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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

How Do I Know What to Ask For? (The Intentional Gift amount)

Over time, we have found that you can actually calculate an Intentional Gift amount that is an average based on your support goal. To do this:

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Elements of the Increase Ask

  • Rooted in deep connection. The reason you're asking this amount is for the purpose of building the right team - and the right size team - to see the mission work accomplished. Example

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*If a supporter is already giving at or above your Intentional Gift amount, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to an amount to set before your supporter.

Elements of the Increase Ask

  • Rooted in deep connection. The reason you're asking this amount is for the purpose of building the right team - and the right size team - to see the mission work accomplished. Example: My goal with this is to be able to invest deeply in those who are investing deeply in the ministry. And I want you to be one of those people. Would you take the next 24-hours to ask the Lord if He would have you increase your giving to this ministry to $Intentional Gift, or some other amount?
  • As your commitment increases, invite your supporters to come alongside and deepen their impact as well. As your current team increases their investment, your ability to invest more deeply into them increases as well, vs spreading yourself thin among a lot of people. 

  • Make it a regular conversation. Just like our corporate investors' example, it's normal to make a habit of regularly connecting with your supporters about their Kingdom investment. (See Sarah B's story below) "It's that time of the year where we get to connect and talk about your giving and the impact it has made. I also want to pray over you and seek the Lord together on how He might have you deepen your impact. (ministry update & personal conversation. Increase ask, if led) ...How about you seek the Lord over the next 24 hours about this and I'll pray over you during that time as well? We'll reconnect tomorrow around the same time and see what the Lord brought up. Sound ok?" 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.  

  • Expect slight attrition. About 1% of those you ask to increase will reveal they need to decrease or end their engagement. That’s normal and still something to rejoice over. Take the time to honor and celebrate your supporter for the work they've done in partnership with you. Share a few stories of people they've impacted with the Gospel because of their giving. And let them know how much you've appreciated their faithfulness to the work. Then give them an opportunity to connect you with one or two others who may be interested to hear how the Lord is working through your ministry. 

  • 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, either take some time to re-establish that connection before you do an increase ask, or own it during the call. (See Matt's story below) 

  • Personally connect. "Prayer letters are important, but they pale in comparison to one-on-one connections." - Greg, Reliant pastor 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 increased their giving yet. 

  • Thank personally. Thank those who increase. The general standard is a hand-written thank-you card and a phone call. (Other ideas HERE.) 

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  1. Connect with your coach. If you don't have one... 
  2. Pray. Ask the Lord for a goal. 
  3. Decide on a chunk of time you'll give to this project - and block time out on your calendar for phone calls/ admin/ follow-up
  4. Top 20 list *Hint: Point them toward those who give a small amount, but their income has increased since they first started giving.  Medium-top tier donors are also good to ask to increase. 
    1. In the future, you can link this to the page about how to use MPDx to track an appeal. 
  5. Reconnect with those supporters - or not. (Insert Matt Moore story)
  6. Calculate your Intentional Gift Amount
  7. -up
  8. Top 20 list *Hint: Point them toward those who give a small amount, but their income has increased since they first started giving.  Medium-top tier donors are also good to ask to increase. 
    1. In the future, you can link this to the page about how to use MPDx to track an appeal. 
  9. Reconnect with those supporters - or not. (Insert Matt Moore story)
  10. Calculate your Intentional Gift Amount

    1. You can actually calculate an Intentional Gift amount that is an average based on your support goal. To do this:

      Excerpt Include
      MTD "Intentional Gift"
      MTD "Intentional Gift"
      nopaneltrue

      *If a supporter is already giving at or above your Intentional Gift amount, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to an amount to set before your supporter.

  11. Pick a script you like and rewrite in your own words
  12. Go for it! And meet regularly with your coach for encouragement throughout the process. 
  13. Follow up! It takes someone about 7x to hear a message before they act on it. If you haven't talked to them 7x by now, you're just getting started. Some follow-up ideas include: 
    1. Call. If you get them on the phone, ask if they have 5 minutes for you to walk them through..
    2. Text the link to your giving page and instructions on how to increase (LINK to a Solomon pg. Don't they have to delete current gift and create a new one?)
    3. Snail mail
    4. 3-way call with Gift Services (ph # & office hours)
    5. Donor can email Gift Services with the request to increase *make sure they use the same email address as used for their Reliant donor account. (insert GS email)
  14. Discover who gave and thank them *Keva, see Pickens' description on how to find increases in giving. 

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Testimonials

  • Josiah: Initially, I was super afraid to ask this amount (Intentional Gift 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.


Expand
titleClick for additional examples stories from other missionaries.
  • 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 Intentional Gift). 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. I sent quarterly snail-mail prayer letters but hadn't contacted voice-to-voice in 5-7 years with some of them. 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. No one was upset. My supporters were just happy to hear from me. I owned that I hadn't done a good job of keeping in touch. I'd say something like, "Hey, I'm super sorry. I haven't done a good job of keeping in touch. This is my attempt to remedy that." I soon realized I needed to block out more time; increase ask calls took longer because we had a lot of catching up to do. Almost half the supporters I contacted did some sort of increase. It was definitely worth it. My method: I texted before calling. 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, saying 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. 

  • Sarah B: Using the Intentional Gift amount in my increase ask has been helpful in thinking how many supporters I can handle while also maintaining connection with them. I appreciated putting the Intentional Gift out there because it gave me the freedom to talk about my reality of wanting relationship and connection with my donors. "The reason I'm asking this amount is for the purpose of building the right team - and the right size team - to see this work accomplished." When I put my Intentional Gift amount out there, people consider it! It helps me to share vision and purpose behind the Intentional Gift amount I put in front of them. After Sarah shared this in a cohort, one of the other people on the call expressed concern over offending someone who can only give a small amount. He gave the example of a teacher on a small salary. Here’s how Sarah related: I've worked as a teacher on a very low salary for most of my life. The missionaries I support… well, I wish I had someone help me think through who am I investing in and what's the impact of my giving? Am I giving to these people because I feel obligated or out of a joyful heart? Am I really praying over all 8 of these missionaries as frequently as I want to? How can I put my money where my heart is? As a teacher who made very little, I would have really appreciated having one of the missionaries I supported taking the time to educate me, ask some of those questions and help me be more intentional and prayerful in my financial partnerships. PS - Remember you're inviting people into something larger than just money. You have to accept that most of the conversations you have with your supporters will be about money because you're part of a non-profit and inviting people to give generously to the Kingdom is part of your job. 

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