Do the Word

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.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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

*

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.

*

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

*

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.

*

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.

*

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

*

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.

The Radical Fundraising in Radical Times seminars will be unleashed amongst the unsuspecting citizens of Korea, Seattle, Portland, Arizona, Colorado, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in but a few short weeks. Even the TG 10–the ten biblical principles that compose the paint box for all things Transformational Giving–have received quite a spiff.

Not that the principles themselves have changed. In fact, they’ve borne the first two years of the test of time pretty darn well, by God’s grace.

What has changed, however, is that the original TG10 were written from the vantage point of the nonprofit, astonishingly utilizing the traditional/transactional/objectionable appellation of ‘donor’ to refer to that amazing bundle of God’s gifts, grace, and activity know as the individual Christian. This revised list refers to that individual more properly by the name ‘champion’.

Here are the new TG 10:

The Ten Principles of Transformational Giving

Principle 1: Every act of giving is first and foremost a statement about the faithfulness of God.

*

Principle 2: Transformational giving is based on the abundance and trustworthiness of God, not a theology of scarcity.

*

Principle 3: It is better to give than to receive.

*

Principle 4: A champion connects with an organization for the purpose of enhancing their mutual impact on the cause, not only to support the organization’s impact on the cause.

*

Principle 5: A Transformational Giving relationship between a champion and an organization is primarily a peer-level accountability relationship, not merely a friendship or a mutual admiration society.

*

Principle 6: The champion, not the organization, is called to be the primary means of advancing the cause within the champion’s sphere of influence.

*

Principle 7: The relationship between champion and champion is as important as the relationship between champion and organization.

*

Principle 8: Giving is not the process but rather one vital result of the process of a champion being comprehensively coached to share the cause effectively within his or her sphere of influence.

*

Principle 9: Giving is learned, not latent.

*

Principle 10: Champions categorize themselves not according to the amount of their giving but by the degree of comprehensive personal ownership they are exhibiting in the cause.