Acts 29

There were four of us sitting in the kitchen on a Saturday morning. We had transformed it into a makeshift conference room. The colored markers we purchased for the occasion hadn’t been taken out of the box yet, and the white board was squeaky clean. All we had for a podium was the kitchen table moved off to the side. We sat there sipping our coffee in anticipation for the help we expected to receive. Our “conference” speaker was a short, pear-shaped man, about forty.  He had a little mustache and wore a dark pinstriped suit.  We noticed he had some annoying quirks, such as telling dumb jokes then laughing raucously at himself.  Overall, we liked him. He was quintessential “salesman”, but he was good. We had flown him in from Ohio, or was it Jersey? I don’t remember. He asked us if he could light up a cigarette and we said “sure”. As he took a long draw from his fire stick he assessed the situation. He looked at us with inquisitive eyes, then spoke.

“I’m fascinated why you guys flew me all the way to South Carolina. You realize my normal fee is $3000 a day, but I am only charging you $1500 a day. I am doing this because in all my years you are the first ‘church planters’ that have requested my services.” 

We explained again that we were church planters who needed a lot of money.  Since we couldn’t find any Christians who knew how to raise that much money, we hired a professional.  The cigarette man took another puff.  His “service” was to consult large non-profit corporations in fundraising. We found him from a friend of a sister of a friend.  We contacted him and he “happened” to have a brother who lived in Seattle where we wanted to start the church, so he agreed to train us; cheap.

Why did we hire an outside consultant for fundraising? Because like every planter we needed money, but weren’t sure how to get it.

As a church planting team (8 of us), we knew it would be difficult to raise money.  First, we were poor; TV’s-on-little-coffee-tables-poor. Half the group was going to school part time, the other half was in job transition for the move to Seattle. We shared each others computers, lawn mowers and at times vehicles. Second, our parents were poor. Most of us had parents who were missionaries, pastors, or Christian school teachers. They drove station wagons with the bumper sticker, We are spending our children’s inheritance, which amounted to a family Bible and a bunch of ties. Third, we didn’t know many people who had money. Most of our friends were struggling, young couples like ourselves with new mouths to feed. Those who did have money in the church we attended were older people who thought we were radicals, and who wouldn’t have given us a dime of their cash. Finally, we wanted money for a church plant in this country. You may wonder why that would be a problem. We found that people are willing to send money to the poor, pagan, Haitian children or to find a cure for diabetes. But, they are reticent to loosen their purse strings for a church plant in America, particularly if it is located in a place too far away to benefit them.       

If you are like most church planters, “fundraising” is a curse word. Fundraising is not on our seminary training reportages. We cringe at the very thought of bake sales, campaigns with titles like “Faith Promise” and “Adopt a Pastor”, or the big-ass thermometer in the auditorium that tells us we are $5000 short of our goal. We visualize the meeting we will have with the wealthy entrepreneur. How we will sheepishly ask for a small piece of his hard-earned fortune. How he will look at us with disgust and tell us we need to get as many jobs as necessary to pay our own way, because that’s what he did. He walked up hill both ways in the snow, barefoot to his 60-hour-a-week job at the factory. (This is why his wife has left him and his kids hate him, but that is beside the point.) We imagine him saying that he didn’t get where he was by giving out handouts. Heck, he occasionally pushes his car to work instead of driving it just to remind himself of his humble beginnings.

You see why we would rather paper cut our tongues than use them to request a hand out?
Although I was in sales for 10 years before this pastor gig, I still felt this way about fundraising. At least in sales we are handing the man a product he can take home and appreciate; the practical computer with the 17” monitor, or the lovely bracelet for his wife. But, what are we giving these businessmen for their money? We take their money, build ourselves a church, and then send them a thank you note, right? Wrong.  The hiring of the consultant was the first step we made in changing our perspective on fundraising. The first change was my understanding the minds of successful businessmen. When I say successful businessman I am referring to someone who either owns his own business, is a high level performer in business, or is just plain loaded with cash. If you understand your giver, you can figure out how to motivate him to give! Here is what I have learned over the last several years.   

Fact #1 – Most Americans this year will financially contribute to a non-profit, so that non-profit might as well be you. The May 2, 2005 report of the Freelanthropy Charitable Giving Index* surveys how much Americans give and the types of nonprofit organizations they support. The report estimates that 90 percent of Americans will give $100 to $10,000 this year to charity. This is good news for us, because it shows that money is waiting for a place to call home. It is interesting that the self-employed individuals comprised the largest employment group to contribute larger gifts, with 28 percent giving at the $5,000–$10,000 level. This is because giving to charity makes good business sense. Those who own or lead companies are regularly putting money into anything that will give them a tax break. What this means for the church planter is a shift in thinking. You are not attempting to get someone to break their tight budget to help you. You are asking them to give you a portion of the money they have already budgeted to give. 

This same survey also noted which age groups gave to religious charities. The least likely demographic to give to religious charities were those between the ages of 25-34. Those over age 65 supported religious organizations by a wide margin. So, when you’re approaching a businessman, go ahead and ask him which organizations he gives to regularly in order to judge the likelihood of him giving you a large gift.

We also need to stop thinking of just Christian givers, but non-believers as well. You just need to learn how to spin. A non-believer will not give to support a pastor’s salary, but he will give to a cause like a drug and alcohol addiction counseling center, or a future skate park for teenagers or a children’s puppet theatre. Give him a vision for how your church will impact his community, or a specific ministry he can fund.  

Fact #2 – Most successful businessmen are not involved in church, so their guilt is to our benefit.  How many wealthy men do you have in your church who are leading worship, teaching children’s ministry, and setting up chairs? In fact, for most churches you are doing good just to get the successful men to show up. In his book, Why Men Hate Going to Church, David Murrow points out that men whose personalities are highly aggressive, dangerous, and risk-taking are least likely to go to church (pg. 76). Many of these men are successful because while others wasted time sleeping and “going to church”, they were working. These men are high performance minded and super charged. They don’t have time to be involved in church functions, small groups, and committee meetings. Conversely, since they are unable to be involved, they want to help where they can. Giving their money is a way for them to feel like they are important in the kingdom of God, while working ungodly hours. The fact that you need their money helps bring meaning and purpose to their lives. Some of them have wives who go to church each week without them, and will be willing to contribute because it makes their wives happy. It is to the church planter’s benefit to figure out what the hot buttons are and utilize them.   

Fact #3 – Asking a successful businessman for money is not only ok to do, but for many it is a compliment. This was something I learned from the Cigarette Man. We are intimidated to ask for money, because we think it is insulting.  However, many people who are successful measure success by their net worth. They are proud of their value, and love recognition for that. Don’t be sheepish. These men will often respect you for having the stones to ask. Your request for money says to them, “I know you have it. You are successful. I plan to be successful as well, so give me some of your money.” You aren’t just asking them, but challenging them. If you think the guy can give $1000, then ask for $5000.  Let them be the ones to back down, but you may be surprised what they do. What you need to know is that these men will rarely be insulted by asking, so relax. They have it, they will give it, and you need to ask them for it.

One word of caution, though: businessmen will be insulted to be asked for money cold turkey. Make sure you know the person fairly well, and that you are clear about what the money will be used for. 

The Cigarette Man’s help made it feasible for me to go full time when our church only averaged 40 people. When we transitioned from the coffee shop to our new location, we were able to drop $40,000 on needs such as sound equipment and rent without going under. Even today, we have regular monthly support being sent to us from people all over the country as part of our original campaign. We always need more money because church planting is expensive, but without the fundraising we would be greatly limited in our effectiveness. 

In the next article I will give more practical steps on how to get contacts, create a business plan, and approach your contacts for money.     

     *For the full report, visit www.freelanthropy.com.