Benefits

The benefits of giving are seen by Christians every day.  But biblical truths are not just beneficial for the believer.   “Do not kill” is a biblical truth. You do not even have to know who God is for this truth to be meaningful in your life. God’s truth benefits believers and non-believers alike every day.  So His truth about giving are for the believer and non-believer.

As this blog is written for the purpose of Transformational Fund-raising and Transformational Giving here is an article passed on to me by one of our missionaries.  Why Fund-Raising Is Fun.

In this article the author mentions the benefits of being a charitable person.  So since being charitable is beneficial, then helping people be charitable is fun, because you know you are being a benefit to them if you help them become charitable.   

Here is a quote from Mr. Brooks  that caught me.  

 I have found that the real magic of fund-raising goes even deeper than temporary happiness or extra income. It creates meaning. Donors possess two disconnected commodities: material wealth and sincere convictions. Alone, these commodities are difficult to combine. But fund-raisers facilitate an alchemy of virtue: They empower those with financial resources to convert the dross of their money into the gold of a better society.

 Of course, not everyone shares the principles that motivate my institution’s scholars and supporters. But with millions of 501(c)(3)s and houses of worship nationwide, no one needs to wait on the sidelines and hope that politicians will marshal government power in service of their priorities. By investing their own time, talent and treasure, every American can bring his or her core principles to life. That can mean promoting literacy, conserving nature, saving souls or something else entirely. None of this is exactly revolutionary; after all, Jesus himself taught his followers, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

 What struck me is the reality that when our convictions are based on God’s Word, then combining His truth with the resources, or wealth, He has given to us, puts the donor on the front line of seeing God’s truth change the world.  By giving you can get off the sidelines.

Now that is beneficial.  

Adjust your Focus

One major key in giving being transformational as opposed to transactional is where the need is focused.  TG focuses on the need of the person to give not just the need you have to receive.  Here is a good quote from a recent article in Outcomes magazine about the role of 'need' in giving.

Generous giving ultimately flows to need-meeting ministries with vision, not needy ministries.   Our ministries need to be worthy of people support because we are fulfilling a God-ordained purpose, managing our ministries well, stewarding the resources we’ve been entrusted, and caring about and for our givers and those we service

 

I would make one small change to this quote to help both the giver and receiver. Change Our ministries need to be worthy of people support because we are fulfilling a God-ordained purpose

to

Our ministries need to be worthy of people support because we are fulfilling a God-ordained purpose, along with the givers' call to also fulfill their God-ordained purpose.

We know giving is needed not just for the recipient but for the giver.  The call God has given the one the giving is as critical as the call of your ministries purpose. 

I love the line above that helps us not to focus on being needy.  When you stop acting needy and start serving and caring for your givers, you will see fruit!

As We Go

I came across an interesting challenge from our TG friend Eric Foley in his blog on discipleship. The focus of his blog entry was on not doing all our discipling at retreats or over a cup of coffee.  But rather imitate Christ and disciple people as you go.  Take people along and let the example you give on the journey be part of your discipleship training.

 

For example in the last few years of my time pastoring a church I stated taking some of the church members with me to hospital visits.  I did not train them to visit the sick; I just took them with me.  We all learned a great deal by doing it together.

So now let’s take this same principle and see how it fits TG.

The ‘programs’ we are seeking to fund (missionaries, sending agencies, rescue ministries, churches and para-churches) all have the same opportunity to bring people along in their transformation.  We can do this through imitation. 

Rather than just teaching about the powerful changes of the local soup kitchen, take them to the local soup kitchen with you. Rather than just teaching the church attender the power of visiting the sick, take them with you to visit the sick.  For a missionary serving on the other side of the world you may say, “I cannot take all my champions to the ends of the earth to experience the outreach.”  True, but remember serving the world with a servant’s heart is at the core of the Great Commission.  So show a servant heart serving with them. Seek ways to serve the champion not just for the champion to serve you. 

Allow your service to be a reflection of what you are teaching them when you do meet for a cup of coffee or speak from a pulpit. Reach out to others together. Serve as you go and imitate the heart of Christ to the champion.

Basically we can take people deeper in their journey of transformation by getting our hands dirty and doing it with them.  In this we are discipling by example and using our actions for opportunities to reinforce the principles we teach.  Seeing us practice what we preach as we go is a key way to getting the message out of the building and into the street.

Major Donor?

Does a big gift make you a major donor? Maybe. If all we want are donors and their money, then I guess a major gift would make you a major donor. But if we want more than money and giving is about transformation and people, then big dollars are not the standard of measurement. In Transformational Giving donors become more than ATM’s, donors become champions of the cause. If this is the case then big gifts and big champions are not necessarily equal.

While in Zarephath, we see the widow did not have much to give. In fact her gift was small and it only appeared to be one meal worth in the midst of a drought. Not major gift by traditional standards.

However, it was major for her.

The small gift may not seem major to the mission or church, but it may be to the giver and to God.

Let’s try this: do not categorize the champion of the cause according to the size of the gift. What if instead we looked at the champion based on his/her involvement and ownership of the cause?

Let me ask this question for us to discuss… A while back my office received a LARGE gift for a project. One donor helped us hit the half way mark of the goal with one gift. We followed up the gift by offering this donor work team opportunities, chances to meet and greet the missionary, prayer opportunities, etc. The giver graciously declined any further involvement. They just wanted to help this project and that was all. Major gift yes. Major champion??? You tell me….

If you said, “No” to this donor being a major champion, how should this answer change your efforts to fund your ministry?

Chicken or the Egg

Oh the classic duel of which came first.

The other day I was reading a post by my ‘teacher’ and good friend Eric Foley, about a huge gift for the homeless in Florida. You can check this out on his blog.

The article addresses a huge offering. (Sounds like they hit the lottery. Don’t get me started on ‘lottery giving’ I’ll save that for another time.) In Eric’s post he focuses on training before giving. Not training in how to give but training in how to serve.

This made me think… which comes first, serving or giving? The answer…both.

As a pastor and now a mission director I have seen a growing common denominator in giving. We give to causes we have experienced. Yes there are many who give first, and then want to service the project they have contributed toward. But ‘the going first and giving second’ group is growing, so this is why the answer is both.

The Billy Graham Crusade rolled to town while I pastored. The congregation I served got behind this crusade in a big way. It changed our church. The giving toward outreach also changed greatly after we got involved in outreach.

We see this in the mission community as well. Short-term missions have increased the number of givers to missions. Many, who never regularly gave to missions, have come home from short-term missions and become regular givers.

Giving then is an extension of their service. When giving is seen holistically and not just a part of the Christian walk, but rather a principle of life, then giving gets bigger than dollars and it transforms. Offering training in ways to serve needs to include training in giving, while stewardship seminars need to include service training. If we keep them linked then the Body is healthier.

Don't work for just tips

Money is not the end all gauge to successful Transformational Giving but it is a big part of it. After all ‘Giving’ is in the title so finances must be a portion of the measurement for success.

In the magazine Outcomes David Willis discusses what he calls a Vision for Generosity. In this issue he distinguishes between what he calls ‘tipping’ and giving. Tipping happens when we simply exchange information. So tipping is the equivalent of an offering for you after a service. Then you leave the church and that is all you ever hear from the church and their members. The offering sometimes is just a ‘tip’ for coming. The tip is based on your ‘service’. (Pun intended). Good service good tip, bad service bad tip. Tough way to fund a ministry uh?

Giving is more than tipping. Giving happens when participation and engagement occur. Giving goes far beyond the dollar. The dollar is part of it but it goes further. It is action based not spectator based. It is relational. We are developing people not accounts. Your account is a portion of the fruit but not all. (ie. Transformational Giving) Remember, works produce fruit, not fruits produce work.

I would encourage all of you to read the Fall 2010 issue of Outcomes magazine. It is all over Transformational Giving.