Why Fundraisers Need to Spend More Time Asking Questions

Many fundraisers don’t spend enough time getting to know potential donors, says the veteran fundraiser Jerold Panas.

In an interview with The Chronicle about the new book he co-wrote, Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others, Mr. Panas urged fundraisers to do more to ask the kind of questions that will elicit what donors care about.

“Every time you ask a question, it opens up a whole new avenue for us and helps us get inside the person,” Mr. Panas says. “You raise more and more if you get to know what triggers a person and what’s in their heart.”

His other advice is to “read everything you can get your hands on. Read magazines that could be of help to you like Forbes, Town and Country—magazines that give you a broad outlook and a feeling for how some of the people you’ll be calling on live.”