4 Creative Tips for Nonprofit Askers

Your asking efforts benefit from embracing your creative side. Try these four tips to infuse your asks with an air of creativity.

1. Creativity
   Creativity at its most basic is simply the act of creating. As a nonprofit asker you often find yourself in a position of needing to create a lot out of a little. It's not always easy, but you do it. This is the power of creativity in your work.
2. An Actor's Mind
   In rehearsal and performance the character's objectives as well as the tactics for achieving them are always top of mind for an actor. Your prospects have philanthropic objectives as well as tactics for achieving them. So do you. The key to successful asking is finding where everyone's objectives intersect and focusing there.
3. A Vivid Imagination
   Imagination is the engine that keeps the creative machine running and producing. The old William Arthur Ward quote, "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it," is as important, if not more important, to nonprofit askers as it is to anyone.
4. A Commitment to Lasting Connections
   Connection is the name of the asking game. When we are able and willing to connect with donors and prospects on a deep, meaningful level our work is better, more consistent, and rewarding.