Don’t Make It About You

The other day I was thinking about how to connect with churches and I thought, don’t make it about you. I had been writing materials, posts, advertising copy and emails. That is when it dawned on me. It was all about me! Buy this, download that, blah blah blah. I thought of a letter a client sent me last year for review.

“Don’t make it about you!”  That was a comment I made after reading a pastors vision statement for an upcoming giving initiative.  Don’t get me wrong, he gave me great content.  It was just that in his long opening paragraph he said, I, me, and myself eleven times.  Unknowingly he made the story about himself. I did the same thing!

If you want to increase giving and givers at your church here are some key points to consider,

Don’t make it about you!  In this instance the “you” is defined as making a giving appeal for the sake of simply making some budgetary number.  That’s not appealing.  Your appeal asking donors to give can’t be why you need money.  They don’t respond to appeals to pay the electric bill.  They respond to helping fulfill your God given story.

That leads to the next key…

Show what you/they do.  You are attempting to connect how a dollar given at your church fuels your missions and ministry endeavors.  You show them what “you” the church are doing.  You help them see that “they” had a part in that story.  It’s all about the story. 

I think I feel a Brooks Generosity Mantra coming on that sums it up best…

Get a story, work your story, tell your story and people will give to support that story.

Your story is your mission and vision in action.  And it’s a great story.  You are changing the world one person at a time.  You are helping raise up the next generation of believers.

If you are not casting a compelling vision you will never have any stories to tell about the fulfillment of that vision!

Make ‘em want to give!  It has always been my contention that it is not that the Church talks too much about money.  The problem is that when we do talk about money, we talk about it in a way that turns people off.  We typically load them down with guilt.  I believe we need to create within the donor a desire to want to give. And that starts by,

Not making it about you but them. Your donors.

One last thing, how are you? How are you holding up through all this? What issues are you facing with regards to giving that you need help with? Most importantly, how can I help you? Seriously, let me know.

Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach

@stewardshipman

Learn more steps for increasing giving with my new manual, “Recovering the Lost Offering of COVID19.” https://acts17generosity.com/shop/recovering-the-lost-offering-of-covid-19/