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June 23, 2008
Fundraising requires asking and thanking
I've spent a lot of time on this blog talking about ways to be more ministry minded in our thinking and giving. I've struggled to provide meaningful answers to some of the big questions like "How do we fully fund our church ministry?" and "How do we sustain our ministry over time?" But I've never written anything (anything!) on showing appreciation to our donors.
I honestly can't believe I haven't written on the subject of thanking our church donors. In fact, this idea didn't occur to me until I read Fundraisers need to focus more on appreciation.
What an incredibly simple idea! We make appeal after appeal for the bus fund and the building fund and every other kind of fund imaginable. We send our semi-annual (or quarterly or even monthly) contribution statements to stimulate giving. But when was the last time we sent a thank you letter to our members that didn't end with another appeal to meet the budget?
If donors are people too, then we should begin by thanking those who have contributed to the growth of the Kingdom through the support of our local churches...personally.
Maybe....just maybe....if people felt appreciated, they might respond measurably to our sincere appreciation by giving more. And we wouldn't even have to ask for it.
Posted by bstroup at June 23, 2008 9:18 AM
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