We have found the greatest fundraising strategy in the world and want to share it with you. Fundraising is often a very loathed activity. We all hate asking for money because we fear rejection and it hurts our pride. Nevertheless in 2013 alone American individuals gave $241.32 billion dollars to charity according to the NPT. Just 1% of that amount would fund JSAW and all the action sports ministries in the world for over 9897 years! At JSAW we know fundraising is important and we have tried hundreds of different fundraisers: selling coffee, cookie dough, newspapers, fireworks, doing online actions for trips to the XGames, renting out trampoline parks, crowd-funding, black tie donor dinners, events, direct mail, email, face to face and so on. They can all work and produce money and some are better than others. Yet we have found one strategy to be greater than the rest and its not what you would think.
The greatest fundraising strategy in the world is this: prayer. Yes! That is it. Pure and simple. About a month ago we were running low on funds and so we mentioned that with our donor base in an email. The staff spent some time in prayer, going through the Bible looking at the verses that talk about God’s promises to provide. That day we received an email from a donor about a matching donation they wanted to make. We had 7 days from that moment on to raise $3000 for the match to be met during the busiest time of the summer. It was all communicated just through social media, our newsletter and our website because we literally had just seven days from when we were offered the match to hit the goal. It wasn’t the craziest fundraising goal, but we prayed and God moved people’s hearts to give! We hit the goal in 6 days and the funds were matched dollar for dollar.
Now prayer isn’t like a magic potion or a formula that equals dollar signs, but it is a direct conversation with the creator and owner of the universe. Psalm 50:10 says that God owns the cattle on 1000 hills. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (NIV). Sure you can’t just ask and get a new G6 and a castle, but God will provide for your needs. God is our number one target market for fundraising. He owns it all and yet we forget to ask Him so often. So before starting your next fundraising campaign, begin with the greatest fundraising strategy: prayer!
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