Too big to reach out and connect again? |
Aug 15, 2009 |
Is your cause so big (or at least you might think it is) that you can’t connect with a Lapsed Champion on a personal level?
I just received an email from an organization that misses me. They want me back, but in all reality I am just a number and not a face to them. They’re not a nonprofit ministry, and I guess one could argue if what they do really impacts people’s lives. They seem to want me back because they haven’t seen me in awhile. All they are doing to re-connect with me is to send me an email. Not a call, or a personal touch in anyway.
You see the Los Angeles Dodgers are an organization that cares about making money (note: I don’t blame them for that). They do want to re-connect with me. However, I have to “Go The Distance” (please forgive the Field of Dreams line) to re-engage back with them. I have to go to their Season Ticket Open House event (at their facility) and then they will give me 2 complimentary tickets to a future game. This is to say that they are sorry that I don’t have season tickets (or in my case a mini-ticket plan) and that they would like to see me again. They hope that as I look around the stadium I may feel a sense of loss and want to come back.
Is your organization acting like you’re a part of the Major Leagues? That all you have to do to re-connect to a lapsed champion is to send out an email, offer some kind of perk, and they will come running back to you? I’m sure the Dodgers feel that giving me two free tickets will be a good ROI (return on investment) for them. But in our Transformational Giving culture we look at ROI differently. The ROI we talk about, does “Go The Distance” but it is us going to them on their territory (office, home etc.) and Repenting for Our Indifference that we have lost connection with them.
My prayer for you this Saturday is that you might take some time and enjoy a good baseball game, but more importantly that you might take the time and consider connecting with a Champion you haven’t seen in awhile. Go to them, tell them you’re sorry for not keeping in touch, and renew a relationship that once was mutually beneficial to the both of you.
One last note: Please don’t listen to that soft voice in your head that says… “If you will send them an email they will come.”
