May 19, 2021

Choosing the Best Fundraising Speaker for Your Event

Happy creative businesspeople brainstorming in office, placing sticky notes with ideas on glass

Using mobile pledging at your live fundraising event adds dynamic energy. The room is quickly pulled together to achieve the goal for the night. Individuals feel good about their contribution from seeing their name up on the Fundraising Thermometer. That magical moment won’t happen all on its own, though. People still need to feel compelled to give. And that won’t happen without the right call to action at the right moment. The emotional appeal is crucial – people won’t give unless they feel that they need to give. A big piece of getting this right is figuring out who is doing the ask. Choosing the right fundraising speaker to stand up in front of your event’s attendees and ask for donations can be an art form in itself. This isn’t always the same person that is the MC for your entire event. They will be the face of your organization at the most crucial moment – the time to give. GiveSmart has seen a lot of events succeed thanks to a skilled and savvy host. Here are the kinds of fundraising speakers we’ve seen succeed the most. The ideal host or MC will have some or all of these traits no matter what kind of event you put on.

Ellen Degeneres, Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com Matthew McConaughey, PS / Shutterstock.com

Ellen Degeneres, Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com Matthew McConaughey, PS / Shutterstock.com

1. The Emotional Asker

“The emotional appeal is the most important part of your call to action.”

The emotional appeal is the most important part of your call to action. There are so many good causes that need money. Why is your organization the one to pick above all others? Numbers and facts can do a lot but humans respond most to the emotion behind a cause. The Emotional Asker effectively gets across the heart of your organization through sincere storytelling. Since the dawn of recorded time, humans have been fascinated by stories. It helps us connect with each other, understand the human condition, and try to make sense of injustices and wrongs in the world. Every organization affects individuals and those individual stories are what move people to help. The Emotional Asker is able to tell these heartfelt stories better than anyone. They can move attendees to tears, and express how meaningful your organization is to someone’s life. Culminating with the impact of your organization, The Emotional Asker gracefully moves into how your supporters can contribute to making more of these stories possible.


2. The Fearless Asker

“Your event may have several moments planned, but it’s all in service of getting your organization more donations.”

Your event may have several moments planned, but it’s all in service of getting your organization more donations. It’s the only reason you’re there. You know it, and most of the attendees probably realize this as well. The Fearless Asker not only knows this, but they go into this portion of the event without reservations. There’s no shame in asking for money. The Fearless Asker knows he’s in a room of people who believe in your cause and your organization’s mission can’t be accomplished without funding. A confident ask also reflects the confidence of your organization in your cause. And it reflects competency in your organization’s ability to put people’s money to good use. A meek or humble ask may win some sympathy donations, but the highest volume will come from someone who can portray a sincere belief that your organization deserves to keep doing excellent work. The Fearless Asker has no problem directly asking people to give money to make that happen.

3. The Charming Asker

“A fearless ask doesn’t mean an aggressive ask. The Charming Asker knows how to work a crowd.”

A fearless ask doesn’t mean an aggressive ask. The Charming Asker knows how to “work a crowd”. They put off a vibe of trust, warmth, and reliability. As the face of your organization for this moment, a likable host feels like a beloved friend asking for help. The ideal Charming Asker has a way of getting people to respond to an ask with “Of course I’ll help”. The Charming Asker is also excellent in interacting with attendees while pledges are coming in. This is one of the most crucial elements to keep the exciting momentum going, and doing so gets more people to feel comfortable giving. The Charming Asker continually glances at the Fundraising Thermometer and verbally recognizes donors. This is a big deal for attendees because they are being acknowledged for their generosity. Individual attention is extremely gratifying for donors. This is a very valuable strategy because it encourages hesitant attendees sitting nearby the recognized donors to get involved too. The Charming Asker draws people in and makes them feel special for giving.

4. The Friendly Asker

“This is a high-profile member of your organization, or well-known volunteer or supporter, who is familiar with a lot of the faces in the crowd.”

A close relative of The Charming Asker is The Friendly Asker. This is a high-profile member of your organization, or a well-known volunteer or supporter, who is familiar with a lot of the faces in the crowd. They have the ability to draw in donations by using personal history, familiarity, and friendship. The Friendly Asker is comfortable calling out specific attendees by name and encouraging them to give. Depending on your constituents, this can become playful, such as, “Come on, Sue, I don’t see your phone out” or “George, I know you can give more than that”. This kind of friendly ribbing uses the personal recognition of The Charming Asker and adds a more casual vibe of a fun party. This can also be a good way to encourage some friendly competition. Not every organization’s supporters and staff have a personality that would welcome this. The Friendly Asker knows how far to go to get more out of the room without turning off potential donors.

5. The Funny Asker

“The Funny Asker knows that well-placed humor can open up wallets. Laughter releases stress and creates a more comfortable environment.”

Pulling techniques from both The Charming Asker and The Friendly Asker, The Funny Asker knows that well-placed humor can open up wallets. Laughter releases stress and creates a more comfortable environment. Attendees feel more a part of the community within the room when they are laughing together, and that unity dovetails perfectly into the community striving to reach the fundraising goal together. Whether it’s joking about traffic or teasing attendees that dinner won’t be served until the goal is met, The Funny Asker is able to skillfully transition to using a good sense of humor to ease attendees into feeling more comfortable and giving more. The Funny Asker is not an insult comic. Mean-spirited jokes at the expense of attendees, the organization, or the staff of the venue won’t help. The Funny Asker uses comedy in a positive, fun, and empowering way to bring the room together and encourage the support of the organization.

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We needed a platform to make sales online and to track and display ads for our sponsors. GiveSmart was perfect. We ended up making close to $15,000 more than we had hoped for. Definite better ROI than we anticipated. The interface is easy to use and provides plenty of options to get help if needed.

Michelle M.

The Rotary Club of South Whidbey Island

Using GS has created ease in auction bookkeeping, payments, and generating post-event thank you/tax letters. While we were online during COVID, our interactions with our GiveSmart via phone, email, and zoom were seamless. A representative always got back to us within the day. I would recommend GiveSmart to anyone doing a large online event.

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MicroFinancing Partners in Africa

GiveSmart is highly flexible - you can use it for [a] simple registration and check-in, to full-scale galas with complex order forms, onsite upsells, live auctions, seating management, and more.

Jamie F.

Hope Chest for Breast Cancer

GiveSmart is easy to use and ideal for virtual events and can be used for in-person events to manage the silent auction, seating charts, and check-in to the event. Being able to use the platform for unlimited events within the contract year is very useful and being able to add other users and volunteers for different levels of access is helpful as well.

Dawn L.

Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County