Are $$ the sign of success?

What a silly question to ask fund raisers...are $$$'s the sign of success???  Of course they are.  But wait.  Perhaps that is not the best question to ask.

Let's start with a more basic question before we jump to the jugular.

Are you doing fund raising or are you doing ministry?  If your fund raising is not part of a deeper ministry, this blog is not for you.  This is not to condemn anyone. This is just a different approach. Different is different not wrong.

So, if you are still reading,  I am assuming you answered...I am doing ministry, not JUST fund raising.

If you are doing ministry then stewardship/giving is part of the work but not all.  Therefore in TG, getting dollars is only part of the story not the entire story. Here is one way of setting goals my development teams uses in training.  This helps see the entire story and go beyond dollars to ministry.

If support raising was a college course,  what would an “A” look like?  No one takes a college course without getting a syllabus in order to know what to do to get an “A”.  All the work done in the class is done with the final grade in mind.

 

So here is what the syllabus might look like.

Fund Raising Syllabus

Goals of class

1.      Mobilize current champions to deeper involvement

2.      Enlarge team with new champions for The Cause

3.      Hit budget (Doing 1 and 2 will lead to #3)

How to accomplish class Goals

Plan

·        Fund raiser set goals for their work

·        Identify Champions activity according to PEO

·        Identify a few champions to work on migration goals with them

Implement Plan

·        Activity must align with class goals

·        Activity needs to align with CMS principles

·        Activity needs to be regular!!!

Evaluation

·        Success is measured by the goals of the class stated above.

·        Monthly identify what is working and what is not.

·        Evaluation is done collaboratively with a coach.

Take the Guilt Out of Giving

A lot of financial appeals are motivated by guilt.  “If you do not give up your candy bar and pop, 3 children will die today.”  “Without your giving, I will not be able to go tell others about Jesus.”  And so on.

We have all heard them; maybe we have even said them.  But were they correct? Or should they have been said?  I struggle with the transference of guilt and knowing if it is even accurate.  But philosophy aside, let’s look at this method of funding up against the goal of giving being transformational.

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 many of you know the servant who did not reproduce for the master was called wicked.  But note the attitude of the servant.  In Mt 25:25 he expresses his feelings about the master.  He was AFRAID of him. His whole motivation was not for change but self-preservation. 

Giving out of guilt is an act of self-preservation.  It says less about the lives we want to change and more about our desire to feel better about ourselves, or too relieve our bad feelings, or too calm our own fears.

Personally I do not feel guilt driven appeals are part of transformational giving. Rather as we grow in Christ we see giving as part of our discipleship journey.  So the desire to be Christlike drives giving.  If our giving is based on guilt, once the child is sponsored and the guilt is gone so is the giving.  But if the giving is reflective of the journey with Christ then the sky is the limit.

Dr. Steve DeNeff is his book SoulShift speaks to the servant in Matthew 25.  He shows the attitude of the wicked servant is one of a consumer not a steward. The consumer sees God as stingy and harsh and hopes to be blessed while hiding in fear.  The steward sees God as gracious and giving and wants to be a blessing to God.  This is a major difference.  The steward does not give out of fear or guilt, but out of relationship and blessing.

Faith vs. Stewardship

Faith versus stewardship?? Seems like a misguided battle.  You may be thinking these two principles are so closely linked that I have created an imaginary battle by even stating it.  Maybe. Let’s see.

My current role in fund raising is from the perspective of a missionary agency.  So let me speak to what missionaries are currently seeing in the realm of giving.

In the month of May I have had the same conversation, via email or office visit, with three different missionaries.  The conversation is based on the fact that churches have stopped giving offerings.  A few years ago when a missionary shared at a church, the congregation usually gave a love offering to the missionary to at least cover the cost of coming.  Now it is all too common for a missionary to speak and receive no gift for their time, travel, or ministry.  One missionary said in his last 15 services he received two offerings.

I must admit that as a pastor myself, I am embarrassed when missionaries tell me churches do not give an offering to at least cover the travel to get to the church, or to pay for the time they shared with the church.  After all, the Bible does teach us to pay a worker his wages.

But what has driven the church to not take an offering to cover the ‘wage’ of a speaker? Or what has driven the members of the Body of Christ to stop giving. Many have even stopped giving to the local church itself.

Several individuals have told me their lack of giving is them being good stewards of what God has provided.  I completely understand adjustments in giving when jobs are lost, or income is down.  However to stop giving in the name of stewardship is not biblical and it pits stewardship against faith. 

Stewardship is needed and a must as a follower of Christ.  But the Christian's stewardship is in place to maximize his/her giving to God not to minimize it.  The believer purchases clothes and cars based on what he can afford.  Stewardship is the tool to guide the spending habits of the believer.  The Christian principle of stewardship teaches us to count the cost and not spend more that we can afford.  But remember spending and giving are not the same!!

Faith goes beyond figuring if I can afford an item or not.  Faith says that in giving, the question is not “What can I afford to give?”  Rather the question is, “What is God telling me to give?”  Many have stopped giving in the name of being good stewards.  This is actually bad stewardship.
To stop giving is more a testimony about a person’s faith, not his/her stewardship.  Remember Transformational Giving Principle 1: Every act of giving is first and foremost a statement about the faithfulness of God

Even though it does not appear that faith and stewardship are opposites, misguided applications of these principles has too often pitted them against each other.  God’s desire is for our stewardship to be guided by our faith.  They are to work together.  God may regularly tell you to give more than you can afford, but it is not more than he can provide.  Therefore giving is a matter of faith.  Faith then guides our stewardship.  I would go so far to challenge you that stewardship without faith risks turning into stinginess.

Transformed Philanthropy

“Russ wanted the Russell Berrie Foundation to make a difference, to make his philanthropy count,” said Angelica Berrie, president of the Russell Berrie Foundation. “Giving is not just about writing a check. It is a relationship between those who have the means to touch people’s lives and the causes that inspire their generosity. In the process, we are transformed by acts of loving-kindness.”

The above quote is from the Russell Berrie Foundation and their focus on transformational giving. Not bad stuff. However, let me challenge this statement by laying the Christian principles of TG on top of this.

I am not saying the quote from Ms. Berrie is wrong; I just want to tweak it. So let's look at it phrase by phrase.

• "Russ wanted the Russell Berrie Foundation to make a difference, to make his philanthropy count,” Good point, no one wants to think their giving was a waste of resources.
  


• “Giving is not just about writing a check.” Amen. More people need to hear this and believe it.
  


• “It is a relationship between those who have the means…” Here is where I would like to ‘beef up’ the thoughts of the RBFoundation’s idea of transformational giving. “It is a relationship”, I love that part. The statement about ‘people with means’ can be taken wrong if we are not careful. We all have means, not just the wealthy. Not the same amount to be sure, but if giving is not just about writing a check then transformation giving is for. Everyone has something to GIVE. (Check out When Helping Hurts to see that everyone has something to give.)
  


• “to touch people’s lives and the causes that inspire their generosity.” As this blog looks at TG we look at the Christina view point of giving being part of following Christ, so this portion of the quote takes a different turn when thinking of giving being part of our stewardship. What if we said, “to touch people’s lives in ways to communicate and inspire their generosity as an act of obedience to the teachings of Christ.” Giving is Christlike, therefore giving changes the giver in that it is a result of the character of Christ breaking into a fallen world. Also by looking at our generosity as an act of obedience it takes the focus off us and puts the focus on what God is saying and doing.
  


• “In the process, we are transformed by acts of loving-kindness.” So true, but as followers of Christ both giving and teaching about giving flow from God changing givers as a result of obedience. Loving-kindness is from God. This is why the act of giving is transformational.

Safety Tested

In college I had a friend with a Volvo. Honestly, it was an ugly car, but his parents got it for him because it was the safest. Personally I would rather have a sports car than a safe car. Sports cars are good looking, safe cars, well, are not. Why does safe have to be ugly? I want both safe and good looking.

TG is both. It is good looking and safety approved. Let me explain.


What happens to giving when the economy crashes? We assume giving crashes too. But does it have to?

What if the champion’s giving is because they see the outreach as his or her own and not yours? For example let’s say the champion sees feeding the homeless as her own responsibility not the local rescue mission’s responsibility. The champion needs the local rescue mission to get the meals out, after all not many homes are equipped to feed a few hundred people a day. But the drive of the ministry is as much the champion’s as it is the rescue mission.
Therefore when the economy crashes the champion keeps giving because it is his call, her ministry. The ministry is a part of who they are because of what God does in the champion’s life through obedience. It is seen as the champion as a shared ministry.


When giving is a result of shared ministry it transforms the champion as much, if not more than the agency, mission, church etc. This is the ‘good looking’ part of TG. So when a champion is looking for a giving model to test drive, TG catches his eye like the sports car catches my eye. But TG is also safe in that it depends on God and His provision and is not dependent on the stock market or external economic influence.

TG is safety tested, because it works regardless. Multiple stories are out there of champions who give even in tough times not because the giving is done out of a disposable income, but because it is done in obedience to God. This is why it is important to build your giving on TG and why TG needs taught.

Eric Foley calls this ‘recession proof’ giving. I like that. My bank cannot even offer recession proof guarantees.

A Positive Shift

In the latest book from Steve DeNeff along with David Drury, SoulShift, there is a chapter on shifting from being a “Consumer” to being a “Steward”. Good stuff in this chapter relating to the end result of what this blog calls Transformational Giving. So whether you call it ‘shifting from being a consumer to steward’ or ‘moving into a life of TG’, it is the same principles.

Parts of this chapter hit on key principles of TG. Allow me to quote some of Steve’s insights.

“Consumer to steward is a shift in ownership from acquiring things for ourselves
to offering what we have to God and others.”

In the parable of the talents, “Stewards see the master as generous. However, to consumers, the master is stingy.”

“The steward’s most coveted thing is never the master’s possessions but the master’s happiness.” I love this quote!!!

“Consumers always want to be on the receiving end of the blessing.
But stewards want to bless others.”

Think about these quotes from two different perspectives.

One, is how can you as a fund raiser communicate these truths to the listener? TG needs to be taught to the Body to overcome several misconceptions about the role of giving in the Church. The steward's giving is part of the spiritual journey and is a joy in serving God. This needs taught!

Two, think how these quotes above should change the way you ask the champion to give. They help us see we are dealing with heart issues not bank account issues. Therefore, the discipleship factor in TG is critical. So not only do we need to teach TG but we reflect these truths in our asking.

Practice what we preach?

As those who work with helping mobilize the Church to give, we must always be willing to practice what we preach. Are we givers? Are we good stewards? These questions need to be answered and not just personally, but as a local church, mission agency, relief agency etc. In other words, are the instiutions we serve good stewards and givers.

Do we give back or are we always receiving? Does your church give to missions, local groups whatever? Does your agency give to help others, or is it all just receiving?

Hear what Ravi Zacharias says in his book, The Grand Weaver. He has a small but power section on giving in the chapter titled Your Worship Matters (pgs 148-149). But this one quote from that section needs to be heard by all who raise funds.

“Spending more and more on ourselves and giving less and less to the world in need may be the very reason few take our mission seriously.”

We should not teach Transformational Giving if we are not helping our ministry lead the way in giving. Zacharias is right about more and more spending weakens our message. The Church spends far too much on itself before addressing the needs around us. The good news is, every time I hear a testimony that reflects a body of believers who does not fall into this category, I see a thriving outreach for God.

It would be a blessing for us to hear more testimonies of institutions and churches who lead the way in giving. If you have one, by all means post it here for the readers.

Your Theology is Showing

I am an ordained ministry in the Evangelical Church of North America. A core belief of my denomination is for the believer to live a life filled by God’s Spirit and the reality that the believer can have this fullness now and walk in the abundant life God promises.

This post, nor this blog, is for the purpose of convincing the reader of any particular doctrine. However this post is about the fact that your theology greatly impacts your take on TG.

Just this afternoon, a missionary sat in my office and told me a great testimony of one of his champions. Back in the 1970’s as he was starting out, a gentleman came up prior to the missionary presentation and told the missionary that he was glad to have a missionary speaking that evening, but he did not have any money to give. He wanted him to know this right up front before the service started. After the missionary presented the gospel and how the gospel must be proclaimed to all nations, the same gentleman came up and said, “Well now I have to give.” The Spirit showed this man his role and he followed God.

Forty years later the champion has now died. By the time of his death his average gift was $170 per month. Through the years he never missed a month and maintained a loving relationship with the missionary. This champion's wife was not a believer at the time the man started giving to missions. But before his death she had become a Christian. Part of the impact on her decision was the habitual giving of her husband, the giving of the missionary back into their lives, and God’s faithfulness in providing through His abundance all the years.


The ideas of habitual giving and God's abundance are points where my theology impacts my giving and teaching. Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit is vital to the Christian walk; it is so important that Jesus tells His disciples to wait before going out to fulfill His commission. Wait for what??...The coming of the Spirit. The Spirit gives the believers the power to surrender our life to the Father and thus enabling us to be faithful. Then the surrendered life is a walk of discipleship in Christ with His Body (i.e. the Church).

Jesus never taught the Church to get people to repent and then forget them and move on to the next. He says to make disciples. This is much more than “get ‘em saved” then on to the next group. It is about a deep walk with the filling of God’s Spirit in the heart of the believer. There is an habitual aspect to walking with Christ. (Eric Foley has a good post on habitual giving.) And there is a need to trust in the abundant nature of God.


This belief regarding the fullness of God's Spirit drives my fund-raising. Onetime gifts to God are not enough. Discipleship is not a onetime event, nor is the need to be givers. God wants us to be habitual givers, whose lives are lived in Spirit-filled stewardship to Him. And as always our actions are not just for ourselves, but are testimonies to teach others.

God Has Enough

In today’s world of budget cuts, high gas prices, national debt, etc, etc, etc. Each of us knows that our resources are limited. We know the principles of not spending more than we make. We see the dangers of deficits whether in our nation, church or agency. These dangers and these principles are real but if we are not careful they can also trump our faith.

Many mission agencies, churches, and individuals have a pie chart for budget talks. Each department or ministry hopes they get their ‘share’ of the pie. But the truth of the matter is, God does not have pie charts.

The widow of Zarephath had a budget. It was empty. She was on her last scoop of flour and when it is gone she was done. So her resources were all used up and there would be no more. Then God got involved and the flour never ran out.

God does not have pie charts but he does have bread slices. And from what I see He never runs out. Whether the widow at Zarephath or the boy who gave Christ his lunch. Both had what they needed and no one was left out.

If giving is to transform, then faith must trump budgets. I know many churches who ask the congregations for faith promise giving. You know…Pledge to give what you do not see and trust God to meet the pledge. Then the church or agency leadership has a tendency leave the faith promise concept at the door when they approve budgets. Transformational giving does not advocate poor stewardship, but it does promote faith. No reason for faith promise not to make into the board room. After all God does not run out of flour.

So before we can look at practical steps to implement for transformational giving, we must agree that God has enough.