As you engage churches in seeking their financial support, many times you will be told: "We are working on the church budget." I believe it's a natural response on one's part to simply wait until the church budget is completed and then recontact them. If at all possible, try to meet with the church's missions committee or appropriate leadership prior to the budget being finalized. If they connect with your passion, that meeting might encourage them to include you in the church budget and possibly at even a greater level than initially anticipated. This can potentially make a key difference when it comes to support raising or ministry partner development.

I'll never forget the urgent call that came from one of our donors. Their family was experiencing an emergency. In this particular scenario, the donor had left a voice message and it was very apparent that they were very concerned and were asking for my prayer support. Its times like these that we can quickly move in to a ministry mode for our donors. For me, it's a privilege to minster to them because they have ministered so much to me. So don't be surprised when occasions come when they need you more that you need them. Be prepared to respond and to minister.

Someone had shared this rather interesting, innovative approach of staying in contact with their donors. On the anniversary of the donor's first gift/pledge they would send an anniversary card. Obviously, this is something that can be done by email as well. Keep in mind when raising personal support or fund raising for your organization that it is very easy to lose donors. Once lost, it can be very difficult to restore their giving.

If I were raising support and seeking church support I would ideally meet with the Senior Pastor because that is the ideal and more than likely the key decision maker.

If I were asking for a financial gift the ideal again is to sit down with the person face to face.

If I were looking for a donor to introduce me to a prospective donor again the ideal would be the three of us to meet.

In your fund raising always begin with the ideal and then keep in mind you can adjust accordingly.

Those raising individual support often ask me the question: "How much financial information do I need to provide as I meet with prospects and donors?" My advice is to only provide financial information as requested. I recommend not making it a practice to recite all the details of your personal finances unless requested.

Here is a perfect example of persistence paying off.

Bill,

I had been trying to get a hold of this potential donor for a few months. He said he wanted to give a gift but had a few questions for me. He's very busy and in and out of town. Many of his trips are scheduled at the last minute. I can't even tell you how many times we have rescheduled. He told me about two weeks ago that he was going to give a monthly gift and was going to start at a really LOW amount.

We were finally able to get together today and he complimented me on my persistence and never giving up. He said he really admired that about me and was really thankful. I didn't even have to challenge him to increase his proposed initial low monthly gift for he decided to give much more -- three times as much. Furthermore, he gave me the names and phones numbers of a few of his business friends who had a heart for missions, had high capacity to give and would potentially be very interested in my ministry.

What a blessing.

Brea

As I spend time with my grandchildren I often hear these words, 'It's mine". I guess that really describes human nature. In fund raising, it's so natural for us to say "Those are my donors, those are my prospects, or those are my churches". When it comes to support raising or ministry partner development be careful, for they are not yours but belong to the Lord!