • Let’s recap… • Takeaways – T3 • Tips • Toolboxes • Techniques GROW 360/NPO

49. The Art Of Asking • Tips • Tip 1 – Learn from the lawyers • Tip 2 – Be childlike - Ask a lot…and ask often • Tip 3 – Have someone else ask • Tip 4 – Know when to quit asking GROW 360/NPO

50. The Art Of Asking • Toolboxes • Tool Box 1 – The View From 30,000 Feet • Tool Box 2 – The View at Ground Level GROW 360/NPO