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The Journal with Joy-Raising: August 2026
Make It Easy for Them to Say Yes
As a fundraiser, "yes" is perhaps the sweetest and most important word we can hear, whether it comes from a donor, a manager, a teammate, or a board member. Yes, I'll give that gift. Yes, you can try that new idea. Yes, I have your back, and I'll come early and stay late to make sure this works. I'd argue that plenty of people run far away from fundraising because they are scared of the other word. They are scared of "no."
But wanting the yes badly can distort the work just as much as fearing the no. It is easy to believe that success is simply hearing yes, and we would probably be celebrated for exactly that. I don't think it's right. Our work is not about the current gift request. At its core, it is about the relationship built with a donor, the relationship that earns us the right to ask at all. So I want more than the yes. I want the donor to say yes and then say “that felt great”, because they felt informed, respected and valued for the gift they made, whatever its size.
Recently AFP President Art Taylor posted a question, along with his own answer, which paid tribute to his mother. He asked, "What is the best advice that you've received?"
My answer came easily, because it is always the same. Whether it is actually the BEST advice could be debated. It is certainly the advice that has made the biggest impact on the way I approach my interactions, professionally and personally. It came from my late father, Joseph McCord, and I have shared it many times.
Make it easy for them to say yes.
Here is what I wrote to Art: "My best leadership advice came from my father, 'make it easy for them to say yes.' It's different from making 'it easy for them.' Because even something hard can be easy to say yes to when you've laid out a compelling case. I've taken it to mean, make the request clear, the need obvious, your effort known and their value undeniable. As a fundraiser, parent, team member and leader this lesson has been invaluable."
That distinction is the whole lesson. Making it easy for them would mean shrinking the ask, apologizing for it, letting someone off the hook before they have decided for themselves. Making it easy for them to say yes means doing the hard work first, so that when the moment arrives, the decision is clear even when the commitment is big. This is not about compromising your own opinion, desire, or dignity. It is the opposite. It is the clarity of where we stand that makes an easy yes possible with integrity.
It changes what a no feels like, too. When the request is clear, it makes the need obvious, your effort known, and the person's value undeniable; a no comes back as information instead of rejection. Not now. Not this amount. You can work with that. What you cannot work with is a no from someone who never really understood what you were asking.
I hope you hear many enthusiastic yeses this fiscal year. We are in a challenging fundraising environment and every one of them will feel like a win. But the win I want for you is bigger than the total amount raised. I want the people you ask to feel informed, appreciated and consequential to the impact you are working toward, whether they say yes today or someday. And remember that no one sets up an ask alone. The colleague who stayed late on the proposal and the board member who made the introduction each did part of the work of making that yes easy. Fundraising is a team effort, and everyone who helped earn the yes deserves the chance to hear it.
I have carried my father's advice into rooms he never saw. Into asks and board meetings, into conversations with my own children, into every moment where something mattered enough to be worth asking for. Underneath the strategy, it is really just instruction in how to treat people. Tell them the truth. Do your homework. Let them know they matter.
That is the best advice I ever received, and advice that valuable was never meant to stay in one family. So please take it with you. I hope that I’ve made that an easy decision for you.
With joy,
Tesha McCord Poe
Founder & CEO, Joy-Raising, LLC
Partner Spotlight:
Pollyanna
Tesha McCord Poe, Jason Craige Harris, and Casper Caldarola at Sociale in San Francisco.
When Pollyanna founder Casper Caldarola and senior advisor Jason Craige Harris came to San Francisco recently, we had dinner at Sociale in Presidio Heights. They liked it enough to go back a second time during their short visit. The food was the excuse. The conversation was the reason.
Among the many topics covered was how relentless the back-to-school season is, even for those of us who are proximate to many school communities without calling any one of them home. Both of our organizations feel this. Pollyanna helps schools "build stronger and kinder communities." Joy-Raising helps schools "raise more money, with more people and more joy." Different entry points, same conviction about what a school can be.
The partnership is layered. Some of it is formal, like sponsoring each other's convenings, Pollyanna's National Conference, and The Summit. An important part of our relationship is informal, like a several-hour dinner that wanders well past anything you could call a work topic. Both matter, and our work is better for it.
As we work alongside our school partners to launch the school year, we’re cheering you on and wishing you a fantastic school year!
Job Opportunities & Resources
Featured Job Opportunities
Associate, Philanthropy and Gift Planning Operations, San Francisco FoundationSan Francisco, CA
Director of Development, Yosemite Rivers AllianceRemote, CA
Development and Communications Associate, Latino Education Advancement FoundationSan Jose, CA
Manager, Development, Feeding AmericaChicago, IL
Senior Corporate Development Officer, Habitat for Humanity InternationalRemote, CA or Remote, WA
Senior Director of Institutional Giving, City Year New YorkNew York, NY
Know of an opening we should feature? Send it our way—contact Tesha at tesha@joy-raising.com, and we'll help get the word out.
Resources
About Black Philanthropy Month and The History of Black Philanthropy Month, BackBlack
Join Tesha at the Association of Independent Schools New England (aisne) Governance Conference on September 24th, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., as she presents on rethinking Board composition through an equity lens.
Who Controls the Future? A Conversation with Dr. Ibram KendiSeptember 9th, 4:00-6:00 p.m. PSTSF Jazz Center, San Francisco, CA
Join Joy-Raising in Action
The Summit
Even as we close another year of a room full of generosity and care, we are already getting ready for next year!
Please join us on June 21-22, 2027 for the 6th year of The Summit as we center around the theme of PowerShift: Generosity as the Architect of Change.
The Community
One of the things I wanted most when I built The Community was to be a part of your team, not just for a project, but all year round. For when your development team gets stuck, and you need someone who can help you see it from a different angle. Who knows your sector, your values, and the complexity of this work.
That is what The Community is.
And here is the part I love most: when your organization joins, every member of your community becomes a part of The Community. Your staff. Your board. Your volunteers. All of them.
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