The Power of the Ask: Communication That Builds Community
When my children were in elementary school, I worked there as a Community Coordinator, helping transform a wing of the school into a neighbourhood centre. My office was in the multi-use space where the neighbourhood centre would eventually be located, and I shared that space with the school’s Child Care Worker.
One day, I came across her cutting up vegetables and fruit and putting out an assortment of healthy snacks.
I got curious.
Why was she doing this?
That simple question opened the door to a much bigger conversation.
Communication Helps Us See What We Might Otherwise Miss
I learned that she ran a Breakfast for Learning program that provided basic breakfast and lunch to 30–50 students each day, out of a school population of about 450. The program ensured students had access to the food they needed to learn, participate, and do their best.
I was shocked.
According to the Breakfast for Learning website, one in six children faced hunger every year. That’s a startling statistic, particularly when we consider the impact hunger and access to nutritious food can have on learning, behaviour, health, and long-term outcomes.
“Hunger has a huge impact on a child’s ability to learn and function. It prevents them from reaching their full potential in the classroom, and in life. Children who go to school hungry risk many lifelong consequences including less developed literacy and numeracy skills and poor health due to a lack of good nutrition. This can impact long-term physical and mental health and socio-economic outcomes.”— Breakfast for Learning, Childhood Hunger in Canada
But there was more to the story.
As I asked questions about the program and its funding, I discovered that the Child Care Worker and other staff were using their own money to cover the gap between available funding and the program's actual needs.
The shortfall was approximately $10,000 every year. They were quietly finding ways to make it work.
Sometimes the People Around Us Don't Know We Need Help
I reached out to the school Principal to better understand the situation. He explained that the Child Care Worker was doing everything she could to find additional funding, but there weren’t many options.
I kept thinking about it.
What could I do? Who else needed to know this story?
Eventually, I decided to send an email to friends and family.
I researched childhood food security, explored the funding situation, gathered the facts, and combined them with the very human story of what was happening in our school.
Before sending it, I ran the email by the Principal.
Then I made a clear ask.
There were two ways people could help:
Make a financial donation to the program through the school.
Join a meal train, with participants taking turns delivering fruit, vegetables, snacks, or whatever they could afford to contribute.
And then I hit send.
Clear Communication Can Turn Concern Into Action
The response was immediate.
Within two days, 20 people had signed up to bring food. Within a week, the request had travelled through the community. Churches, service clubs, businesses, families, and other community members became involved. Within a month, a local media company—where one of the parents on my original email list worked—provided a cheque for the entire $10,000 shortfall.
I was overwhelmed by the response. The Childcare Worker and Principal were overwhelmed.
But something even more important happened.
The program established relationships with community partners who continued supporting the work for several years.
One email didn't simply solve an immediate funding problem.
It started conversations. Those conversations created connections. And those connections became relationships.
What This Means for Non-Profit Communication
I often think about this story when working with non-profits. Organizations can become so accustomed to solving problems internally that they forget the people around them might genuinely want to help.
Staff may know about a challenge that leadership or the Board doesn't fully understand. One program may have resources or relationships that another program doesn't know exist. A community partner may have exactly the expertise, connections, volunteers, space, funding, or ideas you need.
But none of that becomes possible if we don't communicate.
Strong non-profit communication means creating opportunities for information, ideas, needs, and possibilities to move both within the organization and out into the community.
It means asking:
Who needs to know about this?
Who might have another perspective?
Who could help?
Who haven't we asked?
And then being willing to make the ask.
Don't Underestimate the Power of the Ask
Asking for help isn't simply about requesting money.
It can mean asking a colleague for an idea, inviting your Board into a conversation, seeking advice from a community partner, asking volunteers what they're seeing, or telling your community about a challenge and inviting them to be part of the solution.
The key is to communicate the need clearly, provide enough information for people to understand why it matters, tell the human story behind it, and offer meaningful ways to participate.
Because people can't respond to needs they don't know exist.
And sometimes, when we communicate openly and give people the opportunity to help, the response can be far greater than we ever imagined.
What challenge is your non-profit quietly trying to solve on its own that your team, partners, or community might help you address—if only you asked?
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