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A person’s hand giving a thumbs-down gesture in front of a dark chalkboard background with large white text that reads “When Your Donor Says No” and a smaller Bible reference “Luke 14:16–18.”
Fundraising Verse of the Week

When Your Donor Says No

by Ron Haas
October 6, 2025

Jesus replied: A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses (Luke 14:16-18).

Stanley Weinstein opined, “Successful fundraising is the right person asking the right prospect for the right amount for the right project at the right time in the right way.” When donors reject your invitation to partner with you, something is off in the fundraising equation. You need to discover the underlying reasons. Consider these giving variables:

Wrong Asker
The number one reason people give is because of who asks. Assign the right person to solicit your prospect. Choose someone your prospect is comfortable with and will have the greatest likelihood for success. Be humble and realize that you might not be the best choice.

Wrong Prospect
Some nonprofit organizations have broad donor appeal because they serve a wide constituency. Ask yourself why would someone consider giving to your ministry? Your prospective donor must have some connection—the closer the better. However, any solicitation is a nonstarter if your mission doesn’t align with your prospective donor’s values.

Wrong Project
Everyone has giving motivations and interests. Some love education. Some have compassion to care for the poor and needy. Some only give to international missions. Donors reject our proposals because we haven’t listened. Gifts grow in size and frequency when you align with your donors’ hearts.

Wrong Time
A donor might support your mission and your specific project, but still not give because of timing issues. Be flexible and offer giving options. Could they give a small gift now to show their support for the project, and give the balance of their pledge later?

Wrong Amount
A large request should never be a surprise. Active listening will help you identify the right gift range. There is no exact science for determining what to ask. What has your donor given in the past? If you are asking for an annual gift, you can ask 2 to 10 times over their previous gift. If you are asking for a capital campaign commitment, you can stretch them 10 to 25 times their annual gift.

Wrong Way
A major donor shared that in the past few years she has been getting phone calls, letters, and personal visits from ministry directors and development staff who literally demand that she give a gift to their organization. They don’t ask, “Would you consider a gift of $50,000?” or “Would you pray about giving a gift of $100,000?” Their actual words are, “You must give a gift of $250,000 to this project.” That’s not biblical boldness; it’s just plain rude.

Think About This: The man in the parable of the banquet wasn’t deterred by those who rejected his invitation. Instead, he instructed his servant to, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full” (Luke 14:23). When your prospects say no, keep asking until others say yes!

Response: Father, forgive me for being discouraged when donors reject my ask. Help me discern what went wrong so I can hear a “yes!”

A sharpened axe embedded in a tree stump outdoors, with blurred trees and greenery in the background, accompanied by the words “Sharper Fundraising” and “Ecclesiastes 10:10” in bold white text on the right side.
Fundraising Verse of the Week

Sharper Fundraising

by Ron Haas
August 12, 2025

“If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success” (Ecclesiastes 10:10).

Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” Solomon and Abe understood the value of sharp tools. If your ax is dull, it takes much more time and energy to accomplish your task. This principle applies directly to fundraising. You can work hard but success comes to those who have sharpened their skills. Here are five ways to hone your fundraising edge.

Learn on the Job
God called Isaiah to become a prophet, “Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword” (Isa. 49:1-2). Isaiah didn’t go to prophet’s school, God put his words in Isaiah’s mouth. If God has called you to fundraising, he will teach you what to say and how to say it (see Matt. 10:19-20).

Read a Book
Libraries are filled with great fundraising books and articles. Immerse yourself in Scripture so you can encourage donors, “to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:18). Henry Nouwen’s classic, The Spirituality of Fundraising, will help you see asking and giving as acts of faith with eternal value.

Take a Class
There are many educational degrees, certificates, and informal workshops available for fundraising. One option to consider is the Certified Christian Nonprofit Leader (CCNL) program from Christian Leadership Alliance. The training covers all aspects of leadership with a third of the required courses focused on fundraising.

Find a Friend
Fundraising is a high pressure job. Praise the Lord if you have a supportive board who actively participates in your fundraising efforts. If you feel alone, you need a fundraising friend with whom you can pray, share ideas, and encourage one another. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” (Prov. 27:17). Find a mentor and learn from their fundraising success.

Hire Help
Solomon didn’t have the skilled workers he needed to build the Temple, so he turned to Hiram for help. “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.” (1 Kings 5:6). Solomon was wise to seek help in areas where he had no experience. Cutting down trees takes wisdom, skill, and insights that only come from experience. If you’ve never asked for money, hire an expert who can show you how to ask. It’s money well spent that will yield lasting results.

Think About This: Asking is a skill you learn by doing. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Sharpen your message by rehearsing your presentation with a friend or in a small group.

Response: Lord, please sharpen my fundraising skills. Make me “useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work” (2 Tim. 2:21).

An image featuring a barren, cracked desert landscape under a clear blue sky. The text on the image reads, "Beware of the boasting donor" in large, bold lettering, with "Proverbs 25:14" written below in smaller text. The design conveys a cautionary and reflective
Fundraising Verse of the Week

Beware of the Boasting Donor

by Ron Haas
January 22, 2025

“Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given” (Proverbs 25:14).

Occasionally, you meet a major donor who checks all your qualifying boxes. They have a link to your organization. They are interested in your projects and they seem to have the ability and willingness to give. They even talk about how much they love your ministry—yet they never give. Solomon illustrates this person as “a cloud without rain.” This prospect gives you hope for a refreshing gift but never delivers. Texans describe this person as, “All hat but no cattle.” This potential donor is full of big talk but lacks action. Unfortunately, he or she is a pretender.

How can you identify and avoid this non-giver? Following Solomon’s warning about boastful behavior, James describes four distinct ways pride manifests itself in people’s speech (James 4:13-16).

Success
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money’” (James 4:13). Boasters have big ideas and big plans. They think they control their calendars, travels, businesses, and profits but they fail to realize that they don’t control anything. The Lord blesses a person with “the ability to produce wealth” (Deut. 8:18).

Strength
Arrogant people think they will live forever. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). The rich farmer decided to build bigger barns to store his surplus grain. Giving some of his bounty to others didn’t even cross his mind. Little did he realize that his life would be demanded from him that night (Luke 12:17-20). “Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20).

Self
“Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). People who are filled with pride don’t have room in their vocabulary for God or his will. They are too focused on their plans and never ask the Lord what he would have them do. Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Schemes
“As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:16). Jim was a very successful entrepreneur who talked of giving “big.” He was always chasing the next deal and needed all his cash to make it happen. He made several promises to give even more when the next deal closed but he never gave. Paul taught, “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have” (2 Cor. 8:12).

Think About This: James makes a sobering conclusion, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17). The person who boasts of a gift never given is sinning.

Response: Lord, please give me insight to hear if my donor’s heart is focused on your will or their own. Give me wisdom to challenge this type of donor in truth and love about their gift commitment.

Silhouette of two hikers helping each other on a mountain at sunset, with text "FEARLESS FUNDRAISING" and "1 Corinthians 2:3".
Fundraising Verse of the Week

Fearless Fundraising

by Ron Haas
November 27, 2024

“I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.” (1 Corinthians 2:3)

We have an image of a courageous Apostle Paul boldly preaching about the Unknown God to the Greeks in Athens (Acts 17:16-33), or casting out a demon from a young fortune-telling girl triggering a riot which lead to his beating and landed him in prison (Acts 16:16-24), or causing a riot in Ephesus for preaching the Good News (Acts 19:23-41), or standing firm for his faith before King Agrippa (Acts 26). But there’s another side to Paul’s ministry—he came to Corinth in weakness, great fear, and trembling. Some people saw Paul as timid, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing” (2 Cor. 10:10). Those who underestimated Paul as a messenger failed to realize the power of his message. Do you approach your major gift donor meetings with weakness, great fear, and trembling?

Weakness
Paul embraced weakness. In fact, he “delighted in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:10) because he wanted Christ’s power to rest on him. The Corinthians prided themselves in their wisdom (1 Cor. 3:18-20), but Paul chose the opposite approach. He did not use eloquence, human wisdom, or persuasive words. Rather, he wanted his message to demonstrate the Spirit’s power. If you approach your major donor meetings with pride and overconfidence, you might not get the response you desire. Don’t trust your fancy brochure, professional video, scripted presentation, or winsome personality. Humbly share your need and ask your donor to consider partnering with you. Then trust the Spirit to move in their heart.

Fear
Fear is a debilitating emotion. Some are vexed with acrophobia (fear of heights), arachnophobia (fear of spiders), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) or the dreaded coulrophobia (fear of clowns). Some ministry leaders suffer from the fear of asking because they are afraid the donor will say no. They falsely believe if a donor declines to give, the donor is rejecting them. This perspective is rooted in pride. It’s not about you. It’s about your ministry and the people you serve. Boost up your courage and ask.

Trembling
Major donors might intimidate you and cause you to get tongue-tied. Paul’s reliance on the Spirit, kept him from shaking in his boots. His trembling turned to confidence as he proclaimed God’s message through God’s power (1 Cor. 2:4). Ezra’s enemies tried to intimidate him from completing God’s mission but, “Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord” (Ezra 3:3). Your best response to anxiety is to keep meeting with donors, keep sharing your ministry stories with confidence, and keep asking.

Think About This: Jerry Panas, the godfather of fundraising, advised, “Asking for a gift shouldn’t set your knees trembling. Asking isn’t selling. It isn’t razzle dazzle or persuading people to do something they don’t want to do. People want to invest in great causes. They want to feel they’re helping to change lives. It’s your job to help them understand how their money can make things happen.”

Response: Lord, please give me confidence to approach my ministry partners in humility and love. Help me ask boldly!

The image shows two hands outstretched, with block letters within them forming the word "give". Text reading "#GivingTuesday" appears to the right of the hands.
Fundraising, Donation Approach

A Simple Guide for a Productive Giving Tuesday – Part 1

by Jon Helder
November 4, 2024

It’s that time of year again. Fundraising events are in full swing, year-end appeals are being drafted, and nonprofit professionals everywhere are working tirelessly to boost their year-end fundraising. In the midst of this chaos, a well-intentioned colleague or board member is usually bound to ask “So, what are your plans for Giving Tuesday?” No matter how you feel about Giving Tuesday, there is no question that its popularity is growing and simply ignoring it is likely to the detriment of your organization. However, engaging in a Giving Tuesday campaign doesn’t have to complicated, expensive, or disproportionately time consuming. In this article, we’ll discuss how to target the ideal audience and choose the best tools to leverage for your campaign. Next time, we’ll lay out a simple communications plan and ways your organization can incentivize donors to give.

The Audience

As my Marketing 101 professor always said, “it’s all about the who.” As with any fundraising/marketing communication, you must identify “who” you are targeting. When you understand “who,” you can customize and cater your communications content and mode to reach them. A great article about this topic is Donor Insights You Need to Know for Giving Tuesday. In short, the research shows that your Giving Tuesday donors are not your average year-end giver. The best strategy is to remove your top year-end donors from your Giving Tuesday campaign communications. You don’t want to encourage them to give a smaller amount than they would have given otherwise (aka “tipping”) or, at the very least, you don’t want to needlessly send them another solicitation.  Likewise, your Giving Tuesday crowd likely won’t respond as well to a highly personalized year end mailer if they have never given to you via check. It is more effective to treat each group as their own segment.

Here are some helpful suggestions on whom to include/exclude from your Giving Tuesday segment:

Include

  • Individuals who are active on your organization’s social media and email marketing platforms
  • Their average gift is $100 or less
  • Given to past online campaigns
  • Given via credit card or EFT

Exclude ***

  • History of giving in the last week of the calendar year
  • Individuals who have never given online (only check or cash) and whose average gift is $250+
  • Individuals who have given for the first time in the last month
  • Individuals who have given a gift of $250 or more in the last 2 months

The Tools

Now that you have your audience, the next step is to use your best internal tools to reach that group. In general, your tools or “mode of communication” tends to produce a parallel response. For example, paper mailers will produce paper responses (i.e., checks/cash in the mail). Digital tools, like social media and email marketing, tend to produce likes, shares, and hopefully, an online donation. Since Giving Tuesday is primarily celebrated digitally, your focus should be to raise online donations through digital tools:

Email Marketing (Mailchimp, Hubspot, Constant Contact, etc.)

Outside of direct mail, most organizations use some form of mass email communications to reach their community. Aside from being significantly cheaper, email marketing tools enable nonprofits to see the level of engagement from each contact which in turn allows nonprofits to focus content to the recipient. In fact, individuals who are the most engaged with your organizations email campaigns are likely your best prospects, your most committed donors, and your best audience for Giving Tuesday. Importantly, it has been shown that email marketing far out paces social media with regards to conversion rates (the number of donations that result per ask) and return on investment (dollar raised per dollar spent). In an ideal world, your Donor CRM would integrate with your email marketing software so that you could easily identify and pull out the “excluded” people above. If your CRM doesn’t, I would highly suggest running a list of your top YE donors from your CRM and simply tagging those individuals in your email marketing software. That will allow you to pull those profiles out of the campaign emails.

Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snackbuzz, etc.)

There are so many platforms these days that it can be hard to keep up. Case in point, when you read “Snackbuzz” above, did it spark a bit of terror in you? Don’t worry, I made that one up. ? Regardless, the constant steam of applications like LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc. can cause many nonprofit professionals to throw their hands in the air in frustration. Although understandable, based on the number of millennials and older that use it (who also have greatest giving capacity) Facebook is currently the best social media site for your organization to invest its resources. If for some reason your mission lends well to visual imagery (schools, international organizations, animal shelters, etc.), Instagram can also be a worthwhile site for increasing engagement and awareness of the organization. While your Giving Tuesday campaign should include social media, social media is more important for promoting the campaign. Email Marketing will have a greater conversion rate.

Direct Mail?

While some organizations use direct mail as part of their Giving Tuesday campaign, I’m not convinced that the investment in time and resources for a specific Giving Tuesday mailing is worthwhile. You would be further ahead to use those resources for your year-end appeal that will reach everyone we “excluded” above. If you need some content for your fall newsletter, it would be fine to feature a “save the date” style announcement. However, it’s not too effective to seek a digital response from a paper-based communication.

Join us for our next article where we’ll share a quick and actionable Giving Tuesday campaign communications plan.

*** While you may not exclude these types of donors from your Giving Tuesday communications, one of these donors could provide a helpful boost to your campaign. More on that next time… 🙂

About the Author: Jonathan Helder, CFRE, ECRF, Consultant

With over a decade of proven fundraising experience and a love for data, Jonathan is blessed to serve nonprofits and help bolster their impact on the community. Jon enjoys helping ministries implement data-based strategies and tools to improve fundraising and organizational effectiveness. Jonathan has written articles as well as presented to local and national organizations including the Association of Fundraising Professionals (West Michigan), Do More Good, Nonprofit Hub and the Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance.

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