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Elements of the Increase Ask
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In the Practical Steps section, of this page, you'll find instructions on calculating an Intentional Gift Amount. This is based on the number of supporters you feel you can wrap your arms around and stay connected with over the course of a year. Why think through this? Because when it comes time for cultivation of your MTD partnerships, you can have a quick touch-base with150 partners or a meaningful connection with 50 partners. It's for you to decide. Do you want a team of ministry partners, or ministry donors? There's a big difference, and it will impact every aspect of how you do MTD. If you're desiring partnership, consider; "What makes someone a true partner in ministry with me? And how do I honor that relationship?" Writing your prayer letter in a partner-centered way; showing them how they're making an impact is a start! Other things to consider: Asking for their advice, inviting them to volunteer, giving them opportunities to speak into your life, investing in their life as a spiritual friend - a place in which they can find meaningful connection that points them to Jesus (this need for can be especially high among some of our higher-capacity partners). Yes, this will require some extra work on the front-end. But, it will also mean less time on the back end having to find new donors. Start small, with the vision to build up to this ideal over a number of years. The Practical Steps section will encourage you to start with a list of 20 people. Ask the Lord to show you what 20 partners He wants you to invest in and go deeper with this year. |
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Just like our corporate investors' example, it's normal to make a habit of regularly connecting with your supporters about their Kingdom investment |
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. 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. "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 |
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the same time and see what the Lord brought up. Sound ok?" For more, see Sarah B's story below. |
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As your commitment to ministry increases (through a change in your role, an increase in responsibility, even a deepened resolve to reach the unreached), invite your partners to increase their impact. Some have put it this way, "As my commitment to minister has deepened, it makes sense to invite you, my partner in ministry, to deepen your ministry impact." 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. |
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.)
Practical Steps
- Connect with your coach. If you don't have one...
- Pray. Ask the Lord for a goal.
- 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
- 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.
- In the future, you can link this to the page about how to use MPDx to track an appeal.
- Reconnect with those supporters - or not. (Insert Matt Moore story)
- Calculate your Intentional Gift Amount
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" nopanel true *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.
- Pick a script you like and rewrite in your own words
- Go for it! And meet regularly with your coach for encouragement throughout the process.
- 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:
- Call. If you get them on the phone, ask if they have 5 minutes for you to walk them through..
- 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?)
- Snail mail
- 3-way call with Gift Services (ph # & office hours)
- 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)
- Discover who gave and thank them *Keva, see Pickens' description on how to find increases in giving.
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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? (wait for a response) I will pray over you in the meantime. Let's see... it's 1:30 now... how about I call you tomorrow at 1:30 to reconnect and see what the Lord has done? Is that a good time for you? |
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