In my Donor Development training session on “Why Philanthropists Give,” I include the following anecdote, which I’ll abbreviate here: Some years ago, I asked a famous philanthropist to walk me through how he sees the sign over the building for which he had funded 90 percent of the cost, to a tune of $15 million of his own money. He gave me, and I will never ever forget, a stern look. He turned red. He was annoyed and angry, and I feared he might hurl me 20 stories down to the

With so much said and published about “The Ask”— How to Ask for a donation, When to Ask, Whom to Ask, Where to Ask, How to take a No, Where to sit when you Ask, How To and How Not to, etc. (You get the point!) – how much do we really know about the “WHO” … Beyond the technique, and certainly beyond the importance of the cause we may represent. What about the person we ask for the donation – what do we know about her/him, and how much do we comprehend this in the ASK? In the n