Former President Barack Obama received a standing ovation at a Los Altos Hills fundraiser the other day, but the 100 donors in attendance heard something else that they didn’t cheer as loudly for — a really hard sell to “give until it hurts.”

“It’s a wealth election,” tech executive Amy Rao told the guests before Obama and Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez came in. “This is about sitting down and looking at your personal wealth and saying, what percent of it are you willing to put on the table to make sure that we win in 2020? ... And it doesn’t matter who the Democratic candidate is.”

The reason: The Democrats are falling further behind the GOP in fundraising.

The Democratic National Committee ended October with $8.7 million cash on hand and $7 million in debts. The Republican National Committee had $61 million in the bank at the end of October.

That’s why Rao told people at Thursday’s fundraiser, including Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, to “give so much that you’re actually giving something up. Give so much that it actually hurts.

“Give so much that you’re giving up family vacations, you’re giving up purchases for your family, you’re giving up holiday gifts,” Rao said. “Give so much that you are digging into your retirement and what you thought you were going to leave to your children — because there is nothing more important to us than making sure we end this presidency in 2020.”

Rao suggested donors max out at $865,000 per person per year. That would include maximum donations of $35,500 to the DNC’s general account, $106,500 to its headquarters account, $106,500 to its legal account, $106,500 to its convention account and $510,000 in $10,000 maximum donations to all 50 state parties and plus the District of Columbia.

“I don’t know how many people in this room did that,” Rao said. “I have a feeling that there’s a number of people in this room that can afford to do this. It’s only money. You’ll never miss it. Especially when it’s in your saving account. You’ll never miss it if it was in your retirement. It will be OK.”

Obama didn’t let up when it was his turn before the donors, who paid anywhere from $10,000 to $355,000 to be there. This was Obama’s first fundraising appearance for the national party. The proceeds went to the Democratic Unity Fund, which will benefit the party’s eventual presidential nominee.

“If you’ve got a lot of money, give some more money,” Obama said. “You can afford it. I know, because I can afford it. And, I see you all at the restaurants and these places. You know, I’ve been in some of your houses. I see what’s happening with your accountants. You can do more. So, if you can do more, do more.”

Obama humorously invoked another institution that encourages its patrons to give.

“Those of you who have ever attended church might have heard the pastor say, ‘God loves a cheerful giver.’ So if you want to feel cheerful ...” Obama said to laughter. “But if you walk away too cheerful, it probably wasn’t enough. So you want to be just at the borderline where, ‘I’m still cheerful, but I’m wonderin’.’ ”

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli