Note: The following guest post from Brian Saber is adapted from his new book, Asking Styles: Revolutionize Your Fundraising. Thanks, Brian!

At Asking Matters, we developed Asking Styles to directly address the myth of the ideal, stereotypical fundraiser.

Our model is based on the concept that authenticity is central to building a relationship, and that building relationships is the key to fundraising. To be comfortable, confident, and effective, fundraisers must be true to themselves.

What’s an Asking Style?

Two characteristics define one’s Asking Style: how one interacts (introvert/extrovert) and how one thinks (analytically/intuitively). When the two characteristics are graphed, we get the four Styles: Rainmaker, Go-Getter, Kindred Spirit and Mission Controller.

The Asking Styles provide a roadmap for fundraising. They help you understand how you might interact with various donors, learn how to tell your own story, and make your case for support.

For example, intuitives aren’t likely to cite facts and figures, while analytics are unlikely to tell a heartfelt, personal story. You can imagine how extroverts and introverts need to manage their natural tendencies, especially in relationship to the personalities of their donors.

Using Asking Styles to engage your board

The Asking Styles model provides an important lens for volunteer leaders. Many trustees are serving on their first boards. For those with prior experience, most of their fundraising efforts probably involved inviting friends and associates to events or writing notes on appeal letters.

Most board members have never cultivated individuals, and even fewer have asked them face-to-face for significant gifts.

Adding to this, many trustees actively avoid fundraising because they assume (and organizations often reinforce this) that their job is to “hit up” everyone they know. To turn over their contact lists. To send invitations broadly.

They view fundraising like dental surgery – occasionally necessary, but incredibly painful. Even worse, most nonprofits give them little or no training and then send them into the world unprepared. This is a recipe for failure.

It doesn’t have to be this way. For many board members, fundraising will always be a challenge. With proper training, however, the task becomes doable and even rewarding.

Train your board using Asking Styles

If they’re going to successfully cultivate and solicit donors, board members must be trained. Education will help them understand their mindset, strengths, and challenges, and also learn best practices for building relationships. Training provides an opportunity to discuss their fears and put these fears in a better perspective.

Most importantly, it’s an opportunity to develop their personal story: their case for support.

If staff members can find it challenging to develop a strong, authentic personal case for support, imagine how hard it is for the board. Board members often feel like they don’t know enough about the organization to make the case. They’re afraid to say the wrong thing or be asked questions they can’t answer.

Helping trustees develop their personal story based on their own Asking Style can alleviate their anxiety. It will help them understand the power of authenticity, and get them past the notion that they need to know everything about your nonprofit to be great ambassadors.

Asking Styles: An exercise for your board

Here’s a great 30-minute exercise for your next board meeting. Your goal is to help board members understand the countless ways to effectively have a conversation about your nonprofit, based on personal passions and Asking Styles.

• Start by having everyone take the Asking Styles Assessment. This takes about three minutes. When done, ask them to pair up to share what they learned, then gather the full group to collect their responses and reactions.
• Have everyone write a brief answer (no more than 100 words) to the question, “Tell me about your organization.”
• Everyone reads their answers aloud.
• Discuss how each story is reflective of each board member’s Asking Style.

Over the years, I’ve worked with board members from hundreds of organizations. I’ve seen them blossom once they understand how to use their own personality to make a strong case for support. There’s always a collective sigh of relief when they learn that they don’t need to be experts on every aspect of their organization to be effective fundraisers.

Try this exercise at your next board meeting or board retreat, and watch what happens.