What Are YOU Giving To Your Own Ministry?

I may be stating the obvious here… Or not!  But donors are not inclined to give funds to support our ministry work unless they see us giving first.

I am not just talking about giving time.  There are many that lead a ministry who think that the amount of time they pour into the work is enough to inspire others to donate.  That is a mistake.  For starters, there is much work in ministry that people will never witness.   Planning, writing, calling, organizing and recruiting volunteers all occur behind the scenes.  Humans are visual beings.  If they don’t see you doing the work, they have a hard time relating to the amount of effort you have put forth.

Additionally, we put our money into what we are passionate about.  Jesus makes this point in Matthew 6:21.  In GuideStar’s recent article, Hard Truths Your Board Members Must Face If They Want to Raise Big Money, the closing power-packed section, “Those Who Ask Must Give First”, details the essential need for leaders to open up their wallets first.  While the article is intended for a board of directors, its principles are just as applicable for those leading a team at church.

Giving and then publishing those dollar amounts can create great discomfort for us in Christian community.  After all, Jesus warns us in Matthew 6:2-4 not to be braggadocious about our charitable donations.   One way we resolved this at our organization was to create tiers or giving levels of donors that we thanked in our year-end “catalog”.  In-Kind donors were also included in those tiers.  THe other levels ranged from $1-$99, $100-$499, $500-$999, $1,000-$4,999, and $5,000+.  This way, people can be inspired by the leader’s or others giving, seeing their general range of support without listing the exact amount.

I encourage you, if you are not already, to include your own ministry as a recipient of part of your tithe or charitable giving.  Keep track of what you are donating dollar-for-dollar as well as any in-kind giving of supplies or equipment.  This will help you keep clean records that help legitimize your cause in addition to benefiting your own tax returns.

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TOOLS YOU CAN USE: 6 Musts to Help Your Non-Profit Budget

Without surveying the readers of this blog, I am quite certain we could all come to an agreement that ministering to those with special needs would be far more enjoyable if it weren’t for fund-raising.  Trying to do our worthy work while creating an emotional appeal for funding that work can be so maddening.  However, if you are not already aware of these, here are some tools that can be of tremendous help in your work:

1. GuideStar

The gold standard of all non-profit databases is at http://www.guidestar.org/  If you do not at least have a basic listing with GuideStar, you cannot receive certain grants or plug into other networks.  Filling out your corporate summary on this website will make your information available to any would-be donors.  I would even go so far as to say your listing with GuideStar is critical in lending credibility to your ministry and in raising any serious funds.

2.  GREAT NON-PROFITS

Another terrific place to build a profile for your organization or ministry is at http://greatnonprofits.org/  This site interfaces with GuideStar, and it helps would-be benefactors take a peek at your work.  On this site you can post your mission statement, have participants, volunteers, and benefactors all write recommendations on your organization, post photos and videos of your work, and describe what a donation of money or time will accomplish for your non-profit.

3.  Philanthropy News Digest

A great source of news on grants being awarded and weekly updates on RFPs (requests for proposals), http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/ should be a part of your regular reading.  This will open your eyes to what grantors are looking for both within your area of service and beyond.

4.  Fundsnet Services

If you want the easiest way to locate grant opportunities in a given area of service or by geographical location, http://www.fundsnetservices.com/ is a must for you.  I find this site to be the most user-friendly in trying to locate available grants when I am the one doing the digging.

5.  The Non-Profit Times

NPT is a versatile tool on so many different levels.  Not only will it make you aware of available grants, their newsletter offers tips on leadership, volunteer management, donor development, and so much more.  Subscribing to the http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/ newsletter is also free.

6.  Network for Good

This last resource is one of my favorites.  I came to be acquainted with http://www1.networkforgood.org/ because they process the donations made on our Causes page through Facebook.  They offer so much in the way of keeping charities on the cutting edge of fundraising and non-profit management.  I find them to be extremely knowledgeable in all areas of social media and innovative tools.

Be aware that each of these resources offers a treasure trove of information, so you will have to narrow where to focus or that is all you will find yourself doing.  Many of them offer extremely valuable free webinars, convenient for participation right from your desktop.

I pray this will be useful and fruitful information for you.  I certainly wish I would have had a list like this when I got started doing the Lord’s work!  God forgot to tell me how integral this fundraising piece would be in raising a budget to carry out His work.  Nevertheless, He has brought these resources into my path in His perfect timing, and I continue to rely on them to this day.

What are your favorite non-profit budget resources?  We would love to hear!

Self-Sustaining Amidst the Fiscal Cliff

As if being an ordinary citizen isn’t quite enough in today’s economy, the words “fiscal cliff” gained a new level of treachery for those of us in non-profits, especially small to mid-sized, in 2012.  The Philanthropy News Digest’s “Fiscal Cliff Deal Passed, Nonprofits Weigh Impact” details some of the challenges that still remain despite the contentious Washington agreement.  Deductibility of charitable donations as well as the tax status of small businesses continue to hang in the balance, thus leaving those who depend upon those benevolent funds for our work, struggling as well.

Initially, I was concerned that it was only our organization.  I spent a large part of December in prayer, wondering if God had different plans, if we were going in a wrong direction, if I was doing something misguided as leader.  But then I began to hear from colleagues that they were also experiencing a frightening drop in donations.  During that time, God affirmed His call on my life to serve in the specific way He had initially called me to within the special needs community.  This left me a bit more stressed as the end of the year was rapidly closing in with little financial support arriving.  Things were looking extremely grim with fewer year-end gifts than we had ever previously had.  I was moved to pray about what God was then directing me to do for our organization if indeed He wanted me to continue on with this work.

I acted on that direction by putting out a desperate call to help us reach a much smaller goal by year-end via an online donation program, “Causes”.  Able to interface as a Facebook app, this program is easy to use for fundraising campaigns.  It looked like the effort might pay off as we quickly reached 22% of the goal set, but then things abruptly stalled.

Non-profit advisory firms will frequently tell you that the largest donations come in on December 30th and 31st of each year.  Nevertheless, when your fundraising is running so far behind, it is a definite act of faith trusting that God will provide so close to the finish line.  Much to my relief, this statistical fact did prove true,  and a number of donations, two of which were sizable for us, were made on those dates.

Although this proved helpful to our year-end goals, it mirrors the fiscal cliff deal.  There was a short-term “fix” that wasn’t pretty, but a much larger threat still looms in the not-so-distant future.  This once again has had me praying about how we will financially sustain our organization with the non-profit world poised to look so different over the next decade.  What God has impressed upon me is that we need to seek His provision for our ministries with a much more self-sustaining approach.  Whereas we may have been able to depend upon the habit of increasing charitable donations year-over-year in the past, we must now form creative ways to earn those dollars if we seek to continue His work.  Here are some thoughts on what that might look like:

• Having a regular, proactive schedule for grant-writing is a must in this economy.  No grant, no matter how small is worth ignoring.  And we must get into a rhythm with writing the grants, just as we would with any other planning.  Having our financials up-to-date and ready to be uploaded to a grantor is essential.
• Looking at ways to sell or offer items for a “suggested donation” on your website is important.  I can’t tell you how many times we have had events where I have worn one of our volunteer shirts or hats where people have asked, “Where can I get one of those?”.  I have always blown them off in the past, but I certainly am not now!  We need to follow the lead of some of the larger ministries and non-profits we are familiar with by offering books, clothing and other items that might be attractive to our participants or donors.  This will definitely help us with self-sustainability.
• Get in front of service clubs.  We all like to be about the business of serving in our ministries, but we need to carve out time to tell the story.  If there is a city or town you are active in, you need to share with the Lions, Kiwanis, Women’s Club, Rotary and the like.  These clubs are looking for organizations like yours to bless!  Don’t pass up the funds they can contribute to your work.
• Find ways to get media attention.  While there are various programs to help get your press releases picked up by local media, there’s still nothing like personal relationship.  If you know someone who writes for a paper, works at a radio station, or plays a role at a television outlet, don’t be afraid to approach them.  While it is true that they get asked this frequently, if you can convince them of the worth of your work, they will develop interest in sharing your story.  Free Christian radio stations are also invaluable as connections to our target audience.

While some of these ideas may make you bristle, we do need to reexamine how much of our ministry we can offer at no cost.  I was shocked when my assistant lead pastor approached me confirming that my home church would continue their support of our organization in 2013 because I never knew it was on the table for possible elimination.  But the fact is that everything is on the table now with church budgets.  Congregations are in this squeeze as well and may find themselves able to support our missional work.  If we wish to make every person, no matter ability, a full ambassador of Christ, taking ownership by purchasing merchandise, helping on funding campaigns or even helping to write grants can become a way to get invested in the work of special needs ministry.  These aren’t easy times for us to be in this sector, but God is still calling us to the work.  We need to get creative like never before.  These are just a few ideas.  What are yours?

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