Inspiring Volunteers to Fund Raise with Joy
Mary Pat Beals, CFRE, Petrus Consultant
Do you need more money for campus ministry? Do you need financial support in order to reach more students and draw them to the beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith? If you answered yes, then start today!
Motivate and inspire your volunteers to secure the financial resources your ministry needs for its mission. Henri Nouwen, internationally renowned author and respected professor wrote, “From the perspective of the gospel, fund raising is not a response to a crisis. Fund raising is, first and foremost, a form of ministry. It is a way of announcing our vision and inviting other people into our mission. Vision and mission are so central to the life of God’s people that without vision we perish and without mission we lose our way (Prov. 29:18-20; Kings 21:19).”
If you have volunteers helping you ask others for money you are well on your way. Use every opportunity to engage them in your work. Make sure they get to see and feel the realness of your mission. Consider yourself very fortunate if you have volunteers and benefactors who are already willing to help. People who believe, like you do, that Catholic Campus Ministry is important and the future of our faith is resting within the campus ministry centers on public universities.
If you do not have willing and enthusiastic volunteers now, it is important to search them out and invite them to help. Volunteers will positively impact your fundraising and help accomplish the mission of your Catholic Center. Passionate volunteers, properly motivated and managed, will help you go beyond your dreams for programming and services that reach students who will benefit the ministry you are providing at the Catholic Center. And, vey importantly, volunteers help hold down the cost of fundraising. They work for free!
Following are some best practices to put in place in order to create a culture of volunteers engaged in joyful fundraising for your mission.
1. Passion first. Passion is always first. Invite people who already care about Catholic Campus Ministry. They are probably already giving financial support. Look for them on your list of current benefactors. Meet with them personally and ask them to serve on an advisory board that will help to adequately fund the ministry at your Catholic Center.
2. Create an engagement plan for each and every volunteer. Be careful not to deplete their passion with poorly thought out development plans. Do not expect them to think they will enjoy fundraising at first. Get them involved in all aspects of the ministry before asking them to ask others for a financial gift.
3. Be joyful about fundraising. Talk about the benefits to you personally as a professional and how good it feels when a donor says yes to a request for a gift and the impact of that gift. Never refer to yourself as a pick pocket or any other degrading term. Spread the good news that fundraising is joyful and changes people lives. The joy goes to the people who benefit from the gift, but also to those who make the gift.
4. Recognize volunteers who do participate in fundraising. They will inspire and motivate other volunteers. Highlight them in your newsletter or other publications. Ask students and other staff to thank them in person and with personal notes and messages.
5. Develop a practice that encourages prayer and gratitude. Spiritual benefits of fundraising can be discussed openly and embraced. Fundraising changes people. Invite discussion about the spiritual benefits of raising funds.
6. Care for your fundraising volunteers in ways that express your gratitude. Invite them to Mass and other opportunities to live out their faith life with you and students.
In over thirty years of development practice I can cite case after case of volunteers who become more fully alive when involved in helping great causes. In most of the cases it was an invitation by me, or someone like me, who encouraged them to help.
This invitation led them on a journey to grow closer to Christ and their Catholic Faith. They are forever changed. As a professional fundraiser, one of my most rewarding experiences is when a volunteer is so joyfully involved that they are giving joyfully as well as asking joyfully. Henry Rosso, one of the fathers of professional fund raising and founder of the Fund Raising School said, “Fund Raising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving. And there is equal joy in getting.”
References: Nouwen, Henri. (2004) The Spirituality of Fund Raising. (Estate of Henry Nouwen) Ontario, Canada. Upper Room Ministries. Rosso, Henry A and Associates. (2003) Achieving Excellence in Fund Raising. (2nd Edition p. 335-348) San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.