What Good Salespeople Taught Me About Fundraising

Combines three earlier LinkedIn posts: “Fundraising – What Cold Call Style Voicemail messages can do for you” (August 15, 2014), “Why Fundraisers should spend 35 seconds with a Hunter” (September 24, 2014) and “Fundraising – the used car sales method” (February 9, 2015)

Updated September 2026

Before I worked in charities, I sold electronics. In one of my first sales trainings, the instructor had us sell him a TV in front of the group. The moment someone started listing features he hadn’t asked about, he’d shout “feature dump!” and the round was over.

That lesson has followed me through my whole career. Fundraising is relationship work, and good salespeople know a lot about relationships. Here are three things I’ve borrowed from them.

1. Listen first, then help

Years ago, after a car accident wrote off our vehicle, my wife and I spent a few weeks visiting dealerships. We met four kinds of salespeople.

The first showed us vehicles that didn’t have the features we’d told him we needed, then called a week later to say “our” vehicle was ready. He never heard us.

The second asked great questions, then sat silently in the back seat for the whole test drive and never followed up. He heard us, and then never helped us decide.

The third team pushed. One manager stood behind my wife while another pressed me to sign that day. We left.

The fourth came out with a snow brush in his hand, asked why we were looking at minivans and listened to the answer – three kids, car seats, an active family. He handed us the keys and let us drive on our own. When we came back, he talked only about the features that mattered to us, gave us space to talk privately, and came back with a clear, fair number. We bought from him that day.

Fundraisers meet the same four styles in themselves:

1. The feature dump tells every story the charity has. Find out what moves the donor, then tell that story.
2. The silent type builds lovely relationships and never invites the gift. Asking is part of caring for a donor who wants to make a difference.
3. The pressure play surprises a donor with the CEO and a board member at what they thought was a friendly coffee. It puts the relationship at risk.
4. The guide listens, shares what’s relevant, invites the gift and respects the donor’s time. That’s the one to be.

2. Leave voicemails people want to return

Most thank-you voicemails from charities sound the same: “Hi, it’s Jane from ABC Kids Fund, thanks for your recent donation, call me if you have any questions.” They tick a box. They rarely start a conversation.

Early in my career, I taught fundraisers to borrow a cold-call trick: leave a short, slightly mysterious message that makes people curious enough to call back. I don’t recommend that anymore. Today, a vague message about “your donation” from an unfamiliar number sounds exactly like a scam, and donors are right to be cautious. Canadians reported $704 million in fraud losses to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in 2025 – and the Centre estimates fewer than one in ten frauds are reported at all.

What works now is clarity and warmth:

1. Say who you are and where you’re calling from – clearly, and more than once. Give a callback number people can verify on your website.
2. Say why you’re calling. “I’m calling to thank you for your gift to our winter program and share what it made possible.”
3. Give them something even if they never call back. One specific line of impact is a gift in itself.
4. Offer an easy next step. A reply by email, a text, or a time that suits them.
5. Follow up in another channel. A short email after the voicemail helps a cautious donor confirm the call was real.

When the donor does call back, put the script away. Ask what they hoped their gift would do. Listen to what matters to them. And if the conversation is going well, offer to continue it over coffee.

3. Know your 35 seconds

A friend once asked me what I did for a living. I said, “I work for a large non-profit.” He said, “I don’t know what that means.” So I tried again: “I raise money so our team can fund the best cancer researchers and get results that make a difference to patients.” That landed.

Every fundraiser needs a short, clear answer to the question every person is silently asking: who are you, and why should I care? A simple structure works:

1. Your name.
2. Why the work matters.
3. Who you’re with.
4. What your community has achieved.
5. What you’re working on now.
6. An invitation.

For example: “I’m Conor. In our city, there are still families who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. I’m with a food security charity, and over the last two years our community has provided forty thousand meals. This year we’re working toward twenty-five thousand more. I’d love to hear whether that fits with what matters to you.”

When I was with the Missing Children Society of Canada, our whole team and board shaped our pitch together, so everyone could say it the same way. Once you have yours, use it everywhere – voicemails, emails, your website and every introduction.

Try this

Call a friend who sells for a living. Ask for their pitch, and ask how they handle a first call. Then write your own 35 seconds and say it out loud until it sounds like you.

Be well.

Sources

1. Advisor.ca, “Canadians lost $704 million to fraud in 2025” (reporting Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre data) – https://www.advisor.ca/industry-news/industry/canadians-lost-704-million-to-fraud-in-2025/