Therefore, the ideal way to raise money successfully is not to worry about people who have already said no, but to concentrate on finding others who will say yes. Why People Donate People give money, in descending order, for shared relationships, fear of pain, or shared values. Your shared relationship donor list should include, in roughly descending order, relatives, friends, business associates, your Christmas card list, neighbors, members of organizations you are active in, candidates you have contributed to, your high school and college classmates, owners of stores you patronize, and everyone you have written a check to in the last several years. In other words, you are going to ask everyone you know or have known. For these people you will stress the relationship, not the philosophy, in your pitch to solicit dollars.
Fear is a wonderful motivator.
If you can make potential donors feel a gun is pointed at them to take away their property, reproductive, gun or other rights, and that their life and the future of humanity depend on their making a contribution now, you will have donations. If this sounds like overkill, think for a moment about how much money TV preachers take in and why. Letting people know that you share and are actively promoting their values will also translate into funds. Single-issue organizations are where many of your long term donors will come from. This type of appeal does stress philosophy, but in an active, demonstrable way.