Should You Ask a Donor to Cover Your Group's Budget Deficit?

Fund raisers do more harm for their cause than good when they ask donors to give so that a charity can meet a budget shortfall or reach a difficult fund-raising goal, says Marc A. Pitman, author of the new book, Ask Without Fear: a Simple Guide to Connecting Donors With What Matters to Them Most.

“If you have a sincere crisis, then by all means tell your donors. Bad things happen to the best causes,” he writes. But if the organization isn’t facing a crisis, messages such as “We’re not going to make our budget if you don’t help us out” can make a bad impression, especially when repeated year after year. “Crying ‘wolf!’ is a sure-fire way to get people to ignore you,” writes Mr. Pitman, a fund-raising consultant in Waterville, Me.

A more-effective way to appeal to donors, he says, is to tell a moving story that will remind them of the impact the organization has had on their and others’ lives.

“You know you’ve written an effective appeal when people put notes in with their checks telling you that they were crying as they read the letter,” he writes in his book, which was published this spring by Executive Books. (You may also want to read his blog.)

Do you have examples of really bad—or really good—fund-raising messages? Share your examples with us by clicking on the comment links below this post.