ECCU Blog

By Lorraine Mazza

Lorraine Mazza is managing director of development with Joni & Friends International Disability Center. She’ll participate in an educational session on giving that ECCU is presenting at the Christian Leadership Alliance 2013 National Conference in Anaheim, California.

“Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.” (Philippians 2:4–5)

I have been asked so often about the guiding principles for working with major donors and how our ministry has been blessed with success in this area. I always respond in the same way: “Keep it personal.” Let me explain.

As Christians, we live in and are influenced by the secular world. Our high-tech, high-speed lives have often been created at the expense of true personal relationships. Much of what was once considered social graces has been replaced by expediency, creating the oxymoron “virtual personal relationship.” In the business world, companies must turn a profit. If it saves money, it’s “good.” Consequently, mechanical voices have replaced that all important first human touch with customers. Acknowledgements by email have replaced personal thank-you notes. Too many times the end (profit) justifies the means at the expense of personal contact.

For the Christian nonprofit, this rapidly widening cultural shift creates opportunity. We live in a world where a simple and consistent policy of building a personal relationship has become a distinct competitive advantage. As Christian fundraisers, we have committed our lives to a Savior that requires a personal relationship with Him and requires that we reach out in a personal way to others. The art of the personal relationship shouldn’t be left out of the development department. We should be the champions of personal relationships.

Fundraising, especially among major donors, cannot succeed unless it is fully integrated into the ministry culture from the top down and accepted as ministry itself, providing a service to the donor.

All fundraising is ultimately about personal relationships and about ministry to our donors and donor prospects. We cannot minister and bless these people unless we have developed some kind of personal relationship with them. To “keep it personal,” we must know our donors. Why did they give to our ministry? What is it about our ministry that drew them to us? The only way to answer these questions is to personally ask them. That means seeing people in person, calling them on the phone (without asking for money), or acknowledging them with a handwritten note. It means we ask for their prayer requests and pray for them. When we do this, we bless our supporters and all those our ministries serve.

Our desire is to honor God in everything we do. The secular world often seeks to be served by asking, “What are you going to do for me?” But the Bible tells us to put others first and ask, “How may I serve you?”

By Bob Ball

Bob Ball is a senior vice president and executive creative director for Masterworks, a leader in the non-profit industry in branding, analytics and constituent marketing, donor engagement, and integrated online/offline marketing. He’ll participate in an educational session on giving that ECCU is presenting at the Christian Leadership Alliance 2013 National Conference in Anaheim, California.

Donor-focused stories prompt the most response. Stories that are written to the donor, for the donor, and about the donor.

Far too many newsletters are all about the organization. Such newsletters—I call them “Navel-Gazing Newsletters”—talk all about the news, the programs, and the accomplishments of the organization.

Donors are interested in what their money has accomplished.

Sometimes newsletters attempt to serve many different masters. These “All-Things-to-All-People” newsletters are created for several different audiences (in addition to donors). For example, some organizations use their newsletter to communicate with donors, volunteers, employees, board members, the media, and even the general public. This desire to be all things to all audiences makes it difficult to effectively focus on any single audience.

When the newsletter devolves to this point, it usually doesn’t make anyone happy and slides into irrelevancy.

In recent years, my colleagues and I have resolved to do something about this sorry state of the newsletter. We started by attacking the problem at the root. We decided to reverse the diffused audience focus and create newsletters with an obsessive, laser-like focus on donors.

The result is the Extreme Donor-Focused Newsletter. It is aimed squarely at the donor. In fact, it is all about the donor. This approach assumes donors give because they love to give and love to make a significant difference in the world. It combines reporting about what the donors have accomplished and offers them a clear opportunity to give again.

One major theme of the newsletter needs to be how important the donor is—“Look at what you have accomplished! With your help, we can do all this. Without your help, we will not be able to do it.” Look for ways to use the words “Thank you!” over and over again. It’s almost impossible to over-thank donors. (This is not merely a report back about what the organization was able to accomplish. This is all about what the DONOR has accomplished through their generosity!)

Giving is joyful. I can’t emphasize the importance of this simple fact. Donors—real donors—love to give. Your faithful, loyal donors are the people who give over and over again, and keep giving. They are not stingy grouches who must be cajoled and manipulated into reluctantly parting with their money. No! Real donors have discovered the secret of true happiness and all they need is assurance that their giving is appreciated and effective.

This key message should be explicitly stated: “Nothing feels better than when you help. When you give to accomplish XYZ, you know the joy of making a significant difference in the world!”

It can be challenging to stay abreast of legal and legislative changes affecting your ministry. What, for example, are you to make of recent legislation passed by Congress to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff?

To find out, I emailed a few questions to Dave Moja, partner and national director of not-for-profit services with CapinCrouse LLP. Here’s how he responded.

MBG: What’s the most important thing ministry leaders should know about the legislation Congress passed to avoid the fiscal cliff?

Dave: One thing is the extension of the deduction from an IRA rollover. Taxpayers who are 70½ years of age can roll up to $100,000 from their IRA without having to take it as income. This expired at the end of 2011 but has now been extended through 2013.

MBG: How about healthcare legislation? If a ministry isn’t familiar with its implications, are there a couple first steps they need to take in response to it?

Dave: There are several items here. First, ministries need to make sure they are reporting health benefits to their employees on Form W-2. Next is the new 0.9% Medicare withholding on higher income employees. Ministries should make sure they are up to date on these rules for their executives.

MBG: Is there an update that you think might catch most ministries off guard?

Dave: Ministries should be aware of the new rules that take effect in 2014 with regard to potential penalties.

One reason I asked Dave these questions is because he’s presenting an upcoming Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) webinar titled Need-to-Know Tax and Legal Trends and Updates. When I asked Dave for some important takeaways those who attend this webinar can expect, here’s what he said:

“We will summarize what to expect in 2013. Also, we expect several IRS clarifications this year. These include changes to the charitable contribution deduction, unrelated business income stipulations, and changes to Form 1023, the exempt application process.”

This webinar will be presented on Thursday, March 28, 2013, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. (PT). For more information or to register, visit www.eccu.org/cla-webinar.

When I visited the Rock Church in San Diego a few years ago, the first person I met was their receptionist. After she greeted me, I asked her to tell me what they were all about. “We’re a do something church,” she quickly replied. Are they ever! A year ago they invested the equivalent of 100 full-time people (235,000 volunteer hours) serving their city.

How do they do it? Next month, Senior Pastor Miles McPherson and his team will tell their story at the Do Something Church Summit on Friday, March 8. To see and hear more about the Summit, watch this video trailer:

To get more of an idea of what the Rock Church has learned by getting serious about serving, I emailed a few questions to Miles. Here’s what he said.

MBG: San Diego has experienced the love of Jesus through the Rock Church. How have people in the city responded to that love?

Miles: The volunteer work of the people of the Rock has fostered many relationships and partnerships with community-based organizations. Once they see that we are there to serve, ongoing partnerships are fostered that result in continued open doors for service.

MBG: What are some hurdles pastors typically face when presenting their congregations with the vision of becoming a Do Something Church?

Miles: Pastors will feel burdened to organize all of the ministries with their staff, feeling like it can get messy using volunteers to lead the efforts, but this is the beauty of the model. There are so many high capacity volunteers waiting for the chance to get in the game. If their efforts were unleashed, the amount of ministry they could accomplish would grow exponentially.

MBG: What’s one significant way that being a Do Something Church has changed the Rock Church?

Miles: It has created a culture of service among our congregation. People are now trained to look for and address practical problems facing the people of our community instead of just walking by and praying for them.

MBG: Besides a customized plan for their churches, what are a couple major takeaways people can expect by attending the Summit?

Miles: They can expect to take away a whole new philosophy on outreach. The Summit will provide them with a complete plan of action for how to launch dozens of volunteer-led ministries in their church. They’ll be equipped to plan church-wide community service events in partnership with community leaders—including their city’s mayor. And they’ll take away new resources and tips to expand their reach through technology. This is going to be an event you don’t want to miss!

To learn more or register for the Summit, visit dosomethingchurch.org/summit. Cost is $99 per person, which includes a Thursday-evening dinner reception.

Have you discovered that serving your community opens doors for the gospel? Please comment and let us know how.

Before the economic downturn, many churches thought that growing attendance translated into greater giving. And often, it did. So lenders were inclined to look at attendance growth when evaluating how much new debt a church could handle.

But what has the recession taught us? Is this a valid criterion for determining the loan size a church can handle today? To find out, I asked Jeremy Moore, one of ECCU’s regional directors, a couple questions.

First question: If a ministry is growing rapidly, it seems reasonable to expect a lender to consider their potential for greater giving when determining the amount of money that ministry qualifies to borrow. Is that how commercial lenders see it? Why or why not?

Jeremy: One thing we learned in the downturn was that relying on continued growth in attendance and giving is dangerous. Lots of ministries that struggled to meet obligations ended up there because of their expectation of continued growth. While it’s certainly good to hope and plan for growth, one must also be careful to build in margin and have contingency plans in place in the event that growth doesn’t materialize. In today’s market, lenders (including ECCU) rely almost exclusively on historical results when determining a ministry’s ability to service future debt.

Second question: Cash flow can become a problem for any ministry. Can it be a problem when a ministry is applying for a loan? Why?

Jeremy: Cash flow is important for all kinds of reasons. One is because a ministry that manages cash well has the ability to react to unexpected opportunities and challenges without unnecessarily jeopardizing their ongoing ministry. From a loan perspective, lenders are typically looking for borrowers who have built margin into their cash flow. This is why having the ability to comfortably make mortgage payments should be budgeted before the loan application process begins.                                

I asked Jeremy these questions because he and two of his fellow regional directors will present a webinar on February 21 titled How to Look Like a Healthy Borrower. All three of these men have a wealth of experience gained by working with ministries during the recession and helping them return to financial health.

To wrap up, I asked Jeremy what people can expect to learn by attending this webinar. He simply said, “They’ll learn how to look and act like a borrower before applying for a loan.”

If you’d like more information about this webinar, you’ll find it here.