Why and How to Craft Your Message Purpose precedes process. Plans will change. Strategies will change. Messages evolve. It is critically important to have done the hard work of crafting your message – who your ministry is, how you got there, and what you see the Lord doing in a common language, so that you […]
Email Exhaustion
Setting Limits on Distraction It exhausts you. It diffuses your influence. It drains your energy. It interrupts. It disrupts. I’m not talking about parenthood or the summer intern! I’m talking about email. Right here, right now, make a commitment to increase your productivity by decreasing your susceptibility to multitasking. Vow to minimize your use of…dare […]
Make Your Numbers Count!
The Data You Really Need to Raise More Money There is power in what happens when you look at the right numbers. I have never seen an out-of-the-box database able to give you the exact numbers you need to make decisions as a ministry. I have seen ministries transform their perspective and in turn […]
Leading People to Decisions
Are You in the Driver’s Seat? Meeting with people – check. Share your message – check. Challenge people to think and pray about their giving with focused follow-up – check. Now what?! For leaders and/or those who are in the development director role, delivery of information is only part of your responsibility. It’s the GPS. […]
Busy vs. Productive
Shepherding Your Time as a Leader Are you extremely productive at unimportant things? We are so capable of being so remarkably busy we can fail to consider the true importance and value of focused work on the right things. It is only through careful prayer and thought that we can hope to clearly see the […]
Hiring Well Is Better Than Hiring Often
The How-To’s of Hiring I have great admiration for those who hire well. A mentor of mine, Woody Faulk of Chik-fil-A, has great advice for building staff: “Don’t just hire whoever washes over the bow of the ship. Go out and find great people and slowly, carefully recruit them when you know that they […]
Strength in [Small] Numbers
Creating Momentum with Your Small Group Strategy When it comes to development, small groups give new meaning to the familiar saying “strength in numbers!” More growth in giving, less time-intensive work. Effectively working with small groups adds to your ministry’s capacity to grow giving, with a high return on investment for time and energy poured […]
Recognize to Re-Energize
Picture your goal. The goal that is looming. If you’re like most folks, the date – not the goal itself – springs to mind! Write this date down. Say, “hello,” to your pivot point! The pivot point, generally speaking, is the point in the giving year where givers have concluded their giving decisions for […]
Don’t Just Fill Your Time, Maximize It!
Development Assistant Essentials Whether your ministry is introducing a Development Assistant, or expanding your program staff, there must be a clear and focused list of priorities. Work will expand or contract to fill the time available. Today I want to share four ways to streamline development assistant tasks to best benefit your efforts. Instant gratification. […]
Follow-Up Shows Follow-Through
Those who see movement in their ministry have figured out follow-up. The work in development is done in the Kingdom of God. People who see results that grow over time, see the fruit of their efforts, and see new resources being unlocked through people’s giving are active in advanced follow-up. Follow-up is not harassing. […]
90 Minutes of Change
I want to give you 90 minutes that are going to completely change the momentum in your giving year, particularly between now and the end of December. Not 90 minutes of watching me or listening to a webinar for an hour and a half… 90 minutes of action that will move you forward. Meetings are […]
Grow Giving This Year by Taking a Step Back
Reinforcing the Basics | Building Your Skillset If you are like me, you are thinking a lot about your goals for this year. Now is the perfect time to refocus on essentials while expanding on potential. Let’s talk about advancement planning and what it can do for your ministry! True advancement planning occurs when you’re […]
The Power of Ten
High Priority Prospects and What They Can Mean for Your Ministry I want to share a powerful method we’ve seen work again and again for leaders. I believe it will help you focus in the year as you look ahead to the next ten to twelve months. Focus on establishing a group of highest […]
How to Grow Long-Term Donors
Knowing the difference between when and how to emphasize gifts and commitments with potential donors is vital to the process of creating a sustained community of generous giving. To determine the development strategy you’re going to use, you must first understand the stages of a donor. Donor-focused perspective is key! The current outlook on fundraising […]
What You Absolutely Positively Must Do Before the End of December
The clock is ticking. The giving year is quickly coming to a close. Are you ready? Let’s review three simple, yet specific, steps you can take to maximize the potential for donor giving here at the end of the calendar year. Let’s get you setup and ready to roll in the NEXT calendar year! […]
How to raise more money by just saying thank you
How well are you thanking and reporting? Are you setting the standard in this important work? I want to challenge you to consider how you can grow giving by focusing first on better thanking and reporting to your donors. This is essential to growing your giving future! Here’s what the data tells us: If […]
Achieving Your Giving Goal in the Next 45 Days
This calendar year is coming to a close. Have you hit your giving goals? Creating a 45-day plan may be the push your project needs. Any purposeful gift is the result of intentional planning; it begins with God and flows from your faithful follow-through. By this point in the year, you have had a lot […]
Adjust Your Vista – The “Faith-spective” Approach to Raising Money
The right time to start raising money is never – so let’s start now! We firmly believe ministries and organizations must know where they want to go before planning how they will get there. It is our firm belief NOW is the time to take massive action. You can and will do all things […]
Four Ways You Can Do More With Less
The expectation placed upon both you and me in today’s economy is this: do more with less. To actually do more with less requires that you and I constantly reinvent ourselves and grow our own leadership capacity for our ministry organization. Here are four proven ways that I find always take me to the next […]
Leaders should be…
There’s a great deal of opinions out there about what leaders should be in their organizations. At the end of a really intense day of coaching with leaders around the country, I want to add something to this list that you may not have thought about before. Leaders should be…STORYTELLERS. I encourage you to keep […]