Displaying items by tag: fundraising
A Director of Advancement matters, a lot
by Kirk Walden, Advancement Specialist
When we think of a Director of Development or a Director of Advancement, we often think of someone whose sole job it is to build the ministry's funding base.
There is truth in this, but let's add a caution which may blow our socks off: It's not about the money.
In a sense, it is about money and we may grade job performance partially on funds raised. And, we can make the point that adding this position should result in more funds raised. So partially at least, money is an issue.
But, the Director of Advancement is primarily a person who should be involved in creating relationships with those who give to the ministry. As an off-shoot of these relationships more funds may certainly come in; but at its foundation, the Director of Advancement is not . . . About the money.
For those ministries trying to make a case for this position, let's offer this: In most pregnancy help organizations there is a Director of Client Services, or perhaps a Center Director. This person may work closely with volunteers; setting up trainings, recruiting and building relationships with volunteers. She is often the go-to person for volunteers.
If we truly believe that our financial supporters volunteer for us, we now have a great reason to employ a Director of Advancement. We need someone who will not only work on our events, but who will make it a year-round endeavor to build relationships with all who support the ministry.
Usually, the CEO forms close relationships with those who give major gifts; but what about those who give $25 per month? $50 per month? How much time does the CEO have if the number of people giving monthly swells to 100, 200 or 500?
Let's keep in mind that those giving monthly today may be the very people who can fund a capital campaign tomorrow. By building these relationships now—and making these true relationships—asking these friends to help with major gifts tomorrow becomes much more natural, and easier.
But we need a person who has the time to make building these relationships a priority. That person is not the CEO, who is working with the board, personnel issues, making presentations and more (oh, and who should be building relationships with many donors already). No, we need someone else, whose job is solely to connect our friends to the ministry.
The primary job of our Director of Advancement is not money, not at all. It is relationships. When our Director of Advancement is actively building relationships in the community, that's building love and camaraderie. And yes, our funding will grow as well.
Paul gives us a clear perspective (on raising funds!)
by Kirk Walden, Advancement Specialist
Raising funds is a challenge, certainly. Yet sometimes it is our perspective that creates its own challenges.
When funds are tight, it is easy for us to focus on what we don't have, and how to make our case known so we can get back to a financially-sound situation. It's natural for us, when things are tight, to be thinking of ways to try harder, to create new opportunities for gifts, etc.
The Apostle Paul was no stranger to tight situations, whether it be persecution, church turmoil, or finances. He also asked for gifts; making him—in our vernacular—a development director for the work of the fledgling church. If we don't believe this, all we have to do is read II Corinthians 8 and 9, two chapters where Paul lays out a plan for specific giving.
We can learn from Paul, primarily through his perspective. Read with me Philippians 4:16-17: "for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account."
Read that again. What does Paul actually want? "The profit which increases to your account." If we want a reason to look to Paul as our expert in fundraising, this is it. Paul is not interested in his own comfort, and while he knows his mission is to advance the power of the Gospel message, he sees another priority: Giving opportunity to build the faith and the resulting growth in the spiritual account of those who give.
If we are involved in development, these two verses should sit on our desk and be a focal point of our thinking, every single day. For if our perspective is to see our financial partners' "accounts" grow (instead of first focusing on our financial accounts), everything changes.
We will be:
• More attuned to our donors' spiritual needs
• More interested in seeing their spiritual growth through giving
• More willing to listen to their desires for our ministries
• Less worried about our ministry's financial situation
• Less likely to give in to gimmicks in order to raise funds
Paul had it right, didn't he? That's why Phil. 4:16-17 is not simply a couple of nice verses to chat about during a workshop. It is instead a state of mind that zeroes in on the real reason for giving. Giving will fund our ministries, yes. But God is not simply interested in getting people to give to us so that our organization can do more.
No, God wants to build the faith and the spiritual "accounts" of those who love him. We are being used by God to bring this to fruition. This was Paul's perspective. It can be ours, too.
Click here for more of this month's TLC.
Viewing our donors as our family
Commentary with Kirk
Viewing our donors as our family
Often, because our donors are on the other side of a check or a bank draft—and many times we do not actually see them, it is hard to gain perspective on these friends of the ministry.
Yes, we see them at banquets, other events, in the store or when we present our vision at a church. But if we were to sit down and add up all of our donors, how many do we get to talk to, face-to-face, in the course of a year? What's the number for us? Is it 10%? 20%? As much as 25%? I don't have a formula in mind here; but this brings out the fact that our mind set is important.
Because it is harder to connect with those who support us financially, we must have a mindset that keeps these very important people at the forefront of our thought processes.
Here are a few thoughts to consider:
Our financial supporters are volunteers for us, too
Many of us give gifts to our volunteers each year. Perhaps we have a volunteer appreciation event. We recognize our volunteers at our fundraising dinners. We recognize them in a special way on anniversaries (5 years, 10 years, etc.). This is all important to building a family culture among those who take the time to serve in our ministries.
And yet, almost all of our financial partners are doing something quite similar in order to support us. Those who are giving $50 per month may be volunteering two hours or more of their time (before taxes!) in order to give that gift. Some are sacrificing entertainment dollars for us. Others may be setting aside a night out with the family—for our ministry.
These too, in every sense of the word, are volunteers.
Does this mean we publicly recognize these people as volunteers? Not exactly. But it does mean that there can be a place for us to thank our financial supporters with the same heart in which we thank our volunteers. We will tackle the "Gift Question" on the following page, but for now let's keep in mind that seeing our donors as volunteers begins to shift our perspective.
We see volunteers as investing their talents in our ministry. So do financial supporters—just in a different way. The engineer, the construction worker, the doctor, the secretary, the teacher, the sales representative—all of these who are giving their funds are using their talents . . . For the betterment of our ministry.
In addition, we see volunteers as taking time out of their day to commit to our mission. The same dynamic takes place with our financial supporters. But what about the retired? And those on fixed incomes? These too, are volunteers. Their hard work over many years has paid off, and they are sharing the fruits of their past labors with us.
Volunteers then, aren't just in our offices. They are all over our community, working for us.
Our work: What's love got to do with it?
by Kirk Walden, Advancement Specialist
When we look at the ministry of development we are taught time and again that we are to see those who support us financially not simply as donors but as financial partners. This is true. We are in fact, to truly love those who choose to make our ministry or organization a financial priority in their lives.
This month then, let's ask a pertinent question that is bigger than capital campaigns, major donor development, or creating a perfect event.
In addition, let's consider a question larger than all of the words we use to describe development, such as "friend raising," and "building partnerships."
The question is a simple one for those of us in development: "What's love got to do with it?"
If we answer this question well, we will transform our fundraising initiatives. The reasons, just like the question above, are simple:
First, love is the key component to any strong relationship. Whether that relationship is a spouse, a good friend or a family member, love creates the foundation that takes a relationship through trials and struggles. And, love makes the good times even better.
Second, love shifts our focus away from "getting funds" and toward building an unshakeable foundation based on building these relationships. As we build relationships the funds will generally follow. And even if funds may not follow in some instances, we know our ministry is in the middle of God's will. Why?
Those development plans built on relationships are focused on eternal, not temporal, treasures. If we are always looking to the eternal, we never have to doubt whether we are in God's will. With that confidence, we will be less concerned when funding doesn't seem to be as strong.
So what does love have to do with our development plan? Everything. This month, let's consider what love looks like as we build relationships with those who support us.
Those on our support team are actually our volunteers, our heartbeat . . . And our brothers and sisters. Let's love them as we would ourselves.
Click here for more of this month's TLC.
Sparse Workshop Yields Bountiful Harvest
Preparing for her workshop on mergers and strategic partnerships at the 2013 Heartbeat International Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas, Vivan Koob was hoping her hard work would pay off in the encouragement and equipping of her fellow pregnancy help leaders.
When it came time for her to present, however, the room didn’t quite fill up as she’d hoped.
But that initial disappointment was long-gone by the time the calendar flipped to 2014, as Vivian’s pregnancy help organization, Elizabeth’s New Life Center in Dayton, Ohio, was in the process of reaping a bountiful harvest from the meagerly attended workshop.
As it turned out, the presentation Vivan was so busy preparing—and the fact that she presented it at Heartbeat’s conference—was the perfect fit for a strategic grant from the Dayton Foundation.
“It really was helpful to have given that talk at the conference,” Vivian said. “The grant itself is not a large grant, and it isn’t the first we’ve received from the Dayton Foundation, but it is going to go a long way to help us develop strategic alliances that will help us become less grant-reliant in the future.”
The grant covers the cost of a consultant whose role is to build strategic alliances with community entities, and promises to open the door to potential partnerships Elizabeth’s New Life Center may never have had the chance to approach otherwise.
Throughout the process, Vivan has also been invited by the Dayton Foundation to share her expertise on mergers with other nonprofits in the area, again setting the table for future partnerships that otherwise may not have been realized.
“This was an exciting grant for us to have received,” Vivian said. “Being able to say that we’d gone through three mergers and presented on the topic at Heartbeat’s conference really helped us to make our case.”
With two representatives from the development team at Elizabeth’s New Life Center slated to lead workshops at the 2014 Heartbeat International Annual Conference in Charleston, S.C., Vivian is hoping for the bountiful harvest to continue.
Hopefully, this year, the harvest won’t come at the cost of a sparse crowd.
Check out the workshops from the development team at Elizabeth’s New Life Center:
Panning for Gold in the Grant Funding Stream, Kima Jude
Development Bootcamp, Debbie Nieport LAS
Shelf Help: The Wall
Book by Kirk Walden
Review by Jor-El Godsey, Vice President
It’s all too easy to get so close to the trees that you miss the forest.
In our world, we can be so focused on the “trees”—day-to-day tasks needed to accomplish our mission—we miss the “forest” that our movement represents.
Kirk Walden, in his freshly printed book, The Wall: Building a Culture of Life in American and Ending Abortion as We Know It, shows us the big picture of how far we’ve come in the pregnancy help movement over our first 40-plus years. Kirk pictures pro-life Americans—specifically those in the pregnancy help movement—as the figurative wall of Nehemiah built to half its height (Nehemiah 4:6).
Moreover, Kirk challenges us all to remember there is half the wall—more of us doing what we do—yet to build!
The Wall is a short, but invigorating read. Kirk, a seasoned advocate for pregnancy help work, deftly weaves the biblical narrative together with a vision for victory!
