Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

...that is the question when putting together your direct mail letter.  (Just in case you're not sure what a teaser is, it's a pithy message on the front of your envelope to hopefully cause the receiver to open it up - afterall, if we can't get people to read the letter we poured hours over creating, what good is it?)

I'm not against teasers, per se, as they can be helpful to the recipient in distinguishing between what's trash and what's not (for example "year end statement enclosed" is a fine teaser).

What I don't like are teasers whose purpose is to benefit the organization and NOT the recipient.  And worse yet are teasers that are manipulative and bring about feelings of guilt or obligation.  Let me give you an example...

Recently Tom Ahern gave praise to a teaser that the Smile Train uses regularly (I know because I receive the same mailer regularly).  The teaser is "Make one gift now and we'll never ask for another donation again!"  Tom calls this teaser bold and compelling.  Really?  Let's think about this for a minute.

What message does this teaser send?  Or easier yet, what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you read this?

What comes to my mind is that old '90's milk commercial where a suspect is getting interrogated by a cop.  The cop says "What's it goin' be Tommy?  You lookin' at my cupcakes?  Take a bite!"  Tommy grabs the rich chocolate cupcake and starts chomping it down.  Then the cop says, "Now, we can do this the easy way (pulls out a carton of milk)...or the hard way (pushes the milk away)."  It's hilarious, unless you're Tommy.  And, that's how I feel every time I get one of these letters from the Smile Train.

"We can do this the easy way (you send us a check now), or the hard way (we'll keep harassing you with letters until you finally give in)!"

As much as I love what the Smile Train does, how does such a tactic get people excited about the CAUSE, in fact, how does it encourage people to begin learning about the CAUSE at all?  Instead, the recipient is forced to make a decision: do I give so they stop sending me this letter, or do I just wait and see if they really will keep sending me mail until I give (yes, they keep sending you the same letter until you give!)

Following a Transformational Giving mindset, there is an understanding that "champions connect with organizations for the purpose of enhancing their mutual impact on the cause, not primarily for the purpose of funding organizations to impact the cause on their own."  People really do want to be involved and they will give too. 

Let's not stifle people's interest and passion for the causes we also have interest and passion for.  Why not make every effort to encourage people to take a step to learn about, experience, and grow in their own personal faith through involvement in the cause?

We can start by NOT using teasers that are focused on our organization and our needs.  If you choose to use a teaser, let it be one that benefits the recipient - that draws them in.  Let it be a message they are interested in hearing and need to hear.

Any examples of good or bad teasers you'd like to share??

One of the byproducts of being an officer of a foundation is that I get included on loads of nonprofit e-mailing lists.  I don’t complain about this, in fact I encourage it, for three reasons:

1. I find these e-newsletters and e-solicitations to be a bottomless source of examples—both good and bad—for my work as one who trains nonprofits in fundraising
2. I become exposed to organizations that might be good recipients of an MIF grant, organizations that I otherwise wouldn’t know much about if I wasn’t included in their communications
3. I learn really cool stuff about the things I'm passionate about.

Unfortunately, of the dozens of nonprofits that send me their material, I can count on one hand (while holding chopsticks) the number of nonprofits that reliably land in the third category.

In the past month at Mission Increase Foundation, we’ve been training nonprofits on grantwriting, and one of the key lessons is to understand that foundations have a mission and a passionate commitment to a cause, so as nonprofit leaders you should become reliable and recognized sources of expert information in that cause.

But why is this so uncommon?

Sadly, nonprofit leaders are typically more committed to their particular organizations than they are to their cause, so foundation leaders have come to see them as provincial, and therefore biased in their communications.  And frankly, we tire of the organization-centric nature of most nonprofit communications—which wrongly assume that we foundations exist to give them money to carry out their work—so we’ve learned to ignore them.

One of the exceptions is the e-newsletter I get every month from Rudy Carrasco, an example of which you can read here.  Rudy mentions his organization's events and his speaking engagements, but he also includes links to items that directly impact his cause, which is Christian community-based development.  Rudy assumes if you are on his list, you care about these things too, so he wants to share them with you.  Then he includes a Bible verse and a cute photo of one of his kids. 

Does Rudy’s approach work?  Well, I can tell you I forwarded his email to foundation colleagues all across the country because I wanted them to read the “better vision for short-term missions” link.  These colleagues now know Rudy and his organization not because he did such a great job representing his organization, but because he pointed us to useful and stimulating information on the cause.  And because he does this consistently, I look forward to each of his e-newsletters, which is not something I can say for many organizations.

“Well, the nice part is you don’t have to worry about any of this…everyone wants to meet with you and these don’t really apply do they.” At least that was the assessment of a ministry leader regarding the Transformational Giving principles and their application to the foundation at our recent Coach Your Champions discussion group.

It was a bold statement, but understandable. Not true, but understandable. Not only does our funding model depend upon giving from local champions, but in the context of the conversation, I was coaching champions and as Transformational Giving Principle #5 states, Transformational Giving relationships between champions (i.e. ministry leaders) and organizations (i.e. the foundation)  are primarily peer-level mutual accountability relationships, not friendships or organizational support relationships.

So I responded, “The great thing is, they actually do…and are in this very moment!”

You gotta love accountability!

So as you're working to articulate your cause, the Biblical foundation for it, your PEO charts, champion covenants, and more, know that we too are prayerfully doing the very same thing. We are considering what full maturity in Christ looks like with relationship to our cause. We too want to equip, educate, and provide experiences where champions can grow and thereby own the cause in their sphere of influence. We too want to be found faithful in discipling those God has entrusted to us. Should I go on?

So, I appreciate the accountability, but even more, the opportunity to have clear relationships and coach champions.

I can’t believe it!

Apart from my colleague Tracy Nordyke (I had no idea she was reading it!), I just finished reading The Spirituality of Fund-Raising by Henri Nouwen. 

For my blog post this week I was planning to share some amazingly striking thoughts and quotes from this booklet – I’m not making this up! – but Tracy beat me to it.  (Feel free to read Tracy’s post and buy the booklet Right Here!)

Or did she?

It seems that this booklet has plenty of inspiration and challenge to go around.  The passages I starred and was planning to share are unique to Tracy’s!  So consider these…

• “From the perspective of the gospel, fund-raising is not a response to a crisis.  Fund-raising is, first and foremost, a form of ministry.  It is a way of announcing our vision and inviting other people into our mission.” (page 3)

• “Fund-raising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission.” (page 3)

• “We also will be cut off from our donors, because we will find ourselves begging for money and they will find themselves merely handing us a check.  No real connection has been created because we have not asked them to come and be with us.  We have not given them an opportunity to participate in the spirit of what we are about.  We may have completed a successful transaction, but we have not entered into a successful relationship.” (page 6)

• “Asking people for money is giving them the opportunity to put their resources at the disposal of the Kingdom.  Whether they have much or little is not as important as the possibility of making their money available to God.” (page 25)

• “When we approach fund-raising in a spirit of gratitude, we do so knowing that God has already given us what we most need for life in abundance.  Therefore our confidence in our mission and vision, and our freedom to love the person to whom we are talking about donating money, do not depend on how that person responds.” (page 35)

See what I'm talking about?  Wonderful!

Perhaps Tracy and I didn’t happen onto this booklet at the same time by chance.  Perhaps God put on both our hearts that now is the time to read it and share it with others.

Even more, perhaps this is God’s way of encouraging you to read this booklet before you read anything else, and to spend time this week meditating on Biblical truth related to giving.

After you read it, come post your thoughts.  Inspire us even more!