Your Organization's Potential Income and Impact is Greater Than You Think (Here’s How to Calculate It)

 When is the last time you and the decision makers of your organization discussed or envisioned what might be possible for your organization? I’m not talking about the possibility of raising enough money to keep your doors open or cover inflation. I’m talking about the possibility of building a new church, hiring another full time staff member, starting an additional outreach program, and what ministry might look like in another 50 to 80 years — the kind of dream-like impact you want to make if money was no object and failure wasn’t possible. 

If you can’t remember the last time you thought about these big long-term goals, you’re not alone. Most fundraisers and ministry leaders are so entrenched in today’s mindset of scarcity that we can’t even fathom the abundance God might have in store for us and how that abundance could expand our organization's ministry. But God is in the business of abundance. 

In fact in Genesis 15 Abram asked God for a son — an heir for his wealth — but God had Abram look at the night sky and promised that he would father a nation as numerous as the stars in the sky. Centuries later the Israelites prayed for a warrior to liberate them from Rome. Instead God sent a Savior not just for the Israelites, but the entire world and all future generations.

We can be sure that God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-11) and He wants to share His abundance with us — His people (Ephesians 3:20-21, Luke 11:11-13). When we have a vision for abundance God might have in store for us we can more effectively invite others — ie, donors — into the process of making that vision happen. Throughout this article I’m going to walk you through my favorite question to jumpstart the dreaming process for what might be possible for your organization. Then we will walk through three ways you can measure the abundance that’s accessible to your organization. 

Imagine What Might Be Possible

Have you seen Tangled — Disney’s animated Rapunzel movie? If you have, you’re familiar with a scene where Rapunzel is finally free from her castle and she bounces between being ecstatic and distraught. When you’re out of practice, thinking big can feel like this — both terrifying and thrilling!

To help my clients recover the art of dreaming I have them ask this question: “If you had a million dollars that you could give to your organization, what would you like to see it used for? What difference would you hope that $1 million gift would make?” 

I LOVE this question because it not only gives some direction to what impact might be possible, but it also gets people thinking about their OWN gift!  While you may not be able to give a million dollars, thinking about such a large gift helps people — yourself included — articulate what matters most to them about your ministry. Being able to articulate what matters most about an organization and its ministry is one of the most important steps to inviting bigger and better gifts. Thus, this question is not only good for brainstorming and dreaming, it is also great for future donor conversations and board meetings. So there — BAM! As my kids would say.

If you choose to dream in a group setting, with staff or board members, hand out sticky notes and ask attendees to write their answers on the sticky notes. Collect the sticky notes as each person shares what they wrote down. (You can do this on a white board and write these answers by hand for everyone to see. However, I have found sticky notes to be very effective tools for this process.) Verbalizing answers in a group setting solidifies the significance of involvement and important work your organization is doing.

Now that you have an idea for what you would love to see your ministry accomplish, it’s time to dig into the nitty-gritties and calculate what is actually possible! This next step can feel deflating. On the largest scale you just dreamed of what your organization could do for others and now you’re going to try to crunch that into reality. How impossible does that sound? Completely, impossible — I agree. But you’re not going to fit your dream into your current reality. In the next steps you’re going to identify where you are financially and calculate your true gift capacity. After working with over 100 organizations I can tell you without a doubt that your true gift capacity is well beyond what you believe and realize. 

Discover Your Fundraising Potential Step #1: Bigger and Better Gifts From a Few. 

One of our clients, Neil, shared a surprising response from donors after a gift conversation. Neil met with long-time donors and took time to understand why supporting this organization was so important to them. Afterward, the donors made their largest gift to date — it was 10Xs their usual gift. The best part is, this outcome isn’t unique to Neil and his organization. 

In fact, most donors can give 5X-10Xs what they’re currently giving. That means you could have a similar experience. But you’ll need to be intentional about two things: investing in donor relationships and inviting a larger gift.

According to CCS Fundraising, 48% of donors take five years to make a major gift. As development professionals we know that major gifts are the financial life-line for nonprofits. This leads to three critical questions:

1. How many donors have faithfully given to your organization for five or more years? 
2. When was the last time you asked your 5+ year donors to make a larger gift?
3. If you asked your 5+ year donors to 5Xs their next gift, what could that make possible for your organization?

It’s easy to think, if we had more donors we could have more income and impact. But very often, we need to value the donors who have already communicated their belief in our work with their gift. After all it’s been said and proven time and time again that “your current donors are your best prospects.”

Discover Your Fundraising Potential Step #2: Legacy Giving 

Planned giving, a term you are probably familiar with, describes the financial legacy someone makes through gifts of assets. When talking about planned gifts, I prefer the comparable term ‘legacy gift’ because it infers more about what planned gifts accomplish. Legacy gifts take time to see results because they are given at-death. However, they are worth pursuing because they have proved instrumental in providing for the future flourishing of organizations. 

Universities are known for their legacy giving programs and usually receive 20% of their charitable income from these kinds of gifts. Bequest income for average nonprofit hovers around 10%. Unfortunately, ministry organizations usually fall far short of this average. The good news is, a lack of bequest income does not predict your potential bequest income. In fact most organizations feel hopeful after calculating their bequest potential.

Calculate your bequest income potential HERE.

Here are some generic but common discoveries you could expect: You could be a church or an organization with as few as 160 contributors, and still see the potential for more than $1million. If you’re an organization with 500 contributors you saw a high-end calculation of $3 million. And organizations with 1000 contributors could see a high-end calculation of $6 million.  

What ministry opportunities would be possible with these additional resources? What impact can you imagine? Even if you decided to pour 100% of these gifts into an endowment and used only a 5% portion each year, $1 million would provide $50,000 every year. $5 million would provide $250,000 every year….and you can do the math from there. Over the long term, the possibilities are beyond our imagination. 

Discover Your Fundraising Potential Step #3: Repeat donors 

Do you spend more time finding new donors or engaging with the donors you already have?

Development teams tend to invest a ton of time, energy, and resources into attracting new donors, only to repeat the process on a yearly or quarterly basis, because 80% of new donors only give once. This would be equivalent to 80% of your income being commission based — that’s stressful! 

When organizations retain donors four beneficial things happen: 

1. Gifts increase, both in size and in frequency. 
2. Donors tell others about you, and may help you acquire new donors at a far lower cost.
3. Your donors’ subsequent gift covers your investment in acquiring them. 
4. Your donors’ growing loyalty likely leads to the largest of all gifts — a legacy gift.

Take a moment to imagine what these benefits could mean for you and your organization…If you were able to count on your donors’ consistent gifts, how might that free up your time to minister? What might be possible for your organization if you invested the energy you’re spending acquiring new donors into the donor relationships you already have?

Thankfully, retaining donors isn’t all that challenging. By promptly thanking and regularly touching base with donors you can create a relationship that may last for years.

How to Envision What’s Possible When You Don’t Know the Donors

When Emily stepped into the Lutheran Campus Pastor and Director role at the University of Wisconsin -  Madison two things stood in her way: having two time-consuming roles and not knowing the donors. Being a pastor and shepherding students is what Emily is good at and most looked forward to. Being the organizational director — aka the fundraiser and financial officer — especially when she didn’t know the people she was supposed to ask for money was not Emily’s strong suit. 

Through our work together Emily learned to see the organizational picture that was bigger than herself. Emily put it this way, “When I stepped into the Campus Pastor and Director role I didn’t know the donors. But through reviewing the metrics, listening to Brenda, and visiting donors, I have a much better idea of what could be possible. Brenda also helped the board envision priorities and what might be possible.” 

A significant step to Emily embracing a big vision for Lutheran Campus Ministry at UW was realizing that donors didn’t need to know Emily as much as they needed to feel connected to Lutheran Campus Ministry at UW and the students it serves. If you feel limited in your fundraising capacity because, like Emily, you don’t know the donors, remember that’s not what’s most important — helping your donors connect with the important work your ministry accomplishes is what’s important. It’s not about you. It’s about what God can do through you!

The Benefits of Dreaming Big

When Brett Hagler and the rest of his New Story team speak with donors they invite them to participate in their ten year vision of serving 1 million people by building 20,000 homes. This big and bold vision has attracted big and bold people who have made big and bold gifts. 

All that to say, you don’t need to be afraid of dreaming big for three reasons: 

1. A big dream gives donors something exciting to invest in and leave a legacy for. Donors give to your organization because they believe in the impact you’re making. Therefore, they likely want to see the work you’re doing not only continue, but expand. 
2. A big dream doesn’t scare God. Remember, God is in the business of doing more than we could ever ask or imagine and has all the resources we could ever need. Besides, big dreams give God room to show His glory.
3. A big dream is something my team and I can help you reach. You don’t have to be bold alone. Over the last twelve months we’ve helped several churches fully fund their capital campaigns, a nonprofit food truck launch its fundraising program, and a summer camp kick off their $10 million journey to update three of their sites. We would love to help you do the same. Schedule a call HERE to see if we’re a fit.

Abram wanted a son, but God made Him the father of a nation. The Israelites wanted a liberator but God sent a Savior for the world. You can’t dream something that’s too big for God, but you can dream something big enough that donors are excited to join you.

Co-authored by Brenda Moore, CFRE and Sisi Roose.