One person told me, when I solicited a contribution for our university, that he resented being asked for funds from an organization that paid him so little and that contemplated a minuscule raise for the coming year. I responded that the organization may pay me too much or too little, but it paid me every two weeks, which earned my loyalty and enthusiastic support. One faculty member at another university said she would respond to a low salary by refusing to contribute. Never assume you know someone well until you talk about money. Most who have raised funds can give dozens of examples.
People think of their money as the most private of their characteristics.
In often seems that people are more willing to talk about their sex lives, problems with their children, frustrations on the job or almost anything rather than about their money. Personal reactions to solicitations are sometimes astonishing. His response was that if he had a dollar, he would buy himself a chicken dinner. I was fifteen years old, from a less than affluent family, and I had a dollar. As an adult, I solicited a top executive of an insurance company for a United Way pledge.