---
title: "Five (All too Common) Reasons Nonprofits Fall Short in Raising Major Gifts: Reason #2 · DickersonBakker"
description: "Jumpstart major gift fundraising at your nonprofit by applying three simple rules: ask more effectively, ask more often, and ask for bigger gifts."
---

[DickersonBakker Blog](https://blog.dickersonbakker.com)

# [Five (All too Common) Reasons Nonprofits Fall Short in Raising Major Gifts: Reason #2 · DickersonBakker](https://blog.dickersonbakker.com/five-reasons-nonprofits-fall-short-raising-major-gifts-part-2)

 Written by [Derric Bakker](https://blog.dickersonbakker.com/author/derric-bakker) | Aug 10, 2016 4:00:00 AM

*Big gifts make a big impact. Most nonprofits fall short in landing game-changing major gifts however. This is number two in a five-part series exploring five reasons why. In our previous post we talked about how [**talent gaps** **on the fundraising team**](http://dickerson-bakker.com/how-to-raise-more-major-gifts/?__hstc=253625366.ddbf27952b9ece2548b39b0c1c62b18d.1687890135498.1687890135498.1687890135498.1&__hssc=253625366.87.1687890135498&__hsfp=1561754925) are one major contributing factor. In this entry we discuss how failing at the ask is reason #2…*

**Reason #2: FAILING AT THE ASK**

The simple fact of the matter is, far too many nonprofits are failing at one of the most fundamental tasks in fundraising: Asking for money.

In the immortal words of the late Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity:

> “*I have tried raising money by asking for it, and by not asking for it. I always raised more by asking for it*.”

We have seen many organizations jumpstart their major gift fundraising performance by applying three simple rules: ask more effectively, ask more often, and ask for bigger gifts.

Many people are simply afraid to ask. Others have never learned how. Some have a false impression that asking for money offends donors. It doesn’t. Many if not most of the major donors I know have a generous heart. Many of these consider giving to be one of their spiritual gifts. Giving is a big part of how they live out their purpose in life, so they are grateful when someone shares a need or opportunity, and happy to be able to invest in making people’s lives better. Many will give big gifts to a big need or idea, but only if you ask. By not offering more meaningful opportunities for people to give, one could argue that your organization is doing a disservice to those who might otherwise be blessed by their involvement in your work.

A recent study by Charity Navigator showed that 93% of donors give during the year-end giving season. In our experience this is even truer for major donors. On average, charities receive 41% of their annual contributions in the last few weeks of the year. I’m sure you would agree it’s extremely important that every one of your major donors has a specific offer in hand during the crucial year-end period. Consider this, however: Most major gift officers (rightly) prefer to solicit donors face-to-face, but most are only able to see a portion of their portfolio in any given year, and—based on real-life answers to surveys—typically are only able to personally visit a quarter to a third of their assigned donors during the year-end season. This means that three-quarters to two-thirds of your best donors may not be asked to give at the most important time of year. Remarkably, few organizations have a system in place to make sure that each of their major donors is being solicited during the critical fourth quarter period. Implementing a year-end campaign is a best practice that has significantly increased many of our clients’ major gift revenues, and is just one example how to ask more effectively.

[*Click here to follow along with part three of this series…*](http://dickerson-bakker.com/five-common-reasons-nonprofits-fall-short-raising-major-gifts-reason-3/?__hstc=253625366.ddbf27952b9ece2548b39b0c1c62b18d.1687890135498.1687890135498.1687890135498.1&__hssc=253625366.87.1687890135498&__hsfp=1561754925)

[View full post](https://blog.dickersonbakker.com/five-reasons-nonprofits-fall-short-raising-major-gifts-part-2)

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