Making Asking Easier for Your Board

Anyone who's been in fundraising for at least a week knows that board members are reluctant to visit would-be donors in person. And yet personal visits are the sine qua non of securing big gifts.

As James Reynolds, mastermind of a long-ago Harvard campaign, put it: "No cow will let down her milk in response to a letter or a telephone call. You have got to sit down beside her and go to work."

It'll always cause anxiety, but asking will be more palatable if board members understand the following dynamics.