Are you ready for the new year?

Feb 9, 2022

You’ll be successful if you faithfully do the best you can with what you have

There is only one person who can make (or break) this year for you – that’s YOU!

What is your fundraising strategy?

If you are happy with the amount of donations your ministry is receiving then, greatkeep doing what you’re doing. But if not, then perhaps something needs to change, and now is a good time to start the change!

Here are some thought starters for you…

PPPPP

Heard of that one? It stands for  Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

It’s in the same vein as “Failing to plan is planning to fail

So if you haven’t already sorted your fundraising calendar for this year,  Here’s a little video to help you plan when to send out your appeals. In this video Steven from worklessraisemore.com gives you a strategy for planning your annual calendar to help you bring in more donations.

He’s talking mail appeals, but hey, you can adapt it for radio. instead of mailing, you might like to put a regular weekly 10 minute slot on your station where the manager/CEO/Board member shares something fundraising focused and inspirational (and planned).

Same old same old

Repetition might be boring to you but it is a necessary part of any fundraising. That’s why I keep saying things like “tell your listeners you are a listener supported station”. Think you can say that once and everyone will get it? Nope!  Tell them, tell them, then tell them again – and maybe they will get it, but chances are you will need to tell them a few more times.

Here’s an interesting article with more.

So do your PP to PPP.

Record Your Donor Details

Here is a simple Excel spreadsheet for recording your donor details.

Download

Read a little more on CRM systems.

CRM Software

There are literally hundreds of  options for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for your ministry. There are some free options but usually they are limited to a short time or a small number of records.

One truly Free option worth exploring is TNTConnect

 As CRM software is a rapidly changing field you are probably best to do your own search.

More Fundriasing Tips here…

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I was excited to see that Tomu has begun building Fiji’s Monthly Support strategy. Because building a robust monthly support program is crucial for...

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R&D

If your ministry is flourishing and growing and you are happy with the results of your fundraising activity, great!   Why not share with us what you...

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Getting Donations 101

Fundraising guru Jeff Brooks says "Donors don't give to support organisations or programs: they give to make something happen" Trouble is, as...

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Finding New Board Members

Recently the Non Profit Times published the following helpful advice on their website regarding where to look for new Board members.  You can read it for yourself at  www.thenonprofittimes.com The Plan To Replace Board Members “The first step is to consider to whom...

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Ian and Grant had the opportunity to encourage some of the volunteers from our UCB Fiji team that will be distributing The Word for Today 2025 edition. They provided some very practical advice in preparing to give these out to the people locally. Hope you get...

Surveys and Opinions

Surveys and asking people for their opinion can be a helpful tool but they can also be very misleading.  Especially when it comes to fundraising. First off, understand that your donors really want to give you truthful and helpful answers to your questions. After all,...

How are your fundraising plans coming along for this year? 

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To Get Better at What You Do…

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Why People Don’t Support Your Organisation

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Do the best you can with what you have

As a leader you're always under pressure. Meeting the budget Keeping your ministry going forward Looking after your team Meeting Board and legal requirements Growing your ministry And then there is you own Spiritual and family life. The Good News is: God is with you!...

Don’t be Boring

The first lesson on not being boring is that you need to look at what you're saying from the point of view of the reader or listener. Because you've invested your time and your effort in the project saying "We've just put on a new station in Nameavillage" will excite...

Change it up for the New Year

On a scale of 1 – 10 where 1 is “Terrible” and 10 is “100% Successful” where would you rate your ministry’s fundraising efforts in 2022? This is actually a good question to talk about with your leadership team.  Because, unless you gave yourself a 9 or 10, then you...

Changes in Africa – Brenda Uwubuntu

Watch this great video from Brenda Uwubuntu that was recently shown at the CMAA Conference 2022 - Truth Goodness Beauty. Brenda shares about the change that she is seeing in Africa's Media ministries and supporters as well as some amazing things that God is doing in...

The Word for Today Distribution and Messaging

Ian and Grant had the opportunity to encourage some of the volunteers from our UCB Fiji team that will be distributing The Word for Today 2025 edition. They provided some very practical advice in preparing to give these out to the people locally. Hope you get...

Monthly Support

I was excited to see that Tomu has begun building Fiji’s Monthly Support strategy. Because building a robust monthly support program is crucial for any charity aiming to achieve long-term sustainability and impact. Here are 7 reasons why you should invest your time...

R&D

If your ministry is flourishing and growing and you are happy with the results of your fundraising activity, great!   Why not share with us what you are doing so others can learn. If however, your ministry needs more donations to facilitate growth, then read on... The...

Story Telling as Part of Your Radio Appeal

By Ian Worby CEO UCB Asia Pacific Part of my role in helping Vision Christian Media when they have their two radio appeals each year called Visionathon is that I am The Story Teller. I tell faith-building and inspiring stories from the past of how God and others...

Getting Donations 101

Fundraising guru Jeff Brooks says "Donors don't give to support organisations or programs: they give to make something happen" Trouble is, as fundraisers we tend to think in terms of programs and organisations. Often we are facing a financial challenge so can be very...

Everyone Loves a Success Story

So share! Share the stories you hear about people being positively impacted by your ministry. Share about any 'wins' you've had. Give God all the Glory Thank your donors/partners for being the ones who made it happen, because of their prayers and faithful...

Get out of the Way!

As much as possible you want to connect your supporters action directly to the changed life. Eg "Your gift today of $60 will feed 10 children" not "Donate $60 to our ministry and we will be able to feed 10 children" or "You donation today gives someone, who cannot...

Its actually an Offer!

In an earlier post I said that when it comes to fundraising… You gotta Ask! And that it is a 3-step process. Ask Thank Report I then said that Asking shouldn’t make you feel uncomfortable because… You are only inviting people to do something you already do yourself....

You gotta Ask!

Ok, that’s out in the open. 😊 If you want to get donations for your ministry, you have to ask. I’ll come back to this in just a mo, but first it is important to remember that the Ask is only Step 1 in a 3-step process. Step 1 – Ask Step 2 – Thank Step 3 – Report You...

Thank you – two small words with huge impact.

In a recent email Tom Ahern referred to Thanking Donors as the “Secret Sauce” for your fundraising efforts.  He went on to talk about the importance of thanking sincerely and thanking fast. In fact there is evidence that if you personally thank a first time donor...

Oops

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Recently the Non Profit Times published the following helpful advice on their website regarding where to look for new Board members.  You can read it for yourself at  www.thenonprofittimes.com The Plan To Replace Board Members “The first step is to consider to whom...

Sharpening Your Axe

Become better at your job by taking time out of ‘doing’ your ministry work to upskill yourself

R&D

If your ministry is flourishing and growing and you are happy with the results of your fundraising activity, great!   Why not share with us what you are doing so others can learn. If however, your ministry needs more donations to facilitate growth, then read on... The...

Moses Was Asked…

Do what you can with what you’ve got! This is probably the best piece of fundraising advice I’ve heard in a very long time. Do what you can with what you’ve got! Those of us at last week’s UCB Family Meeting heard Ian talk about the early years of Vision/UCB...

Its actually an Offer!

In an earlier post I said that when it comes to fundraising… You gotta Ask! And that it is a 3-step process. Ask Thank Report I then said that Asking shouldn’t make you feel uncomfortable because… You are only inviting people to do something you already do yourself....

Fundraising is not all up to you

Time and time again a reading in The Word for Today provides us a really good reminder of how fundraising for our ministry is actually in God's hands. We can often worry that it is all up to us to get people to donate and if they don’t we take it as a bit of a...

Getting Donations 101

Fundraising guru Jeff Brooks says "Donors don't give to support organisations or programs: they give to make something happen" Trouble is, as fundraisers we tend to think in terms of programs and organisations. Often we are facing a financial challenge so can be very...

You gotta Ask!

Ok, that’s out in the open. 😊 If you want to get donations for your ministry, you have to ask. I’ll come back to this in just a mo, but first it is important to remember that the Ask is only Step 1 in a 3-step process. Step 1 – Ask Step 2 – Thank Step 3 – Report You...

Get out of the Way!

As much as possible you want to connect your supporters action directly to the changed life. Eg "Your gift today of $60 will feed 10 children" not "Donate $60 to our ministry and we will be able to feed 10 children" or "You donation today gives someone, who cannot...