Why Your Donors Say "No" and What to Do About It

Jedi and their apprentices are shown practicing throughout the Star Wars series. And that’s no surprise because everyone knows that practice makes perfect. Deep down, you know that becoming a “Jedi Master” at anything requires practice. Great sales people, great athletes, great surgeons… anyone great… yes, great fundraisers too… needs to practice.
 
So, what does practice mean when it comes to fundraising?
For starters, you need to outline why people say “no.” I provided a list below. But then comes the hard part. You need to write down what you should say and do when each instance arises to improve your batting average. And finally, you should refer to your list frequently and practice your responses.
 
To help you get started, here’s why people say “no”:
 

One thing I’d like to add is that sometimes you don’t need to question why you got a “no”. There are some times that you will never know the true reason. When that happens, just count it as a positive step forward (because it’s a numbers game) and move on. No reason to over-analyze every single thing but you should analyze almost everything.

Note: I have to give credit to Marc Pitman for inspiring this list (although I actually found it provided on the Veritus Group blog)

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