Well, hello there. Welcome to the SupportGoal Learning Center!

“A learning center?” you say, “this is the first I’ve heard of it.”

Yes. It is the first that anyone’s heard of it. Because this site is brand spankin’ new! The funny thing is, the conversation that we hope to start is anything but new. Which is both good and bad. Bad because, well, let’s face it - we’re an organization that has created an app to help you manage the process of support-raising more easily and effectively, and wouldn’t it be nice if this were the blog that we started because we have finally figured it out? The top 3 super simple secrets to fundraising without awkwardness, risk, or major discomfort?

Well, we haven’t yet. Sorry to let you down. I suppose the whole “starting a conversation” goal would be moot if we had (btw, if you have figured it out, please let the rest of us in on it 😊).
But let’s get on with the good. And even before that, let’s clarify - it would be more accurate to say that our goal is not to start a conversation, but rather to continue it.

“What’s so good about continuing an old conversation?” you might wonder. To be fair, as a married person, I have in mind some recurring “conversations” (some might call them conflicts, arguments, or differences-of-opinion) that certainly don’t seem very good. So . . . point taken.

But I digress.

This conversation, as you may have supposed, is about fundraising. Support-raising. Ministry partner development. Ministry team development. How-to-make-a-living-in-ministry-when-I’m-working- for-people-who-aren’t-providing-me-with-a-salary. But is it, really?

On the surface, yes. Comments like, “I just want to minister to [insert preferred demographic here - college students, youth in poverty, international churches],” or “How can I get this process over with so I can get on with the real work?” or “How long, exactly, is this going to take?” are reasonable, pragmatic, and certainly understandable; they underscore the reality that one must have money to, well, live.

The real dialogue, however, takes place underneath the surface. And it is thoroughly theological. It is not about new fundraising techniques, tools, or even apps (gasp!) It is about discipleship. And that, my friends, is a conversation that has been in process for a few thousand years.

What?!

I know. Not what you expected from a fundraising blog. What should you expect, then? Well, pick up a copy of Coach Your Champions: The Transformational Giving Approach to Major Donor Fundraising by Eric Foley, and read on (the book and the next post). We may not have found “the secret” to fundraising, but we have stumbled upon a good book, and we plan to use it as the basis for continuing the conversation moving forward.

Read Part 2