You will receive 0% of the gifts you never ask for.  Hope is a poor philanthropic investment plan.  You may not receive 100% of the commitments you request but you will certainly spark a conversation in all of your asks.  Even if an individual chooses not to invest in your cause, if you listen well you will have received something immeasurably more valuable than the assumptions that kept another person from making the ask.  Go on the journey, even if it appears dark and uncertain. 

Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges— Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!

Ruyard Kipling, The Explorer, Stanza 2 (1903)