Episode 023
Ana Rau
What does it take to secure a million-dollar commitment in half an hour? In this episode of Women’s Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang sits down with Ana Rau, a Major Gift Officer for higher education. Ana reveals the “shocking moment” when a donor offered a million dollars through their will and shares the “duckling” strategy for staying calm under pressure.
Ana discusses the moves management system and the critical alignment between a donor’s capacity and their interest. Whether you are fundraising for a nonprofit or pitching a big client, Ana’s advice on preparation, listening, and “flipping the script” on fear will give you the confidence to make your next big ask.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The “Duckling Strategy”: Staying calm on the surface while working hard underneath.
How to leverage commonalities and human connection to overcome professional bias.
Why you should never be scared to ask—and why “no” is the only worst-case scenario.
The importance of centering your work on impact and mission to sustain resilience.
"It's all about flipping the script & looking at a new way of viewing the problem to develop a unique solution."
[00:00:20] Alice Tang: Hello, Ana Rau.
[00:00:23] Ana Rau: Hi Alice. Thanks for having me today.
[00:00:26] Alice Tang: I’m so happy to have you. You’re my new friend, but a very wise young friend, Ana. Will you share a little bit about yourself, tell our audience who you are and what you do. How long have you done that?
[00:00:39] Ana Rau: Yes. So as you mentioned, my name is Ana Rau and I’m a major gift officer for higher education, which is just a fancy way of saying I help colleges fundraise for areas of need. I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Grand Valley State University in nonprofit management with the [00:01:00] emphasis in budget and finance. And so I’ve been in the nonprofit arena for a little over 10 years. And specifically in fundraising for six years. I honestly love what I do. I get to intersect with so many interesting, wonderful people. And I also get to hear about student needs and how we can really make transformational change at the college level. I love it.
[00:01:25] Alice Tang: Very good. Very good. So here we are dealing in the interview of woman who has either made a million, earn a million or accumulated million.
Now, before we recorded the show, we have determined that we are gonna talk about how you had win a million dollars from your donor. So we would stick with that round for this conversation here.
[00:01:49] Ana Rau: Yes, that sounds great. And then I’ll come back to you when I do make a million or accumulate a million personally. Sound good?
[00:01:57] Alice Tang: Great. Since we are at a women’s [00:02:00] million dollar conversation, we want to find out what’s your value for money? What will you say?
[00:02:05] Ana Rau: For me personally, when I do think of money, I think of what it can do for the future generations. I have two beautiful sons and I always want to be thinking of how am I taking this money and investing it in a proper way so that it’s gonna positively impact their life and generations after them.
[00:02:24] Alice Tang: You are such a great mother, and role model. We’ll find out more about a million dollars, which I overheard from the Great minds that you landed your million dollar ask in 30 minutes. I can’t believe it. Tell us about this.
[00:02:42] Ana Rau: I can hardly believe it either. Truly, I’ve worked harder for a $5,000 gift, $10,000 gift.
But it really is about what a donor has, not only the capacity to give, but they also have the interest to give. So when those two things align, then that’s a pretty good indicator that you’re gonna be able to [00:03:00] make some transformational change with the upcoming gifts. And that truly did work with this donor.
They were interested and they also had the capacity to give. And so it was a joint collaborative gift with my then predecessor. And we just talked with that donor and talked about the need areas at the college and how they can make transformational impacts with their gift. And so by the end of that call, that donor was very analytical and they said you know what I’d like to give a gift through my will.
Would a million dollars be impactful? And generally,
[00:03:37] Alice Tang: oh, can I pause you for a second?
[00:03:39] Ana Rau: Yeah.
[00:03:39] Alice Tang: If it were me, I wouldn’t know how to respond. Cuz you’re thinking about 25,000.
[00:03:45] Ana Rau: Yeah.
[00:03:45] Alice Tang: Pretty decent. When people say a million dollars, it’s like, Can you say that again?
[00:03:51] Ana Rau: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely was a very a very shocking moment in the conversation. But as a gift officer, you’re really trained [00:04:00] to prepare and plan for conversations to go in many directions. And so in that moment, you just shift the conversation and go where the donor is leading you. And so it was pretty great.
[00:04:11] Alice Tang: Awesome. So I’m envisioning you sitting at the call with Donor and then you said, a million, I’m so excited, but I can’t stand up and dance yet. Let me. Make sure that my smiles still maintain. Yes. May I help you to go through the process?
[00:04:28] Ana Rau: Yes. It’s like a duckling. You are calm on top of the water and your feet are just kicking underneath the water. So very calm.
[00:04:36] Alice Tang: Yes, yes. Good. How did it make you feel and perhaps you mentioned your predecessor how does it make you all feel after this?
[00:04:46] Ana Rau: Yeah, I was feeling a couple different things. Clearly excitement, but also just in awe of how my predecessor went through that conversation and also helped do the prep work to get to that level of a call. And [00:05:00] so there are definitely many steps that you need to take in a moves management system to be working with the donor to get there.
And so it was definitely a learning opportunity. And also peer joy because that gift really creates transformational change for many students.
[00:05:17] Alice Tang: Yeah. Especially I heard it take $5,000 for for a student. So imagine it’s 200 student being help.
[00:05:24] Ana Rau: Exactly.
[00:05:25] Alice Tang: It’s crazy, isn’t it? Crazy. Good. I’m feeling joy as you’re sharing the story.
I’m gonna shift to the next question. Now in your journey to get to this million. I’m sure there is some thing that you are running against. I’m calling them bias that may not be bias. But if it is, it could be an internal bias or external bias.
[00:05:48] Ana Rau: Yeah.
[00:05:48] Alice Tang: Some of our guests was telling us that is themselves. Who’s stopping them from move forward? So what’s your biggest bias before you get to that million?
[00:05:58] Ana Rau: Yeah being a woman of color [00:06:00] and also being towards the beginning of my career here, I definitely face a lot of biases just coming into the conversation. But what I really try to do on my end is prep and prepare for any donor meetings before I’m going there, and then truly in the conversation listening to what the donor’s interested in and then, really shining a light on our commonalities and our strengths and what we could do together as teammates in this work versus looking at our differences.
And so I’ve found over the years that us as humans, we have more things in common than we do that separate us. And so I really try to focus on those.
[00:06:40] Alice Tang: Thank you so much, Ana, for saying that because although I look a little bit pale color, I’m also a woman of color. I’m from the far east, from Asia. So I totally get it. Actually at the time when I’m less worrying about my my color or my sex gender I’m so powerful because I can [00:07:00] leverage that, my English has accent. My previous life, I’m talking about 20 years ago, if not longer, I worry that I was not clear.
You know what? I get to a point that when people did not understand, they have the responsibility to raise their hand and ask Alice, would you repeat? How would I know? They don’t understand.
[00:07:21] Ana Rau: Exactly.
[00:07:22] Alice Tang: That’s communication. Two ways. Two ways.
[00:07:24] Ana Rau: Exactly.
[00:07:25] Alice Tang: I flow a ball. If you can’t catch it, ask me to flow again. Simple fact. So I love that. I’ll leverage, we will leverage our color and my accent.
[00:07:37] Ana Rau: Exactly. And even, Thank you for sharing that. Alice and I too. I’m from Zambia and so from another country, and so there’s already that commonality of being immigrants here to the US and so it truly is when you have conversations and you get to know people on a different level, you get to find out more about one another and that brings you together.
So I love that.
[00:07:59] Alice Tang: [00:08:00] Beautiful, beautiful. Now every work has its own challenge. Career has its own challenge itself, so I bet you there is 1, 2, 3, or many times that you said, you know what is so hard here, I wanted to quit. What kept you going?
[00:08:21] Ana Rau: Yeah. What truly keeps me going, and I think it, I’ve never worked in the for-profit sector, but at least in the nonprofit sector, organizations really try to stick to their mission and values.
And so when I am having like a tough time moving a gift forward or might not be seeing eye to eye with someone I’m working with, it’s really easy to go back to the mission and recenter that and align that with my values. So when there are those tough days, I can remind myself, I’m here to support our students that might not have any other supports. They’re supporting their families. [00:09:00] They’re trying to change their lives and make generational change. And so if I can bring in $5,000, if that can help alleviate some tuition cost for them, then they’re able to maybe quit that part-time job, focus on school so that then in two years or 18 months, They can go out and get a job that really is gonna change their life and turn it into a career.
So I really just try to center that mission.
[00:09:28] Alice Tang: Ana, you have taken that focus of you feeling, how can I survive this so difficult? And then you stand that focus or take that focus too, what’s the impact of my work? So that sustained you at the time when you perhaps is at the lowest place were sometimes, movies lost, right?
Everything wrong was nobody’s fault. As long as we decided we are going to be resilient and stand up [00:10:00] again the next morning, right? Rest well, and focus on the impact instead of, I’m so sorry for myself.
[00:10:09] Ana Rau: It’s all about maybe flipping the script and looking at a new way of viewing the problem, coming up with a new solution.
[00:10:17] Alice Tang: That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. Of course our audience was looking at you and it’s I want to be Ana, I want to be her. What’s the one thing that you’re gonna give them?
[00:10:29] Ana Rau: Like one piece of advice?
[00:10:31] Alice Tang: Yes. One piece of advice.
[00:10:33] Ana Rau: I would say with this work, anyone can do it. It’s truly about just listening to what people have to say, where their passion areas are, and then pairing them up with the needs.
My one piece of advice I would give to them is don’t be scared to ask. You already know the worst answer. And that’s no. So if you already know the hardest part, then you have a lot of opportunity to think about. If they do [00:11:00] say yes, the opportunities that can happen. And that’s really exciting.
So you already know the worst part could be no.
[00:11:06] Alice Tang: Yeah, I just re so, so much respect for what you say you’ve already known what’s the worst. The worst is somebody say no, they’re not asking you to give them your first grandchild. No. Or ask you to move, to. Back to your home in camp.
[00:11:21] Ana Rau: Exactly. Yeah. Already know.
[00:11:24] Alice Tang: It’s not that difficult, but in our mind I like to use the analogy of when we are running in fear thinking something is super big. We look at that and as as an elephant, but really when you walk closer and you have the courage too. Yeah. It’s really a mouse.
[00:11:40] Ana Rau: Yeah, exactly. I heard this adage the other day. How would you go about eating an elephant? And it’s truly just one bite at a time. So it’s making things smaller and working through the system.
[00:11:52] Alice Tang: Only if you’re a meat eater.
[00:11:54] Ana Rau: True. Good point. Good point, Alice.
[00:11:58] Alice Tang: We are winding down with the [00:12:00] interesting question here. When you make a big decision how do you make it, what process do you go through?
[00:12:07] Ana Rau: Yeah. When I’m making big decisions with donors in doing this work, I really like to make sure that I’m prepared, going into the meetings, really making sure I’m doing my research and due diligence. And then with meeting with them, just listening, asking open-ended questions, and then coming to the point in a conversation or post conversation to make an ask. And so I have to make a call in my head if that donor has both the interest and capacity to give at that time. And if it’s the right time, and if they do, then going forward with that ask and then hopefully securing it and moving the gift forward through stewardship.
[00:12:51] Alice Tang: So preparation.
[00:12:53] Ana Rau: Yes. Prepare. You can’t be over prepared.
[00:12:56] Alice Tang: That’s right. That’s right. Alright what is one piece of [00:13:00] very good, or very bad advice that has hugely impact your life.
[00:13:06] Ana Rau: Yeah. I don’t know if this is huge, but I would say always bring a change of clothes. You never know if you’re gonna spill your coffee in the morning before a big meeting, so always having a backup outfit and being prepared that has saved me multiple times. So.
[00:13:23] Alice Tang: That’s beautiful advice. Especially we are transitioning, now a little bit post pandemic depending on who you are talking to. So we have hybrid meetings, schedules to in-person meetings, so yeah. If you’re asking for a million dollars today, I would really make sure one of the preparation is have another suit in your car.
[00:13:43] Ana Rau: Just in case.
[00:13:45] Alice Tang: And arrive early so that in case you feel you can’t have time to change.
[00:13:49] Ana Rau: Right.
[00:13:50] Alice Tang: Very good. Last question. What are you grateful for today?
[00:13:55] Ana Rau: Oh, this is more personal, but my [00:14:00] in-laws flew in last night and so they’re gonna be spending the next week with my family and I, so I’m forever grateful for family.
I think that’s the most important thing in this world, so I’m grateful for family.
[00:14:12] Alice Tang: I love how we close that because it’s really family. Why do we need to go and earn or make money? We even talk about a million dollars if there is nobody we care for. Living by ourself can be pretty, we don’t need that much. But it’s because of people we love. We want to create experience for them, for the kids to go to college, for the kids, to play with parents and grandparents and be able to do a little bit more with them.
[00:14:37] Ana Rau: Yes.
[00:14:37] Alice Tang: So I love how we close this. Is there any other final comment you want to make before we say goodbye?
[00:14:45] Ana Rau: Yeah. No, I think we covered everything. Thank you, Alice. Yes, it’s been an honor to meet with you.
[00:14:51] Alice Tang: Thank you, Ana. We appreciate you.
Ana Rau serves as the Chief Development Officer for Western Michigan University. She is a passionate nonprofit professional with a deep commitment to fundraising, particularly for underserved communities.
Ana brings diverse leadership skills in event planning, fundraising, and relationship building to her role. She is a dedicated connector, driven by the goal of pairing people, passion, and philanthropy to achieve organizational success. Known for her creative problem-solving abilities and collaborative spirit, Ana excels at finding solutions to challenging situations. Her experience has refined her ability to perform effectively under pressure while maintaining a high level of positivity and professionalism.