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.

What's Your Story

I receive emails called McKaughan Musings.  Paul McKaughan is a mission expert, author, speaker, over 40 years of mission experience and writes for www.MissioNexus.org.

His latest email was on leadership and getting people to follow.  In this email he made some key comments that apply to TG.

Paul speaks of storytelling.  Here is one quote that really applies to TG and getting the champion involved,

“...if I can see how I can participate in the story, that really gets my blood flowing.”

Did you see what he says?  His personal participation gets him excited. Our stories must include participation.  Without the listener seeing his or her involvement, it risks just being another feel good moment that does not last past the evening news. 

He goes on to say, 

"I want to hear a story of how the world will be different, not merely how your mission will be different."

We need to take this to heart. It is not just about you the speaker, or about just John Doe, the listener, but stories should be about real change for Christ’s Kingdom.  Changes we can work on together. This directly relates to TG principle #4

A champion connects with an organization for the purpose of enhancing their mutual impact on the cause, not only to support the organization’s impact on the cause.

  

Paul gives a list of great questions that can be directly applied to your TG strategy.

• "Does the story require God’s action?"  - It better be bigger than you and the listener, because if we do it without God it is not His.
• "Is the story about the future, or merely a replay of a glorious past?"  - A story of the past is valuable if used in a way to reflect the plan and need for future work.  If it is just the past with no vision of the future, put it in your memoirs, but do not share it in champion raising.
• What are the stories people tell themselves and each other? – Think about this for a moment.  This is my favorite question. It sparks me to think of these questions. What stories do you hear them telling each other?  Is it a story that others will talk about?  One thing I have seen...if the story shows the need for God, displays vision for the future and includes ways for the listener to participate...people WILL TELL others!!!

Retention is the New Acquisition

Retention is the New Acquisition.  This is a quote from a good article in the Agitator, Flat Earth Fundraising: Catch & Release Fishing.  This is a quote we need to hear.

I work mostly with missionaries; there are a few churches and colleges, but mostly missionaries.  Missionaries may have mailing lists of 350, 500, 700 people.  Just think if a mailing list of 500 people all gave $15 a month.  This would be $7500 in monthly giving.  That would be $7500 per month without getting one new team member.

However the individual raising funds who has 700-500 names on a mailing list is the same one who says, “I need new donors and new methods for new donor acquisition.”  The response should then be, “You have a data base full of champions waiting to go deeper. Work to retain and migrate this group before we go fishing for more.”

In the same article the author touches on that some of our ‘churning out’ methods on our donor mills to get new donors simply leads to destructive patterns.  So instead of churning more and more what if we increased what, Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay call, donor loyalty.  They say, “Increasing donor loyalty by 10% today, increases lifetime value of the fundraising database by up to 200%.”  In TG language we would say…migrating/discipling champions in their journey of giving is the equivalent of increasing loyalty. 

So if increased loyalty of 10% produces an increase in lifetime value, think what adding the spiritual element of Transformational Giving will do for the believer seeking to follow God’s will.  Funding is not to be snatch and grab, or catch and release, but an act of faith in God.  The fund-raiser who is not focused on catch and release is the one who cares more for the giver than the gift, thus avoiding a destructive method of “churn and burn.”

I want to suggest before we start looking for more ways to raise funds, we first improve current relationships.  Care for the champion. Reciprocate loyalty. And share the discipleship journey with the person giving.  All of which will strengthen retention. 

Would you raise funds if you did not have to?

What if your agency hit it big?  What if a gift came in that positioned you as such that you would not have to fund-raise any more?  If this type of gift came in would you still do fund-raising? Most I ask this question say, “Are you kidding?  No way.”  Maybe this is why God does not give us these types of gifts? 

If giving is not about the gift but the giver, then why would we ever stop fund raising? 

Look at the feeding of the 5000.  Why take the boy’s lunch to feed the crowd?  Just have the people hold out their hands, say a prayer, and a loaf of bread and a small fish appear in everyone’s hands.  But this is not what Christ did. People ate because someone gave.

God created the system of giving.  Check out the Levites in the Old Testament and see how God chose to take care of them.

Knowing that God wants us to give, helps lighten the burden of fund-raising. Using TG can transform the burden from being one of “I have to do this for my ministry account”, into a burden for others by thinking, “I need to do this for the spiritual development of others and myself.”  TG teaches the biblical truth that giving is part of our spiritual journey.  So exempting people from an opportunity to give would be like exempting one from being a witness for Christ.  The follower of Christ is to be as much a giver as they are to be a witness.  You may be God’s instrument in helping the believer to develop his walk in Christ through giving.

3 Simple Questions

There can be three easy questions you can have in your mind to help know the level a donor/champion is in his/her transformational journey. To refresh your memory of the transformational journey and its three levels of activity, Participant, Engaged, and Owner, you may need to click the level and see how these are defined.

The individual who is involved and begins to participate has answered the question:  “What can I do?”  This is the entry for us all.  We need to start somewhere.

The Participant who begins to ask, “Who else should do this with me?” is ready to function with the cause at the engagement level.  The sphere of influence is now getting bigger than the person and the project. 

The Engaged champion whose actions reflect the question, “Who else needs to know about this?” is now ready to be an owner and transfer the cause to others. Once the cause is being transferred, the individual has owned it is so much duplication begins.

It is really not hard at all to identify the level a champion may be functioning. Your role can be one to help the champion ask the next question to keep the involvement moving in a positive direction.  I fear some fail to disciple the champion because it seems too hard or cumbersome.  Hopefully these three questions help make the moving our champions simpler to understand.

Abandon Ship?

When it comes to money no one stays on a sinking ship.  It may be courageous for the captain of the Titanic to go down with the ship, but when we are talking bank accounts, and it looks like the financial ship is sinking, even the captain grabs a life boat.

In fund-raising many of our methods give the feeling that the ship is sinking.  Desperation sets in, we start using phrases like, “If you don’t…”, or, “without your gift I can’t…” The overall impression comes across as ‘the ship is going down’. Then we wonder why no one is inspired to give.  Would you want to board a sinking ship?

From Christian fund-raising to secular fund-raising the theme in teaching today is to stay positive. Negative impressions such as desperation, or ‘last push’ efforts lead to the conclusion that the ministry is in an unhealthy state. 

For those who strive to practice TG, being positive is not a gimmick, or a neatly packaged sales speech.  Rather, we are positive because our attitude is based in our theology.  That is, we believe in the abundance of God and we walk in a faith that God supplies our needs.  The ship is not going down.

Challenging people to give is a result of spiritual growth for all involved.  It is a part of ministry.  The giver sees that God is in control and provides for His work.

Being positive not only displays our faith in God, but also shows our belief in what we are doing.  If our needed budget is based in the activity of the ministry, then a positive image of the financial need displays the fact we are confident in the outreach.  When the funds are ministry active based and we use them for God, this allows us to confidently seek partners because it is not about us.

Don't Get Boxed In

Have you heard of the ‘4 rights’ in fund raising…the right solicitor, the right amount, the right project, and the right timing?

Well be careful because to make four right turns ends up making a square. Before you know it you are back where you started.  Do you ever feel that working in fund raising is always back to square one?  By that I mean, after the donor has given a gift you feel like you must start all over again to get a second gift.  Prayerfully, Transformational Giving can keep us from getting boxed in.

In TG the right solicitor is you with the Holy Spirit. So no one has to be excluded in seeking resources for God’s work.  TG is a God-thing.  Never do it alone.  Doing it with the help of God makes you the right solicitor.

In TG the right amount is not up to us!  The amount is a matter of obedience for the champion in relation to God.  Let God talk.   Challenge the champions to ask God for the right amount to give.  Let them see how giving is a spiritual discipline and like all spiritual disciplines, it is most effective when guided by the Spirit.  Seeing that the amount to give is up to God helps move giving beyond the budget and to the heart.

In TG the right project is defined by God.  Every believer has a role in the Great Commission.  Giving reflects the participation of the champion in the Great Commission.  I do recognize within the Great Commission there are causes; for example, helping orphans in China, or a clinic in South America.  God gives us all burdens and not all are the same.  So you may be talking to a champion that is not burdened to give to your call.  That’s ok.  As believers you and the champion share a burden for the Great Commission.  Celebrate that and assist them in growing this burden even if it not your cause.  Ask yourself, “Does my time with the champion discussing their cause advance the Kingdom of God?”  If the answer is yes, then allow God to bless their cause.  He will bless yours as well.

In TG the right time is now.  With giving being a matter of faith and obedience, the time is always now.  This attitude can help replace desperation with urgency.  We are not desperate for funds if we believe in the abundance of God.  However, the spreading of the Great Commission is an urgent matter.  There is a big difference between being desperate and working with urgency.  Desperation says, “I need the money now. So you better give.”  Urgency says, “They need the Gospel now. So let’s obey and work together.”