The Word for Today Distribution and Messaging

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

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 encouraged by what Ian and Grant share on here.

Record Your Donor Details

Here is a simple Excel spreadsheet as a starting place 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. But before you do here are some questions you should consider. Start by thinking about Strategy.

Are you doing agressive donor acquisition or more focussed on retention activity?
What Details do you want to store? For Who? Donors, Customers, Volunteers?
Where do you want to house your data? Locally? Cloud?
How many donors do you need to manage?
What questions do you need reports on?
How many people will need access to your donor details on a daily basis?
What other systems do you need to work with? eg email lists, websites, events, social media?
How will you manage Privacy and Security?

More Fundriasing Tips here…

Visionathon: We’re Here to Help!

Visionathon is Vision’s biannual fundraiser that celebrates the power of faith, hope, and love. It’s a time when we all come together to...

Sometimes it’s actually Not That Hard!

At times we can all be guilty of not doing something because we 'think' it is going to be too difficult. But often times we just need to give it our...

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...

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...

« Older Entries

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...

Visionathon: We’re Here to Help!

Visionathon is Vision’s biannual fundraiser that celebrates the power of faith, hope, and love. It’s a time when we all come together to support our mission of spreading the Gospel throughout Australia and beyond, and helping people look to God daily. During...

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...

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...

Adding Drama to your Stories

I recently read an email talking about the need for fundraisers to have a ‘flair for drama’ in their story telling. It is true: “I was struggling and now God has blessed me” is not an exciting and impactful story. You need to apply good writing (or interviewing)...

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...

Sharpening Your Axe

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

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...

Oops

Don't let fear of making a mistake stop you doing excellent fundraising. Because guess what, mistakes happen! – Actually everyone makes mistakes and while we should try to avoid them don’t cripple yourself by spending all your energy trying to avoid them. Mistakes are...

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...

Your journey of Continous Improvement

We highly recommend you sign up for the FREE Tactical Thursday's webinar series. We believe you will find it is a very valuable resource for you and your local fundraising efforts. Sign up here... In a recent session they explained the Virtuous Circle. The concept of...

Visionathon: We’re Here to Help!

Sometimes it’s actually Not That Hard!

At times we can all be guilty of not doing something because we 'think' it is going to be too difficult. But often times we just need to give it our best shot. Or, to quote sports apparel giant Nike, ... We need to overcome the Paralysis of Analysis When I travel I...

Monthly Support

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!

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....

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...

Don’t be Boring

Thank you – two small words with huge impact.

What your donor wants

So you've planned and made your appeal to your donors. Some of them have responded and your appeal target has been met. Great, job done! Time to celebrate! Well actually, no. Probably the most important part is still waiting for you. What am I talking about? It's...

Adding Drama to your Stories

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...

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” do the best you can with what you have and see how your ministry grows.

Why Record Donor Details?

Did you know that it costs more, and you have to work a lot harder, to get a first donation from someone than it is to get their second or third or 27th donation? That is why there is so much emphasis put on what fundraisers call ‘Donor Retention’. The first important...

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,...

Vision, Mission and Your team

The 2021 Australian National Church Life Survey asked church attenders whether their church had a clear vision, goals or direction for its ministry and mission, and if they were committed to that vision. 68% of church attenders said they are aware of their local...