Have you ever considered that maybe your ask is too small?
When I work with communities, the thing I hear myself saying over and over is to make sure you are always offering people ways to get involved. Often, the organizers will go through all the effort to get people out to an event, or to participate in a consultation, and then they don’t capitalize on the momentum. It could be as simple as inviting the community to stay informed with a newsletter or it could be a bigger commitment of time, money or effort.
I was listening to the CBC radio last week and the discussion centered on what the next steps should be for the Women’s March in order for all of this momentum not to be lost. A postcard-writing campaign was suggested as an option. Both respondents said that they don’t think that this is the right ask and the reason why has stuck with me: “People are willing to do something big in order to win something big” (Becky Bond, Jan 24: The Current – How to rally Women's March spirit into action). They argued that it would be a wasted opportunity to ask something small to win something small at this stage because when people are mobilized― when 2 million people gather worldwide―they are willing to do big things for big gains.
I agree that the majority of people involved in the march are ready and waiting for the next big ask. I also know that peoples’ commitment to any given issue will range along a spectrum. So the question becomes: What invitation is being provided to people at the different ends of the commitment spectrum?
When I talk to groups about optimizing their ask, I often use Kickstarter campaigns as an example. In all Kickstarter campaigns there are levels of pledges starting from a small pledge of a nominal amount all the way up to an amount of incredibly generous proportions. As an example here are some of the pledge options for the Impress Coffee Brewer (one of my personal favourites):
Most people would never even offer the $600 option. Community organizers who are planning to ask something of the community are often hit with guilt because we feel like we’re asking too much. We know people are busy and over-committed and we assume it’s too much to ask, and it likely is for most people.
The beauty with the Kickstarter model is that people can self-select what their commitment level is. So let’s learn from this example:
It’s not always about how big or small the ask is, but more so ‘right-sizing’ your ask. Always re-focus on the community and the issue, and consider―maybe it’s time to include a big ask.