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The Road to Disappointment

 

Are you headed towards being disappointed with the results
of your campaign to raise funds?

I knew of a church that once raised four times their budget in campaign pledges and were unhappy with the result and asked for their money back from the firm that helped them. While I donít know all the issues around that particular campaign I know Christian leaders who would give their right arms for that kind of result. Yet often at the Monday morning assessment meeting of the results when it is less than what was expected and someone has to take the blame it usually is the stewardship firm and their consultant that takes the fall. While this may come off as being defensive on my part as a consultant I do want you to consider that some fault could lie within your organization and it just might lie in you!

Why is it that Christian ministries are often disappointed with the results they receive in their capital campaigns? Is there anything that can be done to head this off? One thing that I think can help is to identify the major sources that cause disappointment among ministries. In my ten years in this ministry I have found there are about four common errors that lead to disappointment.

The road to disappointment could lie in...

  1. Unrealistic Expectations. On this count stewardship companies do share some of the blame. For years we told potential clients that the average raised was one and a half to three times a ministries annual budget. I am not sure that was ever true but it certainly is not true in the economic climate that we are presently in. We are finding that the average is more like one to two times budget raised. However you arrive at your expectation if it is too high you are bound to be disappointed. Unrealistic expectations fall into several broad categoriesÖ
    1. Wanting more to be pledged than is possible. It seems that every ministry wants to raise an amount that is higher than is realistic. It is perhaps the number one question that we face, "How much do you think we can raise?" The answer is always it depends. While we work hard at looking at your financials and interviewing potential donors no one can predict with 100% accuracy what you will pledge. We can give you a good approximation but there are too many factors that go into raising funds. If your expectation is too high you will be disappointed. Work with your consultant to arrive at a realistic expectation.
    2. Comparing your ministry with others. "My friend down the road has a ministry smaller than mine and he raised four times his budget." I hear that a lot. We ministers are prone to compare ourselves with those around us. What we might not know is that the ministry that is smaller than ours has a much wealthier donor base than ours. If Bill Gates goes to your buddies' church you might not want to compare his results to your expectations.
    3. Wanting the funds to be raised faster than is realistic. The question is not can you raise $3 million, $5 million or $10 million. The question is how long will it take you to raise that amount? You can count on it taking longer than you would like. Wanting the bulk of your dollars to come in quickly often leads to a disappointment. We are finding in these challenging economic times that the emphasis is shifting from pledging over a period of years to giving. While the economy appears uncertain you can expect donations to come slower than in years past. Do you have a good plan to capture maximized giving when pledges are not what you anticipated?
  2. Unresolved Conflicts. We are currently working with a church in transition from a traditional church to a seeker sensitive church. This change in focus has caused tremendous conflict with what I call the "old guard." We found in our interviews with those members who do have significant funds, that they will not support the next phase of the building. There are a host of issues that have to be resolved before this church can effectively move forward. Finding the landmines before they blow your leg off is imperative. We have a process to help you discover what those potential land mines might be. Donít walk upon a land mine of an unresolved conflict that could cause you to be disappointed with your results.
  3. Unclear Vision. Donors want to know two basic things, does this make sense and can you pull it off? If your vision is unclear or seems unrealistic donors will not give to it. It takes great skill to take what is a dream and craft it into something that can be understood and something that your donors can rally to support. You can not just say, "God told me so." While that might be true you have to convince donors by properly communicating your vision. If you short change this process it will lead you to be disappointed. Often donors will not vote against your vision or speak against it. Their real vote comes when they either commit financially to it or not. If your vision is unclear to them you can count on being disappointed. With our Vision Alignment process we can help you clarify the vision so that donors will more readily commit dollars to it.
  4. Unfulfilled Work. If you the leader of your ministry are not willing to put the time into your campaign you will be disappointed. You engage a stewardship firm not to do the work for you but to help you be more effective in the work that must be done. There is no substitute for hard work in a campaign. Leaders that are lazy or simply not focused will be disappointed in the results. If you are not willing to put the necessary effort into funding your vision you are not really committed to your vision to begin with. How can you expect your members to commit to what you yourself can not find the time for? Take a vacation after the pledge time. Now is the time to roll up your sleeves and work!

While there are many other issues that can lead to disappointment these are the four major ones that I have experienced in my ten years. Working with a stewardship consultant is a two way street. There will be times that the consultant is not fulfilling in your mind his end of the deal. At the moment you feel this call him to talk it over. Don't wait until the end to express dissatisfaction. Work out now any issues that you feel you have so that they do not affect the outcome of the campaign. Then at the end don't use him as a scapegoat for what you yourself could have done to avoid disappointment. Taking steps to avoid the above points could save you not only from disappointment but also from a bad campaign.

Mark Brooks

Check out my new blog The Stewardship Coach at: http://005d0c7.netsolhost.com/blog1/


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