HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY GFA Balance for Fruitful Christian Fundraising

DILEMMAS OF SMALL(ER) CHARITIES Limited resources Limited staff Limited skill ‘Competing’ with those who don’t have limited resources and staff Sorting out priorities God’s leading versus everything else

PRINCIPLES vs. METHODS Principles don’t change Methods change Not the American way Methods change With region, culture, ministry life cycle, goals Distinguish between the two Change methodology as needed Always Clarify principles

What I ‘stepped in’... Sent from the US office in 2006 Develop the work Transition to being independent of US office A very US organization An American from a ‘US organization’ 2500 sq ft building rent (2 staff) Ace Administrator in Gretchen Big organisation, Little office

Gospel for Asia 16,500 national missionaries in 10 nations Planting 17 churches every day 64 Bible colleges with over 6,000 students Broadcasting the Gospel in 110 languages Helping over 53,000 Dalit children Drilled wells for over 1800 villages Over 90 fund designations 100% goes to mission field

GFA’s Fundraising Model Exposure/Acquisition Conversion Development Reporting and Retention Partner focused, Mission field centric Ministry oriented Ends to an Ends Lots of prayer

GFA’s Fundraising Model Exposure/Acquisition Conversion Reporting and Retention Partner focused, Mission field centric

Prioritising Ministry life cycle P vs. PC 80/20 (Production vs. Production Capability) 80/20 Fly Wheel vs. Doom Loop

The hole I dug... Started the Development engine running Website, Conferences, Meetings, etc. Dealt with inefficiencies Ditching the US database Sorting/ mail equipment, etc. Gretchen called to the US Poor transition to new database Overwhelmed by amount of new work

A look at 2006 £584,000 income (normalised) 1,343 Donors 1,214 ‘Partners’ £268,000 Sponsorship funds

WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE

A BIT MORE DETAIL

The Numbers 2006 2009 Increase Avg Increase Income £584,000 £1,072,000 £488,000 18% Donors 1343 2595 1252 20% Partners 1214 1937 723 14% Spons Income £268,000 £445,000 £177,000 15% Sponsors 852 1379 527

So what happened? Lots of Ups and Downs Lots of prayer Hope is not a strategy but prayer is Focused on faithfulness Eliminated inefficiencies Kept focus on priorities Developed each aspect of our fundraising model Understood our strategic life cycle

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

A BIT MORE DETAIL What’s right and wrong?

What’s right and wrong? Excellent Exposure/Acquisition Poor Conversion Add value Poor Conversion Higher costs, both financial and staff Poor follow-up (3% conversion) Part of this is ministry life cycle Felt it best to keep fly wheel spinning 18% growth vs.???

So what’s next? Branding Enhancing all conversion activities Re-writing follow-up series Email follow-up Improve Free Book offer Better qualifying Stronger Messaging Developing other methods of Acquisition

HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY GFA Balance for Fruitful Christian Fundraising