Do the Word

The most popular question I receive regarding Transformational Giving goes like this:

‘OK, so I understand that fundraising is not the process but rather the result of the process of equipping a champion to get involved in the cause. So I’m working on getting my champions involved in the cause. But when do I let my champions know about my financial need for which I need their support?’

The question is super helpful because it helps us to identify two counterfeit versions of TG:

Counterfeit Version #1: TG means not talking about money

Some people, upon first hearing about TG, say, ‘Oh, yeah–I’ve been doing that for years. I build friendships with people and tell them what’s going on in my ministry, but I never ask them for money. I let God put that on their heart.’

News flash: That’s definitely not TG. In fact, it’s anti-TG.

First of all, TG isn’t about building friendships, nor is it about sharing your ministry. It’s about building mutual accountability relationships, and its about supporting your champions and equipping them to minister in the cause.

Second of all, the G in TG stands for Giving. If you’re not talking about Giving, you’re not talking about TG. We talk as much if not more about giving in TG as is done in traditional/transactional fundraising. We just talk about it really differently. More on that in a minute.

Counterfeit Version #2: TG means fee for service

Another way TG is misunderstood is when people think TG means that we bring up our needs after we’ve helped a champion get involved in the cause. Kind of like, ‘Now that you’re active in the cause, I need to let you know about my financial need. Can I count on you to make a donation?’ It’s the classic bait and switch: bait the person by supporting them…then turn the tables and ask them to support you. There’s a nasty element of guilt in there as well, if you think about it.

The Real Deal: TG invites giving at the point that the need belongs to the champion, not to the ministry

I never say to a champion, ‘I’m not here to talk about your money.’ Of course we’re going to talk about your money! It’s just not all I’m going to talk about, and when I talk about it, I’m not going to talk about it in a way that is nothing more than loosely veiled self-interest. I’m going to talk about it in a way that reveals me to be a trustworthy counselor to how you can impact the cause through the financial dimension of your involvement. (If the answer to how you can impact the cause is always ‘Send me more money’, please re-read the sentence about loosely veiled self-interest.)

The causes I talk to champions about require them to be ‘all in’, meaning that volunteering or learning or experiencing just isn’t enough if they want to seriously make a difference. Kingdom rule of thumb: if you want to impact the cause, count on God calling you to give cheerfully and significantly.

So when do you ask for money? When it fits into the involvement plan that you’ve helped the champion to draw up that equips them to be ‘all in’ in relation to the cause. If an ask is about the champion supporting your financial need, you’ve biffed it. If, on the other hand, your ask is really an answer to a question the champion raises because you’ve coached him to raise it on the way to maturity in the cause, that’s straight over-the-plate TG.

You up for some examples in the next post?

Fundraising is an inadequate way to explain the biblical framework for giving because it introduces a Kingdom nonentity–the nonprofit organization–and seeks to portray it as the locus of God’s activity.

By ‘Kingdom nonentity’ I mean that the New Testament introduces the church as the locus of God’s activity, revealing with it the impermanence of all institutions. (The church is precisely not an institution, of course.)

This doesn’t mean that the concept of the nonprofit org is in any sense unbiblical. But it does mean that equating Christian nonprofit and church in such a way that God’s promises to church apply 1 to 1 to the Christian nonprofit–which is such a common practice in the nonprofit world that it typically happens without anyone questioning it–just ain’t good theology.

In the biblical framework, institutions (like nonprofits) grow God’s people, and then the institutions ultimately become unnecessary.

In the traditional Christian nonprofit fundraising framework, God’s people grow institutions, and then God’s people ultimately become unnecessary…except, sadly, as sources of funding.

Some of [Jesus’] disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, ‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.’ [Luke 21:5-6]

Yesterday’s post on the ‘TG Ten’–the ten biblical principles that undergird Transformational Giving–becomes even more provocative when juxtaposed against the other TG Ten, namely the principles that undergird traditional (or what I call Transactional) fundraising.

Call me out if you think I’ve created a straw man here. Otherwise, please excuse me while I go shower.

Principle 1: Transactional fundraising utilizes solicitation tools, techniques, and strategies in an effort to maximize the donations made to an organization from a limited pool of resources.

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Principle 2: Transactional fundraising is Darwinian in nature, favoring survival of the fittest organizations that excel in the competition for limited dollars. For religious organizations, God is called on either to bless and guide the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts or to spare the nonprofit from having to engage in fundraising.

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Principle 3: Transactional fundraising utilizes various forms of giving to the donor (e.g., recognition, premiums, friendships, power) as helpful tools toward the goal of prompting the donor to give more to the organization.

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Principle 4: Organizations acquire donors for the purpose of raising support for the organizations’ efforts to impact the cause.

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Principle 5: Transactional fundraising relationships between donors and organizations are organizational support relationships where friendship and likeability are cultivated as helpful catalysts to increased giving.

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Principle 6: The organization understands itself to be the primary means of advancing the cause, with donor referrals of qualified personal contacts highly valued.

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Principle 7: The relationship between organization and donor is fundamental. Relationships between donors can provide important benefits to the organization, including referrals, credibility enhancement, and presentation opportunities.

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Principle 8: The culmination of each donor cultivation cycle involves the donor giving a gift in response to organizational solicitation, followed by the organization expressing appropriate thanks and supplying compelling reporting of how the organization utilized the donor’s gift.

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Principle 9: Giving is understood to be latent in donors, activated and maximized through an effective combination of solicitation tools, techniques, and strategies.

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Principle 10: Donors are categorized and attended to by organizations according to the actual and/or potential recency, frequency, and monetary value of the donors’ giving.