TRUST.
All the hoop-la and hand-wringing that comes with the “gold rush” at year-end can knock the trust out of even the most faithful of fundraisers. In fact, what with the carrying on that characterizes the season, you may find yourself worrying that you should be worried if you’re not weighed down by worry.
But don’t go there, dear friend. Rather, take heart in knowing that God is faithful, including in these crazy end times. For fundraising success at year-end:
Trust your cause. You know that the organization to which you’ve been called does good work, so don’t let the occasional turn-down shake your confidence in the worthiness of your cause. As Bill Enright reminds us in Kitchen Table Giving, “a mission that is purpose-driven and visionary stirs donors’ hearts and captures their imaginations.” No arm-twisting or faddish methods needed when the cause is sound.
Trust your work. Year-long, you’ve planned your work and worked your plan and now you can expect to reap the rewards of all that’s been done before. In the words of Jim Collins and Morten Hansen, “you don’t wait until you’re in an unexpected storm to discover that you need more strength and endurance. You prepare with intensity all the time.” Come year-end, you’re ready.
Trust your friends, in particular, those who’ve supported your organization through thick and thin. Friends don’t/won’t pressure friends to give outside their heart-lines. As a parish priest once told me, “We’re not hitting people up for money. We’re bringing the Gospel into their lives and the Gospel demands a response.”
Trust God. If at year-end your anxiety level is spiking (it happens to the best of development folk), remember these words from the holiness writer Hannah Whitall Smith: “This is the lesson that all God’s dealings with us are meant to teach, and this is the crowning discovery of our entire Christian life. God is enough!”
You can trust me on this.
Other one things for year-end fundraising success:
This one thing for year-end fundraising success: listen
This one thing for year-end fundraising success: keep calm
This one thing for year-end fundraising success: embrace social
This one thing for year-end fundraising success: tell a good story