Asking

It ranks right up there with public speaking. Nearly all of us fear it. And yet it is critical to our success. Asking for money. It makes even the stout-hearted cower. But now comes a new book, Asking: A 59-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Staff and Volunteers Must Know to Secure the Gift. And short of a medical prescription, it's the next best thing for emboldening you, your board members and volunteers to ask with skill, finesse . and powerful results. Jerold Panas, who as a staff person, board member and volunteer has secured gifts ranging from $50 to $50 million, understands the art of asking perhaps better than anyone in America. He knows what makes donors tick, he's intimately familiar with the anxieties of board members, and he fully understands the frustrations and exigencies of staff. He has harnessed all of this knowledge and experience and produced what many have called a landmark book. What Asking convincingly shows - and one reason staff will applaud the book and board members will devour it - is that it doesn't take stellar communication skills to be an effective asker. Nearly everyone, regardless of their persuasive ability, can become an effective fundraiser if they follow a few step-by-step guidelines. You have to know your cause, of course, and be committed to it. But, nearly as important, you have to know how to get the appointment, how to present your case, how to read your donor's words, how to handle objections, how to phrase your request, and even what behaviors to avoid. Panas mines all of this territory, and because he speaks directly from his heart to the heart of board members, staff, and volunteers, the advice is authentic, credible, and ultimately inspiring. Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to the book is simply to say that any board member who doesn't read Asking is at a serious disadvantage to those who do.