Fundraising in a Pandemic
While we pray for safety, health and healing around the world, we want to share our thoughts on what fundraising might look like during this time. We acknowledge that each of us is going to be affected in different ways, so this series is not intended to be a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, please ask for and seek wisdom and guidance as you consider how to apply this within your specific context.
By Andy Brennan and Corrie McKee
COVID-19 has affected everyone in some way. For many cross-cultural workers, our lives have been uprooted and we find ourselves back in our passport country. Or maybe you’re early in the fundraising journey, unable to finally go to the place you’ve dreamed of serving. Even for our family members, friends, and donors, their daily schedules are paused (at best), or they are facing economic or health hardships (at worst).
What should we do when we need to raise funds in the middle of a global event that not only dominates everyone’s minds, but is likely impacting their ability to give? Do we just put on blinders and plow ahead? Before throwing in the towel or “pushing pause” until things normalize, consider these points:
- Crisis does not diminish the worthiness of your work
- Giving has always been an exercise of faith
- He is still Lord
- And He is still Lord of the harvest
Circumstances are daunting, and it is easy to be intimidated, but often our level of uncertainty is directly proportional to how we resonate with the above tenets.
We often talk about fundraising in terms of “partnership,” but when was the last time you sat down and truly pondered everything packed into that word? We tend to grasp what donors have to offer us, clearly, but what should they be expecting in return? We are providing a broader spectrum of kingdom impact - first and foremost - that’s true. There is another dimension that rises to the surface in trying times like these, however, and it is reflected less in the “partnership” terminology of the business world and more in the interdependency of the Body of faith.
Words like “empathy,” “compassion,” and “longsuffering” emerge. Now is the time to rewrite expectations and define what partnership with you means. Ask your partners - not in a mass email but with intentional individuality - how you can pray for them.
Or, better yet, call them directly and talk with them. Continue the dialogue you started when you first met to share your vision. Ask how their lives have been impacted. Do they still have their jobs? Have they been impacted financially? Have they lost someone to the virus?
Take time to understand. If things are hard, just pray with them. That’s all. They’ve prayed for you over the years. Show them tangibly that this relationship goes both ways.
Furthermore, it is easy to project imagined objections into partners’ minds. How can they cover my needs when they now have their own to worry about? But raising funds has never been about just covering your needs. The vision is, and always has been, nothing less than the Kingdom of Heaven. In God’s economy, farmers are chastised for overstocking their barns. Don’t assume your donors are “overstocking their barns.” Don’t assume they have surrendered the vision or that they are unwilling to sacrifice. People may even be more generous in a time of need.
More than ever it is important to be vigilant vision casters. Continue to share stories of impact. Remember, when you communicate that it’s not all about you. The general rule is 80/20: 80% ministry, 20% personal and family news. This remains the case during a pandemic. What is happening now where you serve? How are lives being impacted?
Consider the story of Elijah and the widow in I Kings 17 and how it seems to mirror our current situation. At the Lord’s command, Elijah asks a widow for a drink of water and some bread. She replies, “I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it - and die.” Pretty grim. At first glance, this seems callous of Elijah. Didn’t he realize the land was in the middle of a drought? Surely it is time to look elsewhere.
Instead, Elijah learns something about obedience and the Lord’s economy: the economy that encourages us to lend without expecting return, to seek his kingdom above all the earth has to offer, to sink our investments into heavenly real estate, to give up our lives so that we may save them.
Now is not the time to pause your fundraising efforts. Now is not the time to abandon the effort.
In the coming week, we will continue to provide practical ways to raise support during this time.
