Category: Practical Tips and Information

tips from other ministry workers on full-time support, information on practical elements of raising your financial support

Get the Right Perspective, Get to 100%

~ Jenn Fortner ~ Leave a comment

I try whenever possible to stay away from the words “fundraising” and “donor“when describing support raising as a ministry worker. Instead I use the phrases “partnership development” and “financial partner“.

Why you ask? The nuance lies within the overall perspective of raising one’s budget.

The word “donor” denotes someone who gives blood, gives one time, or is involved in a limited transaction. “Fundraising” denotes car washes, bake sales, golf tournaments, and transactional events. Right? Right. Of course fundraising and donors are in and of themselves not bad. OF COURSE. However, neither indicate an ongoing relationship between the giver and the organization or ministry. If our perspective of raising funds leads us to believe all we are doing is fundraising, it is likely we will struggle raising our support because what we are doing is truly more than fundraising. Simply put: we do more than fundraise. We invite people to partner with us in ministry.

Conversely, partnership is defined as this: “two separate but equal parties, with separate but equal responsibility, working together to achieve a common goal.” 

I like that definition much more as it encapsulates a what a healthy perspective while raising a budget looks like. It clarifies that the one sending is vital to the ministry instead of merely standing on the sidelines. The word partnership keeps us mindful that we are to be good stewards of our resources as Christians, and stewards of our calling to the Great Commission – whether that looks like going or sending. “Partnership” says WE ARE DOING THIS TOGETHER.

Experience has shown me that ministry workers who know the difference (in their hearts and attitude) between “fundraising” and “partnership” are those that succeed in raising their financial partnership teams. And FYI, success looks different than just getting to 100% and getting to the field fully funded. Again, think perspective — getting to 100% is only part of it.

Success in partnership development looks like fulfillment, retention in partnerships, healthy mindsets, healthy relationships, joy, actual enjoyment in the process, and getting to one’s field in ministry fully supported.

The opposite of success is strained relationships, procrastination, anxiety, 80% raised budgets being “good enough”, and low attrition in partnerships.

I believe that success in partnership development is 90% perspective.

“If our perspective of raising our funds leads us to believe all we are doing is fundraising, it is likely we will struggle raising our support because what we are doing is truly more than fundraising. Simply put: we do more than fundraise. We invite people to partner with us in ministry.” 

Those that are successful hold Paul’s perspective when he says “Not that I desire your gift, what I desire is that more be credited to your account.” Philipians 4:17 

Successful partnership development knows those that join your team are a vital and dynamic part of your ministry.  Partner relationships become important, growing, and vibrant instead of obligations and burdens.

perspective

I challenge you to take a look at your perspective in partnership development. Is it a fundraising perspective, or one of partnership? Why is it important to see it differently than fundraising? What’s the difference?

You may not immediately see the difference, but as you work to find out what a biblical perspective of financial partnership looks like, it’s likely you’ll find it much more enjoyable and doable. Perspective leads to attitude, which determines action. You will do what you believe. Try and shift to a healthy perspective on partnership development. Having a wrong perspective may hinder you staying in full-time ministry long term, and can lead to stress every time itineration season rolls around again. Let’s not do that. Let’s do successful partnership development that leads to vibrant 100% funded ministry and healthy engaged partnerships.  – JF

 

 

Do Something Different, Use Sway

~ Jenn Fortner ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever heard of Sway? Sway is an App / web application that is about a year old and is a part of the Microsoft Office family of awesomeness.

It’s also free to use + simple, and I am in love with it. 

I wanted to dedicate a post to Sway because I think it can be a very effective (and outside-of-the-box) tool for anyone support raising. Below is a link of how I used it to present some basics on financial partnership development for an online class I taught:

Untitled

https://sway.com/xf67TFXn6wlrdDEX

Perhaps this makes you think, gee Jenn, that’s nice, but what are some practical ways I could use it in my support raising? Well, practical is practically my middle name – so I’ve thought about it and here is my list of ways to use Sway:

  1. Personal Stories. Connecting online with individual and church potential partners is a huge part of building your team. Use Sway to create something visually stimulating that immediately grabs people’s attention. I can see Sway helping you share your personal story and vision for ministry in some of the following ways (***always keep in mind – with all of these suggestions – to follow any security measures your sending organization  deems needed in developing content and sending out content):
    1. Put your Sway as a link in the signature of your emails.
    2. Email or Facebook pastors and potential support team members your Sway so they can read up a little of your passion and vision for ministry.
    3. Share your Sway on your Facebook group.
    4. Use Sway as a platform for a video. Instead of just watching your video – you could have it nicely displayed on your Sway with some text and background to enhance it even more.
    5. Put up your Sway on a tablet or computer for your display table for services, meetings, small groups, fundraising events, etc.
  2. Newsletters. Mailchimp is probably still the winner for electronic newsletters, but I wouldn’t hesitate to play around with Sway to see if one could create something of an archive of newsletters or something different from the norm.
  3. Reports. Infographics and interactive graphs are available on Sway and very simple to use. Here are some ways I can think of to use Sway for reports:
    1. Create a budget report with infographics and interactive graphs/charts to share with your support team or those on your potential support team who are asking for financial specifics.
    2. Create a landing page for your core prayer team. Include a video or other interactive material to get them excited about praying for your ministry (this could be prior to going to your field or while on your field).
  4. Presentations. If you have pictures or videos to share during your face-to-face appointments with potential financial partners, create a Sway to put them into one place. All you need is wifi or your phone to show the content.

Some advantages to using Sway:

  1. Downloading is not necessary. Sway is web and app based so no one will need  a certain software program to view your content.
  2. Sway comes with the ability to password protect the content and has various sharing preferences. For those of you going to sensitive areas, Sway comes with a little security. (however, as we all know nothing on the internet is wholly “secure”)
  3. Sway is great if you have a report, presentation, or personal story that needs to be updated on a regular basis. As it is web based, the person looking at your Sway won’t need to have the latest version sent to them, changes are automatically displayed for them.
  4. If creating a website seems daunting to you, you can create a simple one by using Sway. Fun!

If you have used Sway, please share with me how you used it for your work life or personal life! I would love to hear more examples of this tool.

 

Emma’s Top 5 Tips to Get to 100%

~ Jenn Fortner ~ Leave a comment

From time to time I ask workers I coach to provide a top 5 list of what worked in their overall partnership development strategy. *Emma was a worker who reached 100% fully-funded within a few short months, and I thought she would be a perfect person for you to glean from. Without further ado, here are Emma’s top 5 support raising tips.

(*Emma’s name has been changed to protect her identity) 

1. Make a Crafty, Well-Executed, Invitation Letter. I got a lot of compliments from people on my invitation letters. The design evolved a lot throughout the process, but the basic philosophy was to make a letter that was cute, hard to ignore/forget about, fun to read, and fun to make (kept me from getting bored!). Same deal for the thank-you notes. I’ve attached some pictures below. 

2. Have Patience and Time. I invested ridiculous amounts of time in my face-to-face appointments. My ministry partnership development training gave me a lot of badly needed structure and organization (which I could not have done this without). I found that extravagant time invested in face time with potential partners yielded rich returns not only on pledges, but also on life stories, advice, prayer, encouragement, and relationship.

My longest face-to-face was 4 hours. It actually revitalized me when I was in a support raising slump. My longest phone call was 2 hours, but gave me the opportunity to speak life into someone struggling with depression and also witness to them about Christ! (I prayed for this person over the phone and they broke down in tears saying that they had felt an amazing presence of God!) The time I invested was totally worth it for me. 

“I found that extravagant time invested in face time with potential partners yielded rich returns not only on pledges, but also on life stories, advice, prayer, encouragement, and relationship.”

3. Ask the Unexpected People. As I type this email, I have just received a $100 monthly pledge from someone who I have not talked to in over a decade. Almost without exception my most generous, enthusiastic, and faithful partners are people I either met briefly one time, or haven’t kept in close touch with over the years. I heard in my training that it ISN’T those you expect to help who do, and found this to be very true! This has also given me a lot more confidence in asking.  

“Almost without exception my most generous, enthusiastic, and faithful partners are people I either met briefly one time, or haven’t kept in close touch with over the years.”

4. Take a Sabbath. I am a dismal Sabbath-taker and need so much growth in this area. After my sending organization’s training I decided to get serious and I got an accountability partner who was also raising her own funds. With her accountability I picked out a middle-of-the-week day (people tend to want to meet on weekends, and church can be work when you’re in ministry) to lounge around in PJs, bake, read the Bible and devotionals for hours, and watch kung fu movies on Netflix. I found that this not only rested me, but also gave me perspective and helped me evaluate where I was spiritually and emotionally each week. It was great motivation to work harder the rest of the week so I could take that full day off. 

5. Use a Short Video. I got a quick 3-minute blurb from a video created by my senior workers in France. It is a video with people and places from the actual city and church plant, and I used my smartphone to pull it off of YouTube and show to potential partners during appointments.

The video not only established a great emotional and visual connection to the ministry, but it gave me a short break where their attention was off of me so I could breathe, pray, and assess how the appointment was going. It also saved me a lot of talking because it explained the vision of the ministry with uplifting background music. As far as security concerns go, I carried around a pair of small headphones so that if the meeting was in a public place, people could watch it without every person in a twenty-foot radius hearing about the mission. 

– Emma

As her coach, I saw Emma succeed by sticking with the process and remaining consistent week after week. I also saw her creatively think outside of the box, but while doing so use the principles and techniques she knew from training to be tried and true.

Have you been successful in getting to 100%? Give us some of your tips in the comment section! – JF

PSX_20160528_132708 copyPSX_20160528_132929 copyPSX_20160528_133057

Overcome Major Obstacles to Get Fully Funded

~ Jenn Fortner ~ 1 Comment

Recently Support Raising Solutions, a ministry of the Center for Mission Mobilization (who are the amazing team of people behind The God Ask by Steve Shadrach) published a blog post I wrote on Overcoming Major Obstacles to Get Fully Funded. I’ve included an excerpt below. Click on the link above or just below to read the full article.

In my time as a support coach, I have yet to see a ministry worker not make it to the field because they were unable to raise their budget. I’ve seen people not go to the field because they got engaged, accepted a different job, or had medical issues—but it has yet to be money that has kept someone from going to the ministry they felt called to. That being said, I’ve seen numerous ministers scared that they were never going to get to the magical 100% mark. Some just freeze up, unable to move forward because of obstacles and fears. So let‘s talk about the obstacles and fears we face when raising our budgets. What are some of the most common? And what can we do to overcome them? 

#1 Obstacle: Perspective/Lack of Biblical Understanding

Viewing fundraising as a necessary evil instead of a vibrant ministry can be the largest hurdle someone raising support can face. I once heard it said 90% of support raising is perspective. After listening to numerous workers talk about their struggles, I find this overwhelmingly true. Workers who can’t seem to see the awesome ministry opportunities raising support provides them are the same ones who can’t seem to get to full support, and ultimately will probably walk away from their ministry calling. Viewing support raising as ministry is vital to staying engaged long-term and excited about the process.

If you go into an appointment seeing it only as a means to an end, you’ll pass up the opportunity to minister to the person across from you—and miss being blessed yourself! Other effects may be:

  • Coming across as disingenuous
  • Being sloppy and cutting corners
  • Awkward and fearful to make strong/bold ask

So, how can we overcome? Seek out a biblical understanding of support raising. Discover what God has to say on the subject by checking out resources such as the bible studies in the appendix of The God Ask. Ask others who have been successful in raising their support about their overall perspective. Pray continuously, and ask the Lord why He came up with this idea of Christian workers raising their personal and ministry expenses from others. He has already given the answers in scripture, we just have to find them.

….read 3 other obstacles and how to to overcome them by visiting the Support Raising Solutions blog 

 

You Need To Listen To This Podcast

~ Jenn Fortner ~ 2 Comments

Recently a friend of mine from Support Raising Solutions, Aaron Babyar, was a guest on a great podcast called EngagingMissions.com. He spoke on the topic of support raising.

I think every ministry worker needs to hear it. Including you.

Think of this podcast episode like a audio syllabus for a upper-level support raising class at a fancy university. Also, if you have been searching for better language to describe what you are doing in raising up a financial partnership team, steal every one-liner Aaron says and turn it into your own vocabulary. Here are some great examples of Aaron one-liners for stealing purposes:

“Begging and inviting — those are diametrically opposed.“

“My supporters are a part of my ministry because they are in it with me.“

“Believe and have faith that it all depends on God, but meanwhile, work like it all depends on you.”

Take an hour to listen sometime this week and thank me later – here’s the link:

http://engagingmissions.com/em140-aaron-babyar/

 

The Phone Call Mind Map

~ Jenn Fortner ~ 2 Comments

Most of the time, you will be asking individuals on the phone for face-to-face appointments to invite them onto your partnership team.

Phone calls can be daunting for anyone. For some of you (particularly for younger generations) phone calls can just be down-right scary.

One worker I coach found the phone call to be very daunting. To combat this she made a Phone Call Mind Map to help her move through her phone call script. I found the map extremely helpful when thinking through some of the scenarios we may face while making phone calls asking for appointments. Thus, I created one like her’s including some of the typical responses workers get when making phone calls.

Just so you know, I’m fully aware that it looks like a mess.

However you may find it helpful to print off and have near you while you begin making phone calls, especially those of you that are new-er to the process. Phone calls require the caller to go with the flow in some respects, but it does help to be prepared.

Below the mess are two things:

  1. Some important things to remember when making your phone calls.
  2. A basic phone call script / outline.

I hope you find this helpful!

the-phone-call-mind-map (14)

 

PHONE SCRIPT

WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT THIS PERSON  (i.e. hobbies, job, sports, family, name of spouse and kids…)  If a referral, who referred this person?

_________________________________________________________________

GREETING, INTRODUCTION, RAPPORT

_________________________________________________________________

TRANSITION TO THE APPOINTMENT

_________________________________________________________________

ASK FOR APPOINTMENT (MAKE SURE TO TALK ABOUT DESIRE FOR FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP)

_________________________________________________________________

CONFIRM TIME, DATE, PLACE OF APPOINTMENT

_________________________________________________________________

CLOSING AND THANKS  (Details, dates, times, write directions on the back).

_________________________________________________________________

 

Make YOUR Newsletter WAY MORE Read-able

~ Jenn Fortner ~ 4 Comments

Are you writing a newsletter on a regular basis? Or maybe I should put it this way, SHOULD you be writing a newsletter on a regular basis? Well, if you want to make your newsletter awesome, this post is for you! Here are 10 Tips on Making Your Newsletter WAY MORE READ-ABLE.

newsletter (3)

GUEST POST – Let’s Be Real: Why Ministry and Fund Raising Follow Up is So Important

~ Pastor Chris ~ 5 Comments

Before we get into this amazing post, I (Jenn Fortner), just want to say how thankful I am for another Pastor Chris guest post. In this post Pastor Chris continues to challenge us with his wisdom in a huge area of ministry partnership development: follow-up. If you didn’t get to read his first guest post you can find it here.You can also read Chris’s full bio below. Enjoy! – JF

Are You Doing Proper Follow-Up?  This is a critical question regarding your success as a christian worker.  As a christian worker or missionary you are going to find many people interested in speaking to you about Jesus, but they may not always be ready to make a commitment.  They may not be prepared to forsake Islam or their family’s religion of many generations because you told them a nice story.  Successful ministry work requires faithful and patient follow-up with that person who has shown some interest.  The man who pumps my gas gave his life to Jesus, but only after I spoke with him many times.  He had to know more than my “story” about Jesus… he had to know ME. Was I a worthy person to carry such a story to him?  Could I be trusted?  Did I really believe the message I was sharing with him?

The first place you learn and practice how to do follow-up is while raising your financial support.  You may think raising money and sharing the gospel are vastly different but they are not.  If you are unable to look a pastor square in the eyes and say, “I need your support to fulfill God’s call on my life” – then you will find it difficult to look another man, with another religion, square in the eyes and say to him, “I need you to abandon everything you have been taught and follow Jesus!”

Before you get to meet that man and share the gospel with him – you must meet many pastors and individuals who will help send you to the field of your calling.  You will face a lot of rejection along the way.  Your success will depend on how YOU HEAR rejection.  Yes, you read that correctly… it is up to YOU how YOU hear rejection.  When a pastor says to you, “I’ve just taken on several other families and our budget cannot support another one right now” – What do you hear?  Do you hear “NO”?  Or do you hear “NOT NOW”?

I have been serving on the field for many years.  I have raised a lot of funds.  I have done a lot of asking. I do not remember in all of those times of asking that I have ever heard a “NO”. If you hear “NO” when you ask (or if you are hearing “I DO NOT WANT TO SUPPORT YOU”), then I believe you are hearing incorrectly.  Most people you share your vision with likely believe in you, and admire what you are doing.  However, everyone is not going to be willing, AT THE MOMENT YOU ASK, to support you.  This is where follow up becomes a key to your success.

Successful sales people will tell you the one difference between them (the successful ones) and the others (the unsuccessful ones) is performing proper follow up.  Salesmen are pushed by their organizations to close the deal on the first meeting.  When they are not able to do that (close the deal) they allow the potential client to drift off to a competitor, while they go looking for a new potential client.  This is a HUGE mistake.  Recent studies have shown that most sales come much later than originally thought and after multiple contacts.

In an article entitled – Shocking Sales Statistics as it Relates to Follow Up – the author shares these statistics:

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people make more than three contacts

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

follow up

Look at that last line.  80% of all sales come between 5 and 12 contacts. Amazing!!! I do not know how those statistics compare to fund raising, but I believe they would be very similar.

How can you apply this information to your fundraising campaign? Here are some ideas:

1.Change the way you HEAR rejection

Unless a “NO” is a very emphatic “NO” – you must learn to hear it as “not now.”

2.Develop a Contact & Follow-up Strategy

Every contact with a potential supporter does not need to be an “ask”.  In fact if it is, you may become obnoxious and pastors will run when they see you.  This is true when presenting the gospel on the field also… every time you meet that guy or gal you are sharing with – you cannot ask them to accept Jesus; however, there will be the right time when you can.  Every time you meet a pastor you cannot ask for money, but there will be the right setting when you can.

3.Set a Goal to Work your Strategy

If you are raising your support for the first time set a goal to contact every pastor in your district multiple times (of course always follow the protocol within your organization / your role on this one).  Contacts can be any kind of contact: a newsletter, a Facebook post, a postcard, a formal letter, an invite to coffee or lunch, greeting him/her at a district function, etc. Create a spreadsheet and track how many times you have contacted each pastor.  Look for the ones you have had little contact with and try to increase your connection with them.

Doing these things will help keep you moving towards your goal of reaching the field and sharing the gospel with the people God is calling you to.

Ye have not… because ye follow up not!

Begin today putting together a Follow-Up & Contact Plan that works for you!

-Pastor Chris

Want more on these subjects? Here are some suggestions:

Dealing with the Monster of Rejection

6 Tips for Connecting with Pastors

Effectively Communicate with Your Financial Partners

Dealing with The Monster of Time Management

~ Jenn Fortner ~ Leave a comment
As the holidays approach, so do the packed schedules. Am I right?! I personally feel as though I ran through November and am not wanting a repeat for December. Does anyone else feel like Thanksgiving possibly can’t be this week? Anyone?! Okay just me? Anyway…
As I’ve been pondering best practices of time management in my own life, I would like to share some of my thoughts on the subject in the context of financial partnership development. I’ve also added the advice of a few christian workers in the throws of intensely packed schedules.
If you have ever procrastinated partnership development in favor of getting the other thing done or just gotten tired of hearing the words “I’m busy” come out of your mouth  – this post is for you! (in all reality, this post really is for me and maybe for you…)
 Time-Management
Time Man·age·ment
noun
noun: time management
  1. the ability to use one’s time effectively or productively, especially at work.
    “time management is the key to efficient working”

7 TIPS FOR BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT

1. Keep a detailed calendar. Become familiar with the calendar on your smart phone (or computer) and start using it… EVERY DAY. Set multiple alarms (sometimes I set it to daily if it is urgent) for yourself so you are reminded of your tasks. If you aren’t a “scheduled type person”, strongly consider figuring out how to become one. Find some helps in the area of time management online if need be. Try out a daily method of entering calendar appointments and checking your calendar.

2. Get an accountability partner or a coach. It is easy to get behind on raising up a committed team. If you can find someone within your ministry context to hold you accountable. Ask that person to hold you accountable on multiple levels:

  1. Daily goals.
  2. Weekly goals (Sometimes it is better to commit to weekly goals instead of daily goals. However, some people work better with daily goals instead. Find out what works best for you and commit)
  3. Overall goal of when you want to be at 100% fully-funded.

Your accountability partner can be someone you work with, for, or even a good friend who can do a good job at motivating you. Try to be as transparent as possible with this person. As you go through highs and lows keep them involved and informed. Having someone to chat with about this season of life can be helpful in and of itself.

3. If you can cut back somewhere, do it. While raising your funds you may have other ministry assignments within your local church. You may also have multiple hobbies, small groups, or other things that take extra time out of your schedule. Find out which of those to keep and which of those to let go of in this season.

While raising up your team it may not be the time to say yes to joining the new softball team that your work is putting together. It may be time to ask your worship pastor if you can cut back on your commitment with the worship team to once a month. It may be the time for someone else to lead the small group at your church. Of course, ask God about your commitments. Realize that this season takes some time out of your schedule and is important to do correctly and relationally. If you can cut back on some commitments, do it.

4. White boards. Perhaps you are not so good about checking your iCal / Google Calendar, but you are a visual person. Enter the good ole’ white board! Find a space in your home that you see on a daily basis, and put up a dry erase board. Create weekly and daily goals to write up on that white board. Change the day goals daily and the week goals weekly. It always feels good at the end of the day to scratch things off the list!

5. Take a sabbath. Be kind to yourself during this season of life. Make sure to take time out for God, yourself, and for your family. Take one day a week for sabbath. Let it be a full day, and hop back in the other 6 days of the week.


 time-and-money6. Don’t do the thing I do. If I need to get a lot of things accomplished on my to-do list during a busy week, typically I work on everything but the hardest thing on the list first.

Consequently, if you are anything like me during a busy week or season of life, the first thing you’ll fall behind on is financial partnership development.

Let’s call that what it is: ole’ fashioned procrastination.

Here’s my suggestion if you have a problem with this: switch and reverse. If you START your work on the hard thing you will feel better than if you leave the hard thing for the LAST THING. If it helps, here’s some permission: you can still procrastinate! Just procrastinate the easier things instead of giving yourself mental trauma for a week by procrastinating the hardest thing on your list.

panneau20attention5vk

Warning: you may not like me much after this next one….

7. What’s your favorite Netflix show right now? If you can easily answer that question I may need to have a coaching moment with you:

AnimationNOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR NEFLIX.

I know I know… hear me out though. As I mentioned in #3 and #5 – white space, flex-time, important commitments, and a weekly sabbath are all very important to adhere to during seasons of partnership development. I personally need scheduled white space in my routine. I also need to let my brain unwind after a complex week. However, scheduled productive white space is different than hours of Netflix binging.

To stay productive but to successfully unwind – watch out for time sucking habits such as Netflix or hours in front of Facebook. Try and limit the amount of downtime with those as your go-to’s. When you do seek out white space, seek out restful activities that are natural energy resources to you. For instance go have a cup of coffee with a dear friend, take a nap, go for a walk or a bike ride with your spouse or by yourself, play a board game with your family, work on a painting or home project, or play your guitar. Go with what brings life, energy, and fun back to you.

Also don’t forget, one of the most restorative things we can do with our time is spend time in front of God! Right?! Right.

Here are some other thoughts on Time Management from other itinerating christian workers:

TIPS FROM 7 OTHER CHRISTIAN WORKERS 

Worker 1:  I’m substitute teaching 4-5 days per week as I raise my budget. I did leave my super hectic reporting career because there’s pretty much no way I could handle all the nights and weekends while trying to schedule appointments and speaking engagements. So that’s something to consider – if you can, keep working but possibly cut back a little. Apart from that, prioritization is so key! Having a to-do list (I use the 2Do app) has helped a ton. I never get everything done that’s on my list, but it helps ensure I get done what has to be done on a certain day. And this may seem simple, but I also just started keeping my TV off for most of the day. I started looking for little time suckers and took steps to eliminate them. I didn’t sit for ours in front of the TV, but getting distracted here and there for a few minutes at a time added up!

Worker 2: Divide and conquer. It sounds so simple, but I feel like our generation can get so overwhelmed with huge tasks that we freeze in our tracks or don’t know where to start. Break your weekly tasks up into bitesize chunks. Send 5 emails. Get caught up on thank you notes. Make 10 calls, write newsletter. Write them down and cross it off the list. It really does help!

Worker 3: Lists are extremely helpful. Keeping a detailed planner that I take everywhere and being intentional with my time has also helped.

Worker 4: Say “Yes” to the planner! You never know when someone will call you back about an appointment and it’s best to have your schedule right in front of you. As a substitute teacher, I’ve had to have a planner anyway; I have a different job every day.

Worker 5: I am not a planner by any definition of the word but I have grown to rely on my online calendar very much. I do not make plans any more without checking it. And when I do make plans, I update it immediately. There is time in life, but sometimes we need to truly force ourselves to take advantage of it when it is there.

Never give up!

Worker 6: Know that it’s going to take time. More time than we’d like. We live in an instant society. Everything we do we expect immediate rewards or results. Don’t feel guilty if your fundraising journey takes longer than others, just don’t compare at all. Comparing more harmful/painful than helpful.

Remember God is using this time to prepare us in more ways than we even understand! So ask for patience, be content in all things, and rest in God’s timing rejoicing with others and not worrying about how fast or slow you get to the field.

Worker 7: I strongly recommend substitute teaching during support-raising season if you MUST work. With substitute teaching you are able to set MANY preferences. Specifically, which/how many days to devote to both subbing and support. At the end of the school day (for the most part) you don’t have work to take home with you!  So many positives about substitute teaching, I could keep going, but won’t. (wink emoticon)

Do you have practices that help you in the area of time management? Share them in the comments please!

The B Roll: All the Things They Didn’t Tell You

~ Jenn Fortner ~ 3 Comments

Support raising is a dense subject! Right? Right.

As I continue to teach on support raising, I’ve found typically there is more to teach than time allots for. As I coach numerous small groups and individuals, we just never get to all of the things. Teaching and learning how to raise a budget can be like drinking from a fire hydrant. #TOOMANYTHINGS

Thus, I’m calling this post: The B Roll.

This post goes out to all of those workers I have coached along the way! Here are some random pieces of information that may have gotten stuck in the cracks of little time, lots of practice, and dense material.
Untitled Infographic (4)

 

 

I mentioned above the post on How To Create a Successful Facebook Campaign. Check it out and I hope it helps!

Also, a quick word on #5…I’m not saying never ask for a appointment on Facebook. I’m just saying do some strategic thinking before you do, and I wouldn’t default to it.

Want more practical tips, you can find them in the Financial Partnership Development Workbook here.