Nonprofit Leadership Podcast · Dr. Rob Harter

How Using a “Permission Ask” Can Improve Your Fundraising

·35 min·2 clips

Permission-based asking is a structure that lets the donor drive the conversation, and you celebrate the donor whether they say yes or no.

1. The Nonprofit Leadership Podcast episode "How Using a 'Permission Ask' Can Improve Your Fundraising" covers donor-centered mid and major gift strategy during a fourth-quarter giving season shaped by federal and state funding cuts. 2. Host Dr. Rob Harder interviews Jeff Schreifels, principal and owner of Veritas Group, a global consultancy founded in 2009 that specializes in major and mid-level gifts. 3. Schreifels's core thesis is that "fundraising really isn't about money," and that relationship-centered fundraising lets organizations sustain revenue through economic turbulence. 4. He advises against cutting fundraising during downturns, saying organizations that kept investing weathered storms better, and he urges balanced investment across the donor pipeline from acquisition through plan giving. 5. He says Veritas clients focused on mid and major gifts see 20-25% year-over-year gains, and cites public media stations whose donors were previously asked only for annual memberships of $1,200, $5,000, or $10,000. 6. Permission-based asking, introduced about six years ago, has the fundraiser confirm the meeting's purpose and ask questions so the donor leads, and Schreifels says 80% of the posts in Veritas's internal "Celebrations" channel concern its results. 7. He describes a barrier in which a direct response team with an $8 million KPI resisted a mid-level program because $1.6 million would move, and he proposes changing the KPI to how many donors move up the pipeline. 8. Schreifels says weekly accountability meetings, where a client experience leader asks "did you do what you said you were going to do," drive results, and he applied the same approach to a volunteer board that exceeded its goal. 9. He argues that donors are part of the mission itself, which creates an obligation to help them find joy in giving, and he recommends 30 to 35 meaningful connections a month, including texts that have produced $200,000 to $300,000 gifts. 10. Nonprofit development directors, major gift officers, and board members who fundraise would get the most from this episode.

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