My Approach
Fundraising can be hard for just about everyone. Yet, everyone can do this work because it’s based on forming relationships, which we do throughout our lives.
My work is driven by my lifelong desire to make the world a better place and to lead a purposeful life. Being surrounded by people who share that world view brings me great satisfaction. I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent my career in the nonprofit world, a world with important values and strong community.
My work is informed by these deeply held beliefs:
Fundraising can be hard
Fundraising can be hard for just about everyone. Cultivating and soliciting gifts one-to-one — especially from individuals — is the hardest fundraising because there’s no way to completely put aside the personal aspect of it.
Everyone can do it
Yet, everyone can do this work because it’s based on forming relationships, which we do throughout our lives.
Everyone needs training
We need more training and practice in the art and science of cultivating and soliciting gifts in order to be more comfortable and more effective.
It needs to be authentic
We must stop making our board members do awful, transactional fundraising as it’s disheartening and doesn’t grow the organization.
Our work is crucial
I never wanted to fundraise and still don’t, but I know doing so will help amazing organizations do incredible work that helps people in need and makes the world a better place.
You can be successful
I’m an introvert who hates events, hates the phone, and is shy about meeting new people… and I’ve been a great fundraiser!
Asking Matters & the Asking Styles
More than 85% of all charitable dollars come from individuals, and the largest gifts come from one-to-one cultivation and asking, and that means building relationships. This is why Andrea Kihlstedt and I developed Asking Matters, along with the Asking Styles. We believed everyone could be a great fundraiser because everyone can build relationships by using the natural strengths of their personality to be more comfortable and confident when cultivating and asking.
This belief led us to develop a system to help fundraisers discover their personality type and apply their unique strengths – and work with their particular challenges – to fundraise comfortably and effectively. We coined the term Asking Styles, and determined four main Styles: Rainmaker, Go-Getter, Kindred Spirit, and Mission Controller. We also developed a 30-question true/false Assessment to help anyone determine their Style; you can take it here for free!
Rainmakers are analytic extroverts. The information they gather and analyze informs their decisions. Go-Getters are intuitive extroverts who act on instinct and connect to donors through their energy and friendliness. Kindred Spirits are intuitive introverts who bring passion to the cause and connect to donors through their deep commitment. Mission Controllers are analytic introverts who are quietly thoughtful and always have a wealth of information at the ready.
You can learn more about my work at Asking Matters, or take the quick Assessment
to find your own personal Asking Style using the links below:
Kurt Steiner
President and Founder of CharityHowTo