Here is a bit of encouragement for those who are working so hard at year-end to make sure their ministries, churches, organizations, and causes have the resources they need to continue making a difference. Thank you.

Let’s imagine your charity is behind budget. You’ll be cutting programs and laying off staff next year if more money doesn’t come in. What to do?

Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Be specific, like the man asking for three loaves of bread in Luke 11. Here’s my suggested steps to take before sending the email, and a template that might be a helpful starting point.

Making it less weird to talk about gifts in wills

A charity might ‘accomplish’ more by taking advantage of volunteers and low-paid staff. A charity might achieve higher fundraising targets by burning through staff. Is that stewardship? No, it’s exploitation masquerading as efficiency

If you are Christian who fundraises, this books is for you. If you are working for an organization that regards fundraising as a necessary evil, you might need to buy more than one copy!

The wisdom from Beatles' lyrics to Hey Jude “take a sad song and make it better” apply to charity finances. 

I’ve heard a couple of sad songs about charities running deficits in their operating budgets. Let's start with an organization I'm intimately involved with - my family. No matter what else is going on--university, saving for a big trip, fixing the roof--we put money aside each and every month to pay the bills. You probably do too. Paying the electricity bill is not glamourous but everyone benefits from attention to that little detail.

Imagining Abundance by Kerry Alys Robinson is part fundraising story and part spiritual autobiography. The book demonstrates how to integrate fundraising and spirituality. Robinson helped the Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale raise $75 million, starting not just from scratch, but from debt and diminishment.

Her central thesis is faith: fundraising requires a deep trust in God's generosity. How can we ask donors to participate in what God is doing in our ministry if we don't believe God is at work?

The hand-written notes appeared a month before the prefab letters. It seems paradoxical, but apparently a personal note is much quicker to write than a generic boilerplate.

This little experiment has shown how important thank-you letters are. I feel like if I didn't give again to some of these charities, they wouldn't notice.