Freed up to return to full-time support raising? Here’s some key advice to make the most of it.
Let’s face it: It’s been a while since you’ve really turned all your focus toward full-time MTD, and many of us, when we think of picking up that phone, have a few buried fears. They are, in some ways, the same fears we faced when we raised our initial support. But they also have the potential to be more insidious because now they can be compounded by the memories of our past experiences.
If you’re here, you’re not alone. We’ve spoken to full-time missionaries who have lived on financial support with families for twenty years who still find themselves with some unfounded fears floating in their hearts, unconfronted, while their focus was on full-time ministry elsewhere.
Even if we are confident, it behooves us to return to some of the basics. These questions can help:
You may find it helpful to review some of the available materials on the biblical examples of ministry fundraising in scripture and the practical advantages of MTD in today’s world.
In addition to refreshing our hearts and minds on our call to ministry, the appropriateness of MTD, and our call to do MTD, a return to MTD is an opportunity to review the things that God has done over the last few years. What are the effects of your ministry efforts? What stories have moved you? What experiences have challenged you? What important tasks are still undone and people unreached? What needs drive us to seek the power of Jesus to do more?
Reflection will help us report to our donors well and revive a spirit of celebration and gratitude that will show through. Importantly, our experience should also give us boldness as we approach current and potential ministry partners. “This is what God is doing: Will you join us?” is a statement that is as true as ever. A full-time ministry worker has an established track record that is important for donors to see. Don’t be afraid to share positively about your own great ability to impact others as you’ve matured.
“With five years of campus ministry under my belt, we’ve found our Christian character and ministry skills increase with every gospel moment or challenge. We are having a greater impact than we have ever had, and this thought has convinced us to be bold in asking for your increased financial support. This is the right time.” |
The questions of “How much do you need to raise” and “When do you need it?” are key. We need concrete goals here. “As much support as we can get” is true for nearly any field worker, but infinity makes for poor communication and vision as we lead ourselves and our ministry partners into the next phase of our ministry.
Let's look at an example. Jeff has a current support goal of $6,514 but is showing only about $4,950 in active recurring giving each month. He’s getting by, but there is no room for ministry expenses. And because of the lower funding, Jeff hasn’t taken his last offered raise, which would increase his support goal even more. The shortfall is $1,564. After prayer, Jeff decides to set his intermediate goal of $1,500 of new financial support and celebrate if it goes even above and beyond that. |
Setting a date is crucial too. When do we need it? Right away! Any time! But these answers are as indefinite as not communicating a clear dollar goal. A donor needs to know “when.”
Jeff has found that he’ll be able to cut away from full-time ministry responsibilities in mid-April and has most of the summer set aside for MTD. He’s hoping he can meet his goals by the end of June but isn’t sure. In order to communicate a clear deadline for donors, however, he chooses July 15 as his deadline. This leaves enough space so that donors don’t delete an old email just because they think the date has passed.
Jeff writes further, “In order to return to full-time ministry, we need to meet this goal by July 15.” |
Common mistake: underestimating the start-up time needed to get to full-time MTD momentum. The following checklist is the kind of thing that can be done part-time while you are pulling out of other ministry responsibilities but it may take several weeks:
Depending on your experience in ministry and your freedom to travel, we recommend the following orders of priority:
1. Current Partners
Location A
2. Alumni
3. Current Prayer Partners
4. Former Partners
5. Referrals from Current Partners & Alumni & Prayer Partners
Location B
6. Alumni
7. Current Prayer Partners
8. Former Partners
9. Referrals from Current Partners & Alumni & Prayer Partners in Location B
10. Current Ministry Participants
11. Local networking or other contacts
1. Current Partners
2. Current Ministry Participants
3. Alumni
4. Local networking or other contacts
5. Prayer Partners
6. Former Partners
1. All Pending Names from Initial MTD
2. Current Ministry Participants or Recent Alumni
3. Revisit Sending Churches, Recent Name Pools
4. Current Partners & Prayer Partners
5. Referrals as received from all of above
This is your chance to continue to turn donors into partners. Donors passively sit on the sidelines, and we fear that they will withdraw funding if they see ineffectiveness or something they do not like in the ministry. Partners, on the other hand, have a sense of ownership or stake in the ministry. Even though they are not on the frontlines, they see challenges as problems of their own — ones they want to help solve.
A field staff who thinks of their ministry team as “donors” may think of them as the opposing team, to be played with a good strategy and a fear of loss. However, thinking of them as “partners” puts them on the same team, and each partner becomes a possible ambassador for our funding. To engage and activate our partners’ participation in the full-time MTD push, we need to communicate early, concretely, and regularly throughout the process.
Prioritize your ask according to your needs and who you are contacting.
| Financial: Increase Recurring Ask | “Would you consider doubling your current monthly giving to Reliant?” |
| Financial: New Recurring Ask | “We’ve loved sending you our prayer updates for a while now. Would you consider becoming a regular monthly giving partner? |
| Financial: Special Gift Ask | “We understand that you’d prefer just to give in non-committed annual amounts. Tell me this: We have an important upcoming cost of$1,000 for seminary training this summer — would you be willing to consider giving to Reliant to cover that cost?” |
| Referrals: Re-asking for Names | “I know a couple of years ago, you helped us meet a few other people to tell about our ministry. Thank you! Now that we’re back to full-time support raising, this might be a key way to help again.” |
| Referrals: First-time Names Ask | “It’s great we’re getting to speak again because there is a really key way you can help that we haven’t been able to talk about before…” |
The people most committed to our ministry are those who have already invested time, money or emotional energy in it. Our partners, sending money each month, care much about the success of what we are doing. Further, they are not likely to be offended by a strong ask. If they can’t say yes, they likely wish they could.
Therefore, set your ask high. Do not begin with an increase ask of $10 additional monthly. This is too low. (For instance, consider your total goal. If you have a 50% yes rate for current partners, this would not be nearly enough.)
Recommended: Ask all partners to double their current monthly commitment. Not all will be able to consider this, but you can always graciously ask for a lower amount. Many will say yes, especially if they understand your total need and the date you need it by. (Of course, consider past increases. This ask may not be as effective for a partner who has already increased in the last year or two.)
| “In order to meet this goal, would you consider doubling your monthly gift to Reliant? Not everyone will be able to do this, but we believe many will, and we believe this investment is seeing much fruit right now. We pray you can give as generously as you are able and as God leads. Regardless of what you can do, in addition, we remain incredibly grateful for what you are already investing. Thank you. We’d love to give you a call really soon—let’s catch up since it’s been such a long while. This is a good excuse to connect." |
If your goal is monthly, avoid the special gift ask until you’ve asked clearly for recurring giving first. Donors need to understand clearly what you need. They may think that giving an additional $500 right now is just as good (or better) than increasing their monthly gift.
If you ask for a special gift, share a concrete ministry need, such as a seminary class or new ministry computer, and be bold to ask if they could cover the entire cost. You’ll be surprised at what people will do, especially to cover a one-time, concrete gift. A $1,000 laptop is not too much to ask if they believe it will have a big impact on your ministry. If they cannot afford this, they’ll let you know. Then you can ask for a contribution toward the goal.
| Important policy reminder: Even though we have personal needs, we can’t directly ask people to give toward, say, a car repair because this isn’t a direct Reliant ministry need. Think, “Could I legitimately reimburse this cost?” before you use it as an example. |
When asking for referrals with those you have previously asked this, be sure to:
For many of us returning to full-time MTD, we will have to decide how many in-person partners appointments we can do.
Scott Morton, support-raising guru for the Navigators, holds an “every five years” minimum rule for seeing partners face to face. If it’s been that long since you’ve been able to visit with partners, it’s recommended you take advantage of the full-time break to do so. (Of course, an inefficient visit to a faraway state may not always be possible, but consider if a better time will ever appear.)
For most of us, a full-time return to MTD that lasts longer than 4-6 weeks should likely involve seeing many partners face-to-face and related travel. This investment in relationships will pay dividends in better responses to both financial and referral asks and the long-term stability of your team.
As the world has turned digital, some of the best new MTD tools are digital — and formerly reliable paper letters and normal phones aren’t always the best basic go-to. In fact some will find that with cell phones and universal caller ID, the phone call has become a less obvious option for initial contact with MTD. Since these things change, consider your full-time MTD a good time to get up to speed on the latest so you can be most effective with MTD.