WHAT IF WE MADE THE ASK FIRST?

We've all studied the donor life cycle in a textbook by Rosso, Joyaux, Burk, Ahern or Warwick and combed through many colourful iterations online to use in our practice. Some of us even have our models broken down into granular market segments based on sector, connections, urgency, and time of year. Even with all of the data models and proven relationship methodology,  I'm often struck by what the outcome might be if we made the ask first.

Recently, while working on a water cycle project with my grade school son, I pondered this question again. The water cycle is taught to start with evaporation, followed by condensation, precipitation, and filling the water bodies again. What if you began with precipitation? Would the lesson basically be the same; would the outcome be the same? Again, what if you started by asking a prospect or donor to fund a project or program; would you get the same result? When being approached by a charity, most prospects and donors know that an ask is coming; some may even ask you what the ask is before you get to it. Could we address our fundraising letters to say: We'd like you to donate $100,000? Or have the first sentence of your phone call be: I'm calling to ask you to fund a specific project for $10,000; let's talk about the details. The Donor Cycle exists for a reason; we know it works, and we'll continue to keep it in practice. But one of these days, I'd like to lead a conversation that starts with saying that this project will cost us $25,000. Are you in?