Is scarcity stopping you from asking for a major gift?

Do these phrases sound familiar to you?

“I never have enough money!”
“Money goes out faster than it comes in!”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees!”

How often have we heard these phrases growing up?  Well, if you were like me, probably a lot.  As a child, these were the messages that I subconsciously learned about money, and they helped to develop my now adult relationship with it.

Just this week, I led a workshop on asking for money.  As part of the icebreaker exercise, I asked attendees to share with me some of their greatest fears about fundraising.  And, fear after fear centered around scarcity.  In fact, many participants commented that they grew up hearing the very same phrases above.

Stop and think about what you believe about money.  Are your beliefs limiting you in your work?  Do you have a scarcity mindset?

Have you ever found yourself saying these types of things?

“There are only so many donors to go around!”
“Donors only have so much money to give!”
“We already asked our donors once this year; we can’t ask again!”

Are we placing our beliefs on our donors?  Are we making assumptions for our donors?  Are we self-sabotaging our work?  Are we limiting our role in the work that we do?  Are we focusing our efforts and time on things such as events that will take us out of the context of asking?

To be truly effective fundraisers, we all need to dig deep and look at our views and those beliefs of scarcity that may be holding you back.   Are they self-limiting and if so how can you work to create an abundance mindset?  We don’t want scarcity from preventing our life-changing work from happening both for our donors and for our missions. So, it is critical that you identify your mindset and work to change it.  Major gifts start with you.  Get that part of the relationship right first.

Break the scarcity mindset before you ask for a major gift.