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Let's say you're running a business that has shareholders who regularly invest into your company. In order for your company to scale and grow, you need them to increase their investments over time. If this is the case, what should be your next move? How could you plan this to be a regular conversation so you not only retain, but increase investments?

This is the same wisdom we use for MTD increase asks! In gardening/ farming terms; we look at the crops we already have in order to discover how to increase their yield. We don't go out and plant more crops if we aren't weeding, fertilizing, watering and pruning the crops we already have. And we certainly don't leave fruit on the vine come harvest time!

So, before you go out to plant new crops, let's work on increasing the yield in the field God has already given you. 

How Do I Know What to Ask For? (The Magic Number)

Over time, we have found that you can actually calculate a "Magic Number" that is an average based on your support goal. To do this:

• Take your total monthly support goal (make sure it’s updated!)
• Divide your goal by 70
• This will give you the average dollar amount you should be challenging new and current donors to give. 
  **If a supporter is already giving above your magic number, please continue to ask them for an increase. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to an amount.**

Additional Elements of the Increase Ask

• Be Bold. Don't be shy about letting your supporters know you'll be talking about giving. Don't beat around the bush and pretend this is just a friendly catch-up call. If you're feeling some guilt because you haven't done a great job keeping in touch with your supporters, take a few months to re-establish that connection before you launch into an increase ask. 
• Rooted in deep connection. One advantage to both donor and missionary in the increase ask is the idea of investing deeply. The main vision is for your current team to increase so you can invest more deeply into them, vs spreading yourself thin among a lot of people. 
• As your commitment increases, bring them along. As your commitment to ministry increases, it's only natural to reach out to those who support your work - those who are taking this journey with you - to ask them to pray about also increasing their commitment to this Kingdom work. 
• Make it a regular conversation. Just like our corporate investors' example, it's normal to make a habit of regularly connecting with your investors about their support. Some will contact their supporters annually with a message like: "It's that time of the year where I get to connect with you about your ministry giving and seek the Lord together about it!" Using "it's that time of the year..." or "it's the season to..." language sets the table for this to be a normal conversation that's expected to also happen again in the future. 
• Personally connect. "Prayer letters are important, but they pale in comparison to one-on-one connections." - Greg, Reliant staffer for over 20 years. Greg has held a regular rhythm of texting or calling supporters throughout the year to see how they are doing, update them on something that recently happened in ministry, and pray with them. It's no wonder his financial support is consistently strong, even though he has a very large goal. No matter where you are in the timeline of an increase ask, make the one-on-one connection with your supporters a priority. Some choose to take a season of reconnecting before calling for increases. Others choose to use the increase ask call as a way to reconnect. Below are a few examples from missionaries on how they structured their increase ask process, whether internationally or stateside.
• Faithfully follow up. Organize your MTD with automatic reminders to follow up with those who are making a decision (DOH) or have said yes but haven't started giving yet. 

Examples of the process

• Josiah: Initially, I was super afraid to ask this amount (magic # of $150). It seemed like too big/ too much to ask for some of the people I was calling (like the guy who is just two years out of school). But, it's gone really well. I've been surprised. Even the people who can't do that amount, they've thanked me for asking them and have said they feel honored. Those positive responses have been really encouraging to me to keep making this ask in this way. (Raised $1,000 in new monthly in 2 months working 1.5-2 days a week on MTD.)
  
  
• Doug & Sarah: Our increase ask was a lot of work to connect with that many people. But, it was worth it. We asked them if they'd be willing to pray about increasing to (our magic number). We prayed before the call, asking God to tell us what we should challenge them to increase to. Maybe 1/3 of our donors increased. Our method: We made the ask. Asked them to pray. Then we followed up until we got an answer. Both required guts & time. Looking back, I wish I had been texting supporters regularly asking how I could pray for them. Example of a simple connection text to a supporter: "Hey, we're meeting with this couple tonight who is struggling. Would you pray for this meeting?"
  
  
• Matt: My communication with my supporters before my increase ask had been lacking (meaning I'd only sent out prayer letters every couple months and I hadn't done any personal connection in years). Because of that, it was difficult to start calling donors. I made excuses that I hated the phone or I couldn't find a good time to call without my kids around. But, once I started calling, I found I enjoyed it. I soon realized I needed to block out more time for increase ask calls than I originally thought. Some calls took longer because we had a lot of catching up to do. A little less than half of the people I contacted did some sort of increase. It was definitely worth it. My method: I tried to call people. Then realized no one answered their phone. So, I ended up texting people to let them know when to expect my call. The text would say something like: "Hey, I'm going to give you a call tonight. If that doesn't work, let me know." Once on the phone with the donor, I'd spend a decent amount of time catching up. Toward the end of the call, I let them know about our support need. I’d say something like “Hey, we need to raise about $1,500-$2,00 a month to stay in full-time ministry ...  if you might be in a position to increase, would you prayerfully consider increasing your support?” Then I would discuss a day to follow up (usually 2 days later) and see if that worked for the person. Following up when I said I would was important. There was often multiple follow-ups I had to do. 

Scripts

*Rewrite in your own words and have it ready when you call supporters this week!

Ask for a current supporter to seek the Lord on if it’s time to increase their ministry of giving,  

Also see: Guide for Returning to Full-Time MTD