Successful Fundraising Requires Cultural Saturation

While I desperately hope denominational support will rebound, I am not optimistic in the near term. Current political and economic trends suggest any recovery, if realized, will be modest, and some governing officials have already signaled their desire to collect more revenues by eliminating the opportunity to itemize charitable contributions.

Even if we were blessed with modest growth in Cooperative Program receipts, support would still fall substantially short of the levels needed to undergird a seminary dedicated to exalting Christ by equipping students well, in part, because CP receipts have not kept pace with inflationary growth since 1990.

Current economic realities are pushing seminaries to think differently about finances. Gone, and likely never to return, are the days when denominational support provides 70+ percent of a seminary's budget. But, we must not passively accept a "new normal" where strong, denominationally-supported seminaries become tuition-driven schools that are no longer affordable for many who seek to be thoroughly equipped for the pursuit of God's call.

A better way to address the troubling funding realities before us is found in the purposeful cultivation of a culture which prizes the work of financial development at every level. Organizations facing declining denominational receipts need scores of successful, saved people who will be interested in, involved with, praying for, and advancing their God-given work. The levels of support needed to secure the future affordability and impact of seminaries demands that most of the people who comprise the seminary be meaningfully involved in the process of cultivating the relationships that allow seminaries to flourish regardless of future economic headwinds.

Identifying the scores of men and women who will stand with us in fulfilling our missions demands the purposeful involvement of virtually everyone in the organization. Financial development is not merely an office; it is a way of life for anyone who has the privilege of serving in an organization on the front lines of fulfilling the Great Commission. The work of identifying financial partners for the ministries entrusted to us does not belong to one person, one office, or even one division. To be sure, someone must coordinate and lead the charge, but the team is comprised of everyone. In tomorrow's thriving organizations, "financial development" is becoming a way of life for everyone who takes part in fulfilling the mission.

Financial development must saturate the cultures of denominationally-supported institutions because gospel-centered organizations understand the dreams and plans that God gives in the pursuit of His mission almost always require financial support. Financial development is not fundamentally about money; it is about mission, and the mission belongs to everyone in the organization.

In organizations that understand the fundamental connection between generosity and our passion for God's mission, events, graduations, conferences, speaking engagements, chapel services, luncheons, and new initiatives involve a deliberate consideration of the potential fundraising possibilities, implications, and applications at the outset. Prospective ministry partners are prayerfully sought and winsomely engaged in every venue possible. Donors' advice and strategic engagement is sought by the organization's leadership team in advance of new initiatives. If the needed conviction, passion, and funding are found lacking, the project is delayed, modified, or dropped depending upon the Spirit's leading through the organization's intentional, structured, and early engagement of prospective financial partners.

One of my colleagues formerly worked in the trust department for a large bank. His managing director wrote "everyone is responsible for sales" on dollar bills and handed them to every employee in the division. His desire was to create a particular sort of culture, a culture that valued sales and helped every employee understand they had a role to play and a stake in the work.

If everyone is responsible for sales when mere money is at stake, how much more ought everyone be responsible for knowing the mission and sharing the institution's story within their circle of influence? The organizations that overcome today's financial headwinds without sacrificing their mission at the altar of skyrocketing tuition will be those that create enthusiastic, friend-raising cultures from top to bottom. Successful fundraising requires everyone.

Successful Fundraising Requires Qualified Prospects

In the introductory post, fundraising success is defined as raising enough of the right money to sustain a Christ-exalting seminary until He comes.

It should go without saying that raising the funds necessary to undergird a seminary or any robust, Kingdom-advancing endeavor requires financial partners in ministry -- real, flesh-and-blood human beings made in the image of God -- but it must nevertheless be said. If I had a dollar for every random name dropped or off-the-wall, raise-money-fast gimmick or event, we would be well on our way to meeting our financial goals for this fiscal year.

Gifts from corporations, corporate foundations, and large charitable foundations are wonderful and can often be significant, but these institutions are not the primary source of charitable giving in the United States. When counting bequests and small family foundations as individuals, more than 90 percent of the billions given each year comes from individuals, and much of that is contributed by a small fraction of all those who give. In other words, major gifts make the major difference, but we will have more on that in a future post.

The importance of individuals for overall charitable giving means most giving is determined and directed by human beings who have minds, passion, interests, and a story. People who make gifts that build, sustain, and transform institutions do not just want to know their gift is used wisely; they want to know the people of the institution using their gift.

A qualified prospect knows much more than what you do and why you exist; a qualified prospect knows who you are. And, you know them. There is a reciprocal and mutually reinforcing knowledge of one another's needs, hopes, and gospel-centered, gospel-driven desires. Those shared and Spirit-led desires in turn drive the organization to pursue her mission with an ever-increasing level of excellence. The story of the organization becomes the story of the donor, and vice versa. This story, all driven by the mission of God in Christ and a profound appreciation for the gospel likewise inspires the prospect to give generously, even sacrificially and with great confidence in the God Who established the organization and Who is providentially at work to inspire the vision and provide the funds sufficient for the task.

The emphasis on qualified prospects is critically important. Having a name on a sheet of paper is generally not enough. Sure, there are those "miraculous" exceptions, but, in general, a person is not a qualified prospect unless they are capable of giving at the level desired and until they enjoy real relationships with the people of the institution. Qualified prospects know, understand, appreciate, and are invited to evaluate the institution's mission as well as her greatest hopes, challenges, opportunities, and needs. Only a qualified prospect can give the "right money."

This is why we talk about "qualified prospects" in our office. A database full of names is not nearly as helpful as a group of men and women who love Christ and understand how your institution connects to the progress of His gospel to the ends of the earth.

Yes, we would be grateful, tremendously and profoundly grateful to God if He sent Tim Tebow, Dan Cathy, Kirk Warner, Steve Green, Hugh Maclellan or any other financially-blessed and faithful Christian our way. And, I often pray that God would open the right doors at the right time for us to establish such relationships and ask for partnerships in the work of equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission.

But, we should not expect gifts where there is little or no relationship. Fortunately, the cause of equipping students to serve Christ by reaching the nations in His name should resonate with every Christian, famous or not, wealthy or not. What is needed in our ministries are deep, lifelong relationships which, in time, yield gifts that astound us and glorify Christ both now and forevermore.

While I do hope that God sends you a few surprises along the way, my prayer is that all the people who comprise your organization will get enthusiastically engaged in the work of cultivating deep and lasting relationships with the men and women you already know or could easily get to know. For the most part, these are the people God has given to you who will make the gifts that make the difference. Your institution only has to get to know them.

Fundraising Success at a Denominationally-Supported Seminary - Introduction

I was recently asked to put together a presentation defining "success" in financial development and describing how it can best be achieved. I began by defining success in the more typical ways, e.g., "We seek to increase the amount of annual gifts received by x percent."

However, I quickly found this methodology to be sorely lacking for addressing the fundamentals which must characterize any financial development effort which will yield long-term, institution-sustaining success. Short-term wins can sometimes be had even when fundamentals are poor. However, enduring results do not come without prioritizing the work of cultivating the deep relationships necessary for securing the resources needed to fulfill the institution's mission.

For denominationally-funded institutions of higher education, the last six years have not been kind. Denominational support has declined significantly. In my convention of churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, funding through the Cooperative Program has declined more than $60 million since fiscal year 2007. At last report, receipts for the current fiscal year were approaching a mark ten percent below budgeted expenditures.

Today, my seminary trains 700 more students than she did just ten years ago, and she does it with no more denominational support than she received a decade ago. When considering inflation, the support is significantly less. Yes, you have read correctly. More students. Fewer dollars. The difference has been overcome through tremendous financial leadership and prudent use of cuts in capital expenditures and technology, tuition increases, wage and salary freezes, along with fundraising gains. Many institutions have not been so blessed.

Within the context of denominationally-supported theological education, the need for establishing organizational cultures that joyfully and creatively embrace financial development as essential for long-term viability has never been greater or more apparent.

The trend of cutting cannot continue indefinitely without catastrophic consequences. It is possible to expand while cutting back for a season, but it is mathematically impossible over the long term.

To be sure, institutions of higher education have many challenges and priorities. Funding declines, advances in technology, evolving demographic trends, and a host of other variables constantly contend for the time and attention of higher education's top brass. As such, cultivating a robust financial development presence today that will not provide robust funding gains for several more tomorrows may seem risky or even impossible in today's uncertain funding environment.

Yet, the seminaries that will make the greatest impact ten years from now are the ones who make the right investments today.

Seminaries will never have the Kingdom-extending impact God intends for them to have if they simply pass along accelerating costs to students in the form of debilitating tuition increases.

This is why I am so pleased to serve at Southeastern where keeping tuition as affordable as possible is a stated part of our overall missionary strategy. When students graduate without the burden of educational debt, they often take bolder risks for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

A seminary that does whatever is necessary to be maximally effective in financial development is a seminary that wants to be on the front lines, reaching the ends of the earth by training battle-ready champions for Christ.

So, what is fundraising success?

Success is raising enough of the right money to sustain a Christ-exalting seminary until He comes.

But, how is such success achieved? This is the more challenging question, and it is the subject of the next several posts in which I will share some fundamentals of fundraising success in the hopes that the information and perspective may be helpful to others who are striving to build and sustain institutions that will advance the Kingdom.

How can we live out the truth that "God in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession" (2 Cor 2:14) by building and sustaining institutions that will extend the Kingdom until Christ returns? This is a critical question, and in answering it, nothing less than honoring Christ through our stewardship of the institutions He has entrusted to us is at stake.