There is someone in the circles of people closest to you who would be delighted – in fact, honored – to make a major gift to FightSMA (www.fightsma.org). This may be a distant relative, a college friend who has “done well” or a business relationship who has become a friend.

For a person of means, a gift of $50,000 or even $100,000 is realistic. It’s not realistic for many of us (okay, pretty much ALL of us), but for someone who CAN make such a gift, it’s a blessing to them to make it. We have a responsibility, to the children we love and to the children we’ve met who are fighting SMA, to push through our own feelings of awkwardness or inadequacy – and we all have those feelings…all of us – and MAKE THE ASK.

So, take a deep breath. Or exhale a sigh of resignation…and read on.

And, hey, why are we on this planet anyway? To live cautiously and timidly? Are we supposed to end your days, saying “I should have…”

Hardly.

Listen to Shakespeare:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

So, the “Three Questions to Ask Yourself to Reach the Miracle.”

1. Who have I avoided sitting down with and making the hard ask, even though I KNOW they can make a very large gift? You may have asked them before, and after an uncomfortable and long silence, a few avoided glances, and some clearing of the throat, they said they’d think real hard about it and that was the last of it. It may have been five years since you’ve brought it up. But you need to do it again. They may have softened. They may be in a better place to consider it. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Think about this person, then think of an approach. Talk through your approach with someone who knows you well and can bolster your confidence.

2. If I made a list of possible people to contact, have I exhausted all my circles? I bet you can come up with three good, realistic prospects. Think back to high school. Did you know that the quiet kid in the cadet corps who couldn’t play Taps has made several million dollars on Wall Street? Find him. Get back in touch. How about Uncle Harry? He just sold his carpet cleaning company. It wasn’t huge, but he cleared about $1.5 million. What’s he going to do with the money? Let the IRS have it? Stop him from dumping it down that rat hole. And what about acquaintances at church, in the Rotary? At work? Make a list of 10 relatives. Who do THEY know?

3. Have you visualized the amount of money you’re going to get? Think about fifty one-thousand dollar bills. Think hard about them. See those crisp, pretty bills in a suitcase, or in a big grocery bag. Enjoy the fact that you’re going to get someone to give them to you, for the most important cause of your life. In your mind, toss the bills up into the air and watch them flutter to the ground. Giggle about it. IT’S JUST MONEY, AND YOU CAN GET IT. Figure out an amount you want to ask for and make it feel real.

You can do this.