The Struggle |
Sep 28, 2009 |
I was sitting in a planning meeting for a local ministry just last week, who is at the beginning stages of planning a mega event to raise mega dollars for their organization. I am volunteering as a committee member for this event.
When discussing the intended audience for this event, our discussion strayed into the broader community to those who had wealth. Sure, several of the attendees were bound to be Christians, even deliberately so, but the fact that general community members who had wealth were even being considered as a target audience, was reason enough to speak up.
What was the long term effect on the general community going to be beyond the event itself? Sure, the organization is likely to raise quite a bit of money from these wealthy guests, but will these same guests ever become engaged in the cause beyond participating at the event? Will they be able to disciple them as champions and coach them to a place of ownership in their cause?
I could tell by the blank stares I was getting from the other committee members that they weren’t focused on the long term relationship of their guests. I was shocked when the Executive Director replied, “Well, since we’re raising money for a capital campaign, which is a one time project, we won’t really need their ongoing support.”
Now, I totally understand their need to raise funds to complete their capital campaign. Don’t get me wrong, money is necessary to pay for a building. But this organization is planning the largest event, by far, in their nearly 80 year history. They have the opportunity to come away from this with brand new relationships they may have never reached otherwise. Focusing on getting the “right” people to the event, rather than “wealthy” people, is taking a long term view to providing for the organization well into the future.
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