What is an MTD stewardship plan?

MTD stewardship is the relationship-building and communication that takes place after a ministry gift has been received.

Stewardship involves thanking donors, updating them on the impact of their gifts, keeping them involved and offering other opportunities to give. Generally, this can be accomplished in a THANK, SHOW, CONNECT, OFFER cycle.  This ongoing view of MTD leads to a strong and stable support base and only takes about 2-3 hours a week. 

Calendar when you will send your ministry updates for the next 12 months. Monthly updates are the norm. But, not all updates have to be prayer letters. Get creative and find a way to keep in touch with your team that works for you. The goal is 8-12 ministry updates a year and 1-2 personal touches with each donor annually.

Below you'll find a few creative ways to accomplish this. 

• Creative ways to THANK, CONNECT & SHOW:
   
  
  • Snail mail. Who doesn't love personal mail? Here are a few ideas on how to connect through the mailbox:
    • Mail a welcome packet to new donors within two weeks of receiving their first gift. Keep it simple and inexpensive, but personal. Maybe it's your ministry magnet. Maybe it's a little something that will remind them of the field they're sowing into. Maybe it's a lock of your hair. (Only kidding! Just checking if you're still paying attention. Ha.) 
    • Reminders of the ministry. A minister in San Salvador mails hand-painted bookmarks made by locals. A missionary in Indonesia sent hand-made masks with native Indonesian prints to supporters during the COVID crisis. A pastor in LA sends a Starbucks LA cityscape mug to donors. Another missionary sends a piece of rope to remind supporters how they're holding the rope for him as he goes down into the mine to rescue lost souls. A minister in Honduras mailed paper Christmas ornaments that included pictures of the children fed by the ministry. A pastor in Michigan sends an Ebenezer stone to remind supporters of their impact. Look for small gifts that have meaning. 
    • Thanksgiving or Christmas cards. These can work in tandem with your End of Year Ask as a personal touch to CONNECT with your ministry partners. Make sure to include a picture of your smiling face!
    • Ministry magnets. Use a THANK or CONNECT time to mail ministry magnets to your financial partners. You don't have to send them every year as they have great "staying power." These hang on the fridge and are a great reminder of the good your donor is doing.
    • Prayer letters. Some missionaries make it a point to only send paper copies of their prayer letters. Others send paper a few times a year and pepper in electronic communication in the gaps. Either way, it's nice to get real mail every once in a while. Pro tip: If you're taking the time to print letters, write a short, personal note on them! That simple act goes a long way. PS- A snail mail + Epistle strategy might create a habit of easy, more frequent updates. Epistle is a social media platform just for ministry updates. It emails the update to recipients on their chosen schedule (daily, weekly or monthly). Using Epistle along with a few snail-mail letters could be a great way to connect frequently and personally with your support base. 
    • Birthday or Anniversary cards. These small gestures communicate to the donor that you care about them. It shows they are important enough for you to remember their birthday and send a special hello. PS - No pressure to do this for all your donors every year! But, at least pay attention enough to get their birthdates and set up a reminder a week before so you can get a card in the mail or a birthday text sent.
    • Send a book. Have a book that impacted you spiritually? Send it to your ministry partner who gives that big annual gift, with the hope that it will provide a pathway for you two to CONNECT more about their walk with the Lord. And, with drop-ship retailers like Amazon, it's easy to mail a book and a personal note straight from your smartphone. (Check out Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen. It's a great donor gift because it talks about friendship between a fundraising minister and a man of means. Plus, it's a quick read.) 

    • Thank you cards. Click here for 50 prompts (thanks to Scott Morton, support-development coach). 

      
      

    • Postcards. Send to an individual just to say hello. Online services like TouchNote make it easy to send a personalized postcard directly from a smartphone app. Have a ministry event and want to THANK/ SHOW a few donors who gave special gifts to make it happen? Snap a pic during the event, upload it later to TouchNote, write a personal note of thanks, enter the donor's name and mailing address and it's done! TouchNote will print and mail it to your donors for you. Note: Services like TouchNote or PrayerLetters.com are cost-effective and efficient ways for international staff to send snail-mail also! Find a comparison of many vendors here. 
      
      
  • Text Messages:
    • Video messages. These don’t have to be slick or professional! Consider it like a FaceTime call. Let it be personable, short, and full of energy. It’s a great, 60-second way to SHOW a slice of the ministry your financial partners are working so hard to support. These videos can be of you or someone you're ministering to. Let the ministry be the star of the video. Film on location as much as possible. If a ministry event is approaching, (an outreach, Easter Sunday, Christmas campaign, evangelism event, worship night, etc), consider how you can take a quick video during the event.  *Pro-tip: Keep your vid under 60 seconds so you can text it to a few individual supporters with a message of thanks. If your vid is longer than a minute, you can post it on a private YouTube channel and text the link. 
      
    • Text. Send a short text to ask how you can pray for your donor today. 
    • Tools for texting: 
      • Pulse SMS - delay delivery on text messages from your phone number. Not available for iphone users. 
      • FlockNote - Mass texts that come to the recipient as individual texts. 
  • Calling:
    • Schedule a video call (individual or group). Thanks to COVID everyone and their grandma now know how to video call. 
      One missionary was struggling to connect with an out-of-town large donor. He scheduled a video call from a ministry event. Not only was the donor re-envisioned to give, but he asked to schedule additional calls so his adult children could also see the ministry in action.
      A ministry in Sweden schedules an annual connect event where staff stays on a video call and donors are invited to pop in and say hello. It's an engaging way for donors to meet the team and interact with a different facet of the ministry. A ministry in Japan holds a weekly, 30-minute prayer gathering on Zoom. Supporters are invited to join them and others from around the world to pray over the ministry. 
      Pick your favorite platform and schedule a video call with a supporter. They will appreciate the personal connection and the ability to see your smiling face.
    • Phone call. I know I'm going old-school with letters and phone calls, but they still work well!
      One of the missionaries I coach, who is great at raising funds, calls donors while he's running errands. It's a consistent time in his week where he's in a quiet space (the car) and has time to call. FYI: If you don't think your ministry partner has your number saved in their contacts, text before calling to let them know it's you. Many mobile phone users have a feature enabled that sends all numbers not in their contacts list straight to voicemail. 
      
      
  • Invite donors to get involved with you in ministry! These non-financial volunteer opportunities are an excellent way to not only SHOW the donor how they're making an impact but to let them participate in that impact. Involvement opportunities include things like: attending an outreach event, guest leading an online Bible study one week, helping you assemble care packages, creating a digital marketing post about a new Zoom outreach you’re hosting, reading a book with you, and meeting online weekly to discuss it, praying with you before your Thursday call night, proofing your notes for an upcoming Bible study, praying with you on the night of an outreach event, etc. 
    
    
  • Ask an individual donor to pray for you. Reaching out to an individual with a prayer need reinforces this idea that they are partners with you in ministry, not simply a paycheck. 
    
    
  • Have no time? Enlist help! One minister hires an assistant to help with prayer letter writing and mailings. Another sees MTD as a family affair ~don't underestimate the power of a child's hand-drawn thank you card! Another hands a donor list, a script, and their phone to their teen so she can text a quick hello to donors on their behalf. 

Additional Resources

Annual Stewardship Plan & Timeline

Creative Ways to Connect With Supporters