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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. |
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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. |
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Don't be |
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surprised by this attrition. Bless them and release them. It's part of the pruning process and it leads to a more vibrant and healthy team. |
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When reaching out , 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) |
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What's my point here? Paint a pic for ongoing 1:1 connection after the increase ask. |
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. 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. 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.
- Thank those who increase. The general standard is a hand-written thank-you card and a phone call. (Other ideas HERE.)
- Plan for ongoing connection
If we're looking for a donation, the conversation generally stops after we've received the gift. If we're looking to build ministry partnerships, the gift is only the beginning. simply the launching point to invite further conversation, further input and
As Henri Nouwen states, everyone has a "poor" and everyone has a "rich." Working together as the Body of Christ looks like ministering to each other's "poor" out of our "rich." That wealthy supporter of yours also has a "poor."
"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 and pray with them. Sometimes he updates them about what's happening in the ministry. But, most of the time, these calls are his chance to connect with and minister to his supporter. It's no wonder Greg's financial support is consistently strong, even with a 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.
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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
- 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.
You can actually calculate an Intentional Gift amount that is an average based on your support goal. To do this:
*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.
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.
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