When You Don’t Have Time for Fundraising!
© The Navigators. Do Not Use Without Permission. All Rights Reserved.
You intended to make funding appeals the last two months, but you didn’t get around to it. And now the students arrive in two weeks.
I’ve been there. ☹️
When I was in campus ministry, the student team and I discovered we needed to host an unplanned outreach event in the middle of the semester. It was going to cost a bunch of money!
But I was ill-prepared. Our ministry account was nearly empty.
So, I fearfully phoned a friend whom I thought might help with a large gift. On the phone he was gracious and liked the outreach idea. But he balked when I said the money needed to be in my account this week!
He sent a gift, but it was smaller than I hoped.
How much better it would have been if I had phoned him in August—before the pressure was on!
If you only have 5-10-15 days how about this?
1.Re-connect with 10 Lapsed Giving-Partners. Check your records and identify 10 former donors who have not given in the last 12 months. They voted for you once—they will vote again! Here’s your plan:
Pray over the 10 name by name.
Text them: “Our ministry season kicks off in ___ days and I need your help. Will phone you soon!”
If they pick the phone and live nearby, ask to meet together. Face-to-face appeals gather better results and deepen friendships.
If they cannot meet face-to-face, catch up on their life on the phone. Then make your appeal on the spot. Briefly.
If you cannot reach them via phone, send an email inviting them to “re-start” their support.
What to say? Here are some sentence starters:
“You gave to our ministry ___ years ago…thank you! Now, may I ask you to do it again….”
“The students return September 3, and I must be ready to go full steam. We need to be fully funded by then….”
“It’s been awhile…what has been happening in your life the past year…”
“Emergencies and new opportunities come up as we launch a new ministry…I need to be ready to jump in…that’s why I am calling today…”
2. Invite Two Anchor Donors to Help. Who are two people you could invite to give large amounts now? What to say—see above also:
“We have a faithful team of monthly partners, but we also need anchor partners to support our ministry with gifts of $5000-10,000--especially as we start a new ministry year…”
Don’t start a new season of ministry with mediocre funding. It’s not too late to contact 10 lapsed partners and two anchor donors. Do it now so you can focus on outreach later.
“How will they preach unless they are sent?”
