Laura Fredricks, based in New York City, is the billion-dollar ask-maker powerhouse, who, as CEO and founder of THE A$K, trains and coaches nonprofits and businesses on how to ask for money—and more of it. She is the first to combine the most trusted professions—law and philanthropy— to show how any person, charity, or business can raise money in unprecedented levels. For over 25 years, she has advised organizations around the globe on current trends within the philanthropic world and has shared her thoughts on the management of their assets, personnel, and organizational structure. Her five books, including THE ASK, are the international industry-leading, go-to guides. She is today's money wellness expert and has become a media personality.

As an attorney-turned-philanthropic advisor, Laura Fredricks knows how to ask. She comes from a seasoned career in industries best known for making the most high-profile asks—law and philanthropy—and is the first to merge strategies from both professional sectors into a mainstream practice now known as THE ASK, also available for the business and consumer lifestyle marketplace. This new practice has placed Laura on the national and international speaking circuits and at conferences around the world from Amsterdam to Annapolis, Bologna to Boca Raton, Moscow to Madison, Sydney to Seattle, and Vancouver to Vail. THE ASK has also led her to TV and radio appearances on national and local talk shows, and her expertise has been featured in national publications.

Money Wellness Expert

Laura is the “money wellness expert” with an all-new, 30-day on-line money wellness program. Her book Money Wellness: Is Money Making You $ick? is the first to explore how money affects your diet, sleep, exercise, spirituality, creativity, and fun, and it tells you how you can work out your money blockers that prevent you from having the best relationship with money. Laura's “Seven Days to Money and Your Significant Other” online program has helped couples work out their money issues so they can get back to romance.

Ivy League Lecturer

In addition to her philanthropy work, Laura Fredricks has taught nonprofit business management and fundraising techniques at Columbia University, New York University, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, The Smithsonian Institute, and the Harvard and Princeton Clubs. Her courses cover nonprofit leadership, fundraising trends, and how to ask for major, planned, special events, and capital campaign gifts. She has been teaching since 1994 and is a current advisory board member for New York University and Columbia University's fundraising programs.

Fundraising Track Record

Laura Fredricks entered the fundraising field serving as the Philadelphia Bar Foundation's director of development, where she launched a major gifts program that increased individual giving by more than 75 percent. As vice president for philanthropy at Pace University in New York City, she was the driving force behind an unprecedented $100 million charitable raise during a six-year campaign period right after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In this role, she oversaw all aspects of fundraising and alumni relations for a staff of 40 across five state-wide campuses.

Prior to her tenure at Pace, Laura Fredricks was associate vice president for development at Philadelphia's Temple University, where she managed and coordinated major and planned giving programs, corporate and foundation funding, and alumni relations for 15 schools and colleges, two hospitals, and the athletic program during a $300 million campaign. As major gifts manager for the Deborah Hospital Foundation, she elevated the major gift program from $50,000 to $6.1 million from grateful patients in just one year.

In addition to her contributions to academic boards, Laura Fredricks has served as an executive board member for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater New York Chapter; AFP Philadelphia; Operation Homefront, which supports military families; and for the Cherry Lane Theatre, the oldest, continuously running off-Broadway theatrical house. In addition, Laura has been a longtime volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America.

Media Expert

Laura Fredricks was most recently interviewed on CNN speaking on the impact of a possible $500 million federal funding cut for Planned Parenthood and she has also appeared on Fox's America's Headline News, commenting on how presidential candidates should ask for money. As “The Expert on THE ASK” she provided Katie Couric and her ABC News/Yahoo News viewers with tips on how to ask for what you want.

Laura's asking strategies for better living have also found themselves on the pages of popular lifestyle publications such as The Huffington Post, Women's Health, Shape, Self, and The Bridal Guide, as well as in major-market newspapers. The Chicago Tribune featured her “easy-to-please asking tactics” that deliver “how to get exactly what you want (or don't want!) on Valentine's Day.” Her tips, tools, and best practices can be used and applied instantly to any facet of everyday life, at any time, from anywhere—in relationships, finance, health, and careers. Her “asking advice for everyday living” has also become a topic for TV segments on local talk shows across the nation.

Listeners to radio programs on New York's WOR, Chicago's WGN, and Sirius XM Satellite Radio have also been benefitting from Laura's motivational voice with tips on how to ask for travel upgrades and questions you are not asking your doctor that could cost you money.

In the corporate sector, Laura's financial asking philosophies have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Financial Advisor IQ, as well as on WSJ Live: Dow Jones Wealth Advisor. She has provided entrepreneurs with tips on how to snag a superstar client simply by knowing how to ASK for them. She has also been quoted throughout the philanthropic community in The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Advancing Philanthropy.

To keep energy and focus up and at all times, Laura mountaineers through the high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. For more about Laura, please visit www.expertontheask.com.