Making The Ask – Get Ready To Adopt A Whole New Approach To Major Donor Solicitation

If asking for money makes you nervous, you’re not alone. But there is a smarter, science-backed way to approach major donor and high-stakes fundraising. In this dynamic session, Bernard shares five proven steps for building confidence, connecting with prospects, and securing transformational gifts—whether you’re approaching individuals, companies, foundations, or board members.

This workshop will introduce participants to 20 radical tools drawn from behavioural science. The model has helped a UN agency secure $350M in the Gulf, a major US conservation charity to raise $14M for a primate sanctuary in Rwanda, and a Scottish museum to meet its $50M target. The session is based on the Amazon best seller Making the Ask – by Bernard Ross and Clare Segal.

This session shares five key stages for any successful ask:

• Passion – creating the most powerful emotional state for yourself and your prospect that addresses their concerns and motivations.
• Proposition – shaping your Case for Support to make it easy for the prospect to understand and see how they can help.
• Preparation – getting ready to meet an individual by designing a well-formed outcome and anticipating the challenges.
• Persuasion – building fast, comfortable rapport and adjusting to your prospect’s communications and decision preferences.
• Persistence – handling challenges and objections effectively, and where appropriate, analysing what led to repeatable success.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Understand how to work through the five stages of effective solicitation.
• Build rapport with prospects who are very different from them.
• Use a selection of the 20 tools effectively

Learning opportunities

• Case studies.
• Small group exercises.
• Interactive activities.
• Chances to apply the learning to your work.

 Suggested level of participants

• This workshop is suitable for all.