The Influential Nonprofit: Episode 132: Luke Emerson: Tips For Growing Your Fundraising Skillset
Luke brings 25+ years of expertise from top companies like Procter & Gamble and AstraZeneca to the University of Rochester. As Assistant VP overseeing Domestic and International major gift fundraising, he drives impactful results. In his free time, Luke's passion extends to Tips4People.com, a video micro-learning hub empowering small nonprofits with concise, high-quality actionable tips for positive change.
Listening is the key to being an effective fundraiser. You have to listen to what your donors are saying so that you can hone in on the impact that they want to have. You don’t have to pitch or sell, you just have to listen and connect.
Webinars and courses may take 45 minutes and contain a lot of great information, but usually, there are only two or three nuggets within the webinar. If we condense those nuggets and package them into bite-sized and actionable clips we can save people time and have them apply the lesson faster.
Condensed and curated information that’s relevant and valuable is a huge advantage for nonprofit leaders and teams considering that most nonprofit workers already spend a lot of time doing their day-to-day tasks.
If you feel uncomfortable whenever you fundraise, remember to visualize what impact the ask will have. Think of a person whose life is going to be changed by that ask. You can’t be nervous when you’re in service.
You have to listen to what your donors are saying. So you can really truly identify the impact they want to have. For me, that's the most important trait - when I interview folks, that's what I'm looking for.
If you look at a webinar or a course, let's say a webinar, for example, lots of great information, but there are usually two or three nuggets within the webinar. So the idea is let's take those nuggets and package those and really save people time.
When I talk to them about visualizing the impact that ask will have, think about a specific person that asked will impact, then they start to relax a little bit. We should not be nervous about asking for money but thinking about the impact.
Reach out to Luke Emerson at:
Website: https://tips4people.com/
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