A new way to ask for support

Via YouTube, of all places, a personal appeal from a guy who was heading to Japan (and since posting the video late last year actually is in Japan now):

He has a number of these addressed to some of his close friends that he posted. I like the idea, but I’m not sure how certain potential donors will think of it. Younger generations will probably be fine with it for the most part; my one concern is that, being in such a public forum (you may be able to restrict access, making the video private to your friends), it may seem like an attempt to guilt a person into giving from the perspective of certain personalities.

As I already said, though, my own personality finds this creative and commendable.

Creative missions support

A few snippets from our fundraising experiences relating to creative giving:

* My wife’s father was, when we began fundraising, a car salesman and a pastor. I thought this a very humorous combination, but if you knew the man it made perfect sense. He called us one day, before we’d moved to Arkansas, and said he wanted to buy us a car in order to support us.

That was the same car we felt compelled to sell, as much as we didn’t really want to, as detailed in this post. When he told me this on the phone, which I had answered, I listened and quickly handed the receiver to my wife! I, obviously, have a closer relationship with my father-in-law now (his proposal was less than a year in to our marriage), and would feel more comfortable than I did then discussing such things.

* A lady in our cell group with a hair-cutting salon cut our hair for free, as well as donating a computer to the church and instructing them to give us the value of the machine as a one-time gift (which we never actually got — and even she knew it wasn’t worth all that much — but the point of creativity remains).

* While meeting with a couple to present the ministry and ask for support, they told us how much of an inspiration we were to them at the point in life they found themselves. This was very encouraging to me, and they also support us financially!

* Just after moving to Arkansas, my wife needed some dental work to the tune of $800. We didn’t have $800; in fact, our expenses were more than her job brought in while I raised support full-time. I don’t know how, but we didn’t ever go backwards.

One night after attending a birthday party, friends of ours pulled us aside and asked to pay for the crown. It was a tearjerker, completely unexpected, and for a while I couldn’t remember how they even knew she needed the work. I finally remembered sharing with the men in our cell group my frustration in not being able to provide this for my wife. To God be the glory.

* More recently, my wife and I strove intently to finish paying off my student loans. I knew of at least one other person whose loans were paid by a donor. For more than a year I mulled over the idea of asking our donors and churches to help out in this way before I felt the time was right.

When I finally asked, I asked two churches to pay off the remainder of the school loans. The response from the churches was very slow, it seemed to me anyway. However, a lady on our mailing list, after reading our monthly prayer email noting the situation, took it to mean we were asking her. She sent $1,000 towards the debt.

After some more months had passed, I finally received an answer from the second church. The other church had already said “no,” and by the time the second answered we’d paid a significant amount off ourselves. The same week the second church declined our request, three checks came in from individuals totaling $1,350 — including another $1,000 from the aforementioned donor. This was almost equal to the $1,500 I asked the church for.

In the end, the loans were paid off after four-and-a-half years, on a ten year loan.

Nobody likes to tell people “no”

Hearing “no” is a given in support-raising, and some of the time I would rather hear it more often.

Now that you think I’m crazy, let me explain. On some occasions I begin to wonder if people aren’t being euphemistic. I can’t know for certain, and you have to give people the benefit of the doubt.

But it still felt like people were telling us they would think and pray about supporting us when they really meant, “No, we don’t want to support you financially.” We would also give the people the option, at the appointments, to defer for a time. I would then mark them as an “ask in future,” and get back to them in a year or so.

But their answers didn’t change.

People don’t like telling other people no. Dan Dewald, according to his MySpace website, doesn’t like telling people “no.” Lawmakers don’t like telling people “no” according to John O’Conner for the Peoria Journal Star. The keeper of the blog My Life as a Mommy X 3 doesn’t like to tell people “no.”

But I would much, much rather hear “no” than be strung along.

I don’t really like sharing this, because some of my friends made me feel like this at times, as though they were stringing us along. And like I already mentioned, we can’t know for certain and I have to give a person the benefit of the doubt. Then why, you ask, share I this?

Because I hope that the person reading this will be better prepared for the fundraising process because of my sharing.

Resistance

One of our very first appointments was at the Green Gateau. The Green Gateau is one of our favorite restaurants, with a quaint atmosphere and great food. We decided it would be a good place to meet with people and share the vision of Mission Data International and our part in that vision over some wonderful berry tiramisu. Their coffee is also stellar, coming from a local roaster.

We met the potential donor at the restaurant and ordered coffees and desserts. The food came, and we began our presentation — our notebook of illustrations crowding the small table. As I recall, we did well with the presentation. But the lady across the table remained very quiet through the whole thing.

We finally came to the page in our notebook suggesting the person become a part of our support team. The potential donor replied very stoically, “I don’t believe in raising support.”

She then very briefly, and very stoically, explained a little of why she thought this. It took a lot of willpower on my part to not break out in impartation with all of the things we’d learned in boot camp — all of the Bible verses that showed Jesus and the apostles living off of financial and material support from other people. I was a bit miffed. This was a lady who I knew regularly participated in mission trips of some length. And she thinks fundraising for missions is not Biblical.

I went home feeling mistreated, deceived. Why would she have agreed to the meeting in the first place? In our letter and phone call that came before the meeting, we made it quite clear that the reason for getting together was to share the ministry and ask for money. Did she just come along for the dessert, which we paid for? Of course we would be reimbursed when there was money in our ministry account, but that was God’s money.

This was quite an introduction to support raising.