I was on the phone last week with a 10-year successful student minister. But he was frustrated with donor ministry. He voiced a dilemma we’ve all experienced—listen in:

Today I received a question from a missionary originally from Venezuela ministering in Mexico. He asks a practical question. How would you answer him? Here is what I said:

Q:  Can you explain please how do you use the Top 25 Worksheet for potential giving candidates. Step by step please!

Recently a friend strongly exhorted me to use a certain type of health supplement which he used daily. The veins in his neck bulged out as he evangelized me about the how this supplement would “do wonders for me.”

What does your family think about your fundraising?

• Consider you a spiritualized beggar

• Embarrassed and hope you don’t appeal to their friends

• “Okay” with your decision to go into ministry but don’t understand what you do

• Assume you will be poor all your life and that they will have to subsidize you 100% behind you in your choice to go into gift-income ministry

Leaders, you do a dis-service to the staff you lead when you don’t talk about fundraising. Perhaps you are well funded, and perhaps you execute wise fundraising plans. But your followers are not well funded, and they feel guilty if they even think about taking time to do fundraising.

Last week a giving-partner, Gary, wrote to say he “reads every one of our newsletters.” Realizing that I do not read “every one” of the ministry newsletters I receive, I asked him why he takes his valuable time to read my newsletters.  In his own words:

After being trained in ministry partner development, many staff from around the world go gangbusters in setting face-to-face appointments. And many see their donor income double within 12 months. The Goliath of Fund-raising has been slain!

Your giving partners (‘donors’ is not a great word’) are not ATM machines that feed you cash on demand! If you demonstrate care, concern and love they will notice! Here are 10 small acts of love your donors will appreciate. I call them “tremendous trifles.”

10. You are #13 on my giving list.