Philanthropy is in my blood. It seems as though I was born asking people for money. My mother, when younger, was one of those people who volunteered for everything. Not only that, but she volunteered me for everything. I went door-to-door (in the days when people did this) asking for donations to UNICEF, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Leukemia, and more. Do people hand over their money more readily when a cute 8-year-old in blond pigtails is knocking at the door?
As a museum curator, I learned to raise my own money for the exhibitions I wanted to have in the museum. I wrote grants and asked for cash and in-kind donations from individuals and businesses. Around that same time, I volunteered to chair a big fundraiser for an organization that cared for people living with AIDS.
It’s not easy to ask for money. But it gets easier when it’s for a cause that you believe in passionately.
Tune in tomorrow for “Donate Your Art Prudently.”
