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MORE THAN PROFIT: Network Economies

4. Empowered fundraising

Because of our monetary caused wounds, suffered at the hands of the ways we use money, it is all too often the case that an individual feels that a person who declines to make a contribution and who says “No” when asked, is in some way rejecting the person asking by rejecting the values of the person who is asking. It is easy to internalize this as a negative feeling. The secret to empowered fundraising is to have the “No” have the same meaning as a “Yes”, as both are an opportunity to establish a deeper relationship with that person, a relationship based upon value rather than upon superficial interests held in common. In asking you are offering a genuine invitation to become involved, and an authentic invitation is based equally upon the power to decline as to accept. Being disappointed by the “no” response will always be communicated in one’s body language, and this acts as a form of coercion that aims, rather than an invitation, as a form of manipulation, to get the person to say “yes”. This is also motivated by our “scarcity consciousness” and is a form of disempowerment.

When given a “No”, however, the person involved should always follow up with three further questions.

  1. Could I ask “Why”? We are sincerely interested in learning the reasons why people either accept or decline our invitation, and our offer to participate.
  2. Would you like us to ensure that you are to be kept informed about how this project is going?
  3. Do you know anyone else who may be interested in such a project, to whom you could introduce us?

Once again, there should be no obligation for anyone to answer these questions, as any sense of obligation will ultimately backfire upon the project. A dissatisfied person will tend to tell many more people than one who is satisfied in such circumstances.

This exchange of information about the project will keep the community relationships alive, and may, at a future date, lead to a person who originally declines the offer to engage with the project, to participate in some other, perhaps even more valuable, way.