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1. All areas of your organization
need to be running a peak capacity.
If your automobile mechanic told you your car was in pretty good
shape at 88% capacity. His analysis of the vehicle informed you that
only seven of the eight cylinders were working which means the
vehicle’s effectiveness is at 88%. That is a “B” plus in a lot of
schools, but the vehicle would not run well. Think about this, if
every member of a football team operated at 91% the offense and
defense could fail because there is at least one person not doing
their job on each play. It could mean a missed block on offense or
a missed tackle on defense. It is the same way a not-for-profit
organization dependent on free-will donations. There is a need to
have all of the organization developed and operating at peak
efficiency in order to create the needed revenues.
2. Your efforts in ministry must be
personal. Most
funding appeals I see basically ask the recipient to send a donation
so we can minister to those people “over there”. The work that you
are doing needs to be vital both to the people “over there” and to
those that are on your mailing list. How does your mailing or
funding appeal apply to the priorities of the donor? There is a
statement concerning politics that you have no doubt heard, “All
politics are local.” Even national and international issues come
down to an application to the interests of the voter and the impact
locally. You need to make your organization personal even if
your ministry is primarily focused half-way around the world. The
number one thing that motivates giving is overall vision of the
goals of the organization. In an earthly sense your goals are
accomplished through the people that work in the organization along
with donors. Even though your ministry may be to people that are
very different from those on your mailing list you need to see the
mailing list as your mission field as well as those “over there”.
3. What are you doing in presenting
your organization that will distinguish what you are doing from
other appeals? We all
receive sales presentations in the mail. We sort through credit
card offers, automobile dealerships announcing a deal you can’t
beat, grocery store specials and the latest sales event at the
department store. Advertisements are present in your mail box every
day. No doubt you at times have opened the mail over the trash
can. The first thing you need to do is make sure your
organization’s presentation gets opened. The second thing you need
to get the donors attention once the envelop is opened. Please note
that I referred to this as your “organization’s presentation” and
not just a “fundraising letter.”
4. How are you going to present
your vision for ministry?
You must engage people and communicate what you are doing and get
them on board with your vision for ministry. You can make contacts
through churches in gaining opportunities to present your vision in
a Sunday morning or evening service or in a Sunday school class.
Look for independent Bible study groups where you can address five
to ten people at a time. There are groups like Mothers of Pre-Schoolers
(M.O.P.S.) that may allow time to present your vision. Visit
business people individually that may share your vision. Could you
encourage some of your present donors to have a dinner for
like-minded people in order to hear a presentation of your ministry
emphasis? There are companies that sell mailing lists. Is there an
age group that may be more inclined to support your work? Purchase
a mailing list to those people. Develop a mailing list of all
churches or at least those that may have a heart for what you are
doing and mail to them regularly. At Great Plains Christian Radio
we have literally mailed to every home in our coverage area three
times. We still have work to do in that we need to make contacts
with all of them again. Make contacts, make more contacts and do it
all again.
5. Don’t be afraid of rejection.
I have had several different positions as a salesman. I was always
told that I need to make twenty presentations to get one sale. I
was examining the data for Great Plains Christian Radio one day. I
did an inquiry of our mailing list as to how many donors we had. I
divided that number into the total number of addresses and
discovered that one of eighteen names on the mailing list has
given. Remarkable! It was almost identical to those sales jobs,
one donor for every twenty contacts. When you are examining your
budget for the coming year you may want to figure out how to
increase the mailing list in order to increase income for the
ministry.
6. Move people up the list.
There are people on your mailing list that give every month, others
are small-gift occasional donors, some are large-gift occasional
donors and there are those that do not give at all. What can you do
to move people up the list? There are no people who will not give.
There are only people that you have not found the key to provide
motivation or you have not adequately given them the vision for your
ministry that will result in a donation. Did you know that if you
did a survey you will find people on your mailing list that have not
given in over a year that consider themselves to be regular
supporters? They don’t realize it has been twelve months or more
since they have given. You have people that only mailed six
donations last year that committed to monthly giving and would be
appalled at their lack of faithfulness. However, don’t blame them.
It is your job as the manager or development director to motivate
them.
7. You need to be visible.
What can you do to have a presence in each of your supporter’s
homes? My work in Christian broadcasting makes it a bit easier to
be present in the homes of our supporters. Faithful listeners that
have heard our address a thousand times still do not remember it.
How can you place your name and address in your donor’s homes, so
they always know where they can go to get your address, phone
number, web address, etc? Send something to your donors they will
not throw away. Calendars, devotionals booklets, pens, letter
openers and other things could service this purpose. Make sure your
donors received return envelopes often.
8. Regularly stage an event that
people can attend.
The bigger the event the better. To fill up the local civic center
with one to three thousand people or more shows that you are an
organization that can get things done. The event can help you to
develop visibility and image. Events like this can cost ten
thousand to one hundred thousand dollars to stage. This event does
not have to be a fundraiser, but certainly you do not want to lose
money or at least not much. The event could serve to develop your
mailing list and a return could be realized. The event could be
used as a focus point to help raise funds. Money could be raised
for the event and the ticket sales or offering at the event would be
a positive cash flow to benefit the ministry. Concerts usually draw
the most attention. Speakers usually draw fewer people. However,
it all depends on the performer or speaker. Invest little and you
will generally have very little return.
9. You need to consider that first
impressions are everything. What is it that your organization is
doing? Do you have a
clear identity? In marketing it is called “branding”. What images
come to the mind of the public when they hear your name? Sometimes
that image is shaped by other similar organizations. If you have a
Christian school and someone sees your sign they no doubt will
connect you to the image they have of other Christian schools.
Develop your image. What image does the leader make, key personnel
and employees in general? What image is communicated by your
printed material? What is the appearance of your office and
building? If you operate a Christian radio station the overall
quality of the programming is essential. You need to develop
confidence in your organization to the point where someone will make
a donation. It is evident that the image and relationship are
developed before the donation is received.
10. What is the image of your
ministry? Integrity
is important. However, if people embrace your vision for ministry
they probably will not question the integrity of your organization
unless there is a reason to question it. It would be a good thing
to answer questions before they are asked concerning the
organizational structure. Who is on the Board of Directors and how
are they chosen are things that should be made public? The Board of
Directors should be a diverse group of people and should not be
heavily weighted by members of the same family or even the same
church. What checks and balances exist within the organization in
the handling of donations? Does the organization voluntarily submit
to an annual external audit? Caution should be exercised in
choosing vendors that supply goods and services to the
organization. For example if a Board member is the organization’s
insurance agent there should be evidence that there was some
competitive bidding. Individuals will rarely ask such questions.
However, someone making a sizable donation could request such
information. Churches many times ask questions such as these
before giving regularly from their mission budget. Foundations
always ask for documentation before making a gift. Have an
atmosphere of openness.
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Don
is observing forty years in broadcasting in 2009. Great Plains
Christian Radio consists of seven full power stations and thirty-six
translators. The flagship station, KJIL, has been named Station of
the Year most recently by NRB and in the past they have received
that honor from GMA, NAB (Marconi), Focus on The Family and the
Kansas Association of Broadcasters. Don Hughes and his wife
Polly have been married for thirty-one years and they have six
children.
Don Hughes can be reached at
don@kjil.com
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