1. List everyone you know

That’s right – everyone! Don’t cut people out at the moment, you can do tht later.

2. Grade your list

Mark everyone between 1 -6 as follows

1. they no nothing about what your work is or that you need support
2. they know that you are going to work with SPEAK Network
3. they know that you are going to work with SPEAK and the you are support raising
4. they know about your work and support raising needs and have expressed some interest in it
5. you have asked them for support and are awaiting a decision
6. they have decided to support you

3. Organise the Information

Before you start asking people to support you, it’s important to have a clear system for organising your information. This could be a database or spreadsheet where you keep contact details, information on how much you are receiving, what you are sending them and how involved they want to be.

Headings could include: name, address, email, phone, prayer/financial supporter, amount, best way to contact, last personal interaction.

4. Make a Plan

Nothing beats a good plan! And because you might always feel slightly awkward about this, it’s a good idea to set down your goals to give you some accountability. If you’re not meeting your targets at least you’ll know if it’s because you have wussed out of your plan!

This should include the one to one meetings you’re going to set up, the phone calls, the events you will SPEAK at your church/uni/etc.

Making it Easy

Sadly this isn’t about making it easier for you. We think we’ve done as much as possible of that! No, this is about getting a positive response from your supporters. It does need to be something that is made easy for them – remember, they are not expert supporters. It’s your job to keep the initiative and make it easy for them. 

Helping supporters feel comfortable:

• When you meet with a potential supporter, supporting you may simply not be on their agenda. You need to listen to where they are coming from and be sensitive. This might not necessarily be a problem, they just need you to bring the idea to them. But if they’ve had a family trauma or been made redundant then perhaps it’s best to leave it. Whatever the case, don’t plough in with an ask without making sure they are ready to hear it.
• Be upfront! This might sound pushy but it usually comes across better than approaching the ask in a roundabout way, which can lead people to feeling manipulated or backed in to a corner. If you’re up front, it gives them permission to be too. Once you’ve asked just let them respond and they can say no if they want to.
• Some people might say ‘can I pray about it and get back to you’. That’s absolutely fine but usually it means they will say yes but just want to think about amounts or clarify it with their partner. Most people will react on gut instinct and just want to confirm. So don’t leave it too long. Make sure you ring to check within 3-4 days.  
• Make sure you are crystal clear in how they want them to respond. Do they need to fill in a form and send it to you or the SPEAK office, who should it be addressed to, or should they just set up a standing order and email the office to say? These are the missing bits of info that will stop your support from happening. 

Resources for your supporters

If you’re asking people to support you it’s important to have a good set of resources to show them  so can visualise what you’re doing, make a response, and maybe take something away with them to read. Don’t overwhelm them though! Have what you need but not too many words

Show and tell photo album/resources with ask page

This is a really important part of the process and making one will stand you in good stead for all sorts of meetings. It should be a visually engaging folder, visible to about 12 people. We have plenty examples you can follow but you can adapt it to suit your own way of communicating. The main principles are

• Helps the ask not just to be eye contact for 30 minutes
• Simple short sentences to explain what you do
• An ask page
• Using an analogy about why prayer and campaigning is important will help. E.g. turning off a tap, rather than spooning the water out of a bucket.
• Your support form

This provides some take away but digestible info about your role, as well as the all important form for sending back. You might also want to give people a stamped addressed envelope.

Some other SPEAK resources

Campaigns can be quite wordy so choose this carefully and perhaps with the person in mind – think about they will connect with.

Things to Explain About Standing Orders

1. The first thing to say is, you really need to emphasise when support-raising that the ideal way people can support you financially is by regular giving, rather than a one-off payment. It’s much better to know how much will (almost definitely) come in every month until you finish, and will help you to make informed decisions about your future, without needing to ask for more every time the bulk payment runs out.
2. Secondly, people may want to pay directly into your personal account. This really shouldn’t be done, as it’s essentially tax evasion! The way t look at it is that you are employed by the SPEAK Network, and that a part of your role is raising enough money so that SPEAK can pay you. The money needs to come into SPEAK’s wage account. The money you raise will go into a special wages account and will only be used for your wage, so you can assure people it won’t go anywhere else.
3. Before giving people the bank details, it’s very important they know one more thing – they must let you (or speak@speak.org.uk if they wish to remain anonymous) know when they’ve set it up. otherwise, money will just be going into the wage account without you being able to claim for it! You’ll need to know their name(!), what day the money comes in, and how much it is every month.
4. So, all that remains is to give them the bank details, and let them set up a standing order however they like (they can fill in a form and send it to us, do it in person at the bank, or do it online).

Making the Ask

Now comes the scary bit! But don’t worry, once you’ve got this far, you’re about 80% of the way to achieving your goals.

Practice makes perfect

The next thing to do is to practice your ask before you launch in to it. Either with a trusted friend or committed supporter, or with members of the Network Support Team

Here are some suggestions for practice that we recommend you take some time over to build up confidence.

Taking someone from 2 -4 on your list: Practice telling someone about your work. Use your show and tell folder and your  support card. Practice with an individual and as a meeting  

Making the ask appointment

Practice calling someone to set up a meeting to ask them for support. Here are some pointers:

• Set a time limit “ could we chat for an hour after dinner”
• Be straight to the point 
• Give them space to think
• Avoid convoluted phone calls. Say “lets talk about it when we meet”

Tips for the ask

• You will have your own way of communicating your work for SPEAK that feels natural to you so these tips are general, about a clear and honest way of asking.  
• If you can’t meet email to set a phone appointment.
• Talk to your best friends first and say you are nervous if you want!
• Do it quickly so you can get back to just chatting and also give them time to let it settle and ask questions later if they need to.
• Stay silent after you ask. This gives space for questions too.
• Send a thank you. Even before they have decided if you want – to say thanks for listening.
• If time go through the rest of the notes on methods of asking, otherwise just quickly show people what is there about letters etc.
• Leave out totals as that can be confusing for people and not helpful for them to see their input. E.g. “I need £1000 a month so if you gave £20 that would really help” doesn’t show impact. Say instead “to give you a rough idea, I need 20 people to give £50, if that helps” They can always give lower. Or “I still need 5 supporters to give £30 to reach my 100% target”. Being one of 5 or even 20 has more impact than hearing a large number.