Donors

Why was I not more generous?

Bill High — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:31:51 GMT

Regret. What is it? The dictionary defines it as: a feeling of disappointment or distress about something that one wishes could be different.

It that’s the case—disappointment over something we wish could be different—here’s the question: will we have regret in heaven? Will we wish something could be different?

Hey, heaven’s supposed to be the perfect place. No more crying. No more tears. The end of the suffering life. We’ll be with the eternal God and experiencing life in all its fullness. We’ve finally made it back to Eden. Right?

Certainly, here in this life we’ll experience regret. It may be the loss of a loved one, the moments we might have experienced with our children, the memory of a relationship that might have been saved or been better. But what about heaven? Will we wish that things were different there?

II Corinthians 3 describes our experience before the judgment seat of Christ. There, our deeds in the body will be tested by the eternal flame. Some of those deeds will be ashes—nothing more than wood, hay and stubble. Some of our deeds may be gold—worthy of eternal commendation.

I wonder. When the flames have consumed my deeds and the pile of ashes grow, will I, in that moment, have regret? Will I wish, experience distress over what might have been? Will I say “oh the people that I might have touched?” Will I exclaim, “oh! That was what I was supposed to do?” And perhaps, will I mumble to myself, “why did I hold on so tightly? Why was I not more generous?”

Some theologians have weighed in on the subject. Piper describes it as “regretful joy” in Life as A Vapor. I think certainly at the judgment seat of Christ there is going to be at lease a moment of regret before we enter into the bliss of the permanently forgiven.

But I think of this question as less theological and more practical for us today. Our challenge today ought to be to live a life of no regrets. It is a life in the spirit intent on his voice, and dare I say it a bit reckless in our pursuit of him. And the thought of that moment of regret at the Bema seat should well influence our conduct today.

What do you think?

William High is the President of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.

Lessons From How the Wealthy Give

Bill High — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:46:41 GMT

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have generated quite the buzz by encouraging billionaires to have 50% of their wealth to charity. In July, the Chronicle of Philanthropy provided an interest report on the habits of the wealthy in their giving.

From 1992 to 2007, America’s top 400 earners reported giving a low of 3.5% to a high of 10.8% of their income in any one single year. In general, the top 400 earners hovered around the 8% mark in terms of giving a percentage of their income. The 8% mark compares to the 2.1% median giving percentage for all Americans.

So on average the top 400 earners give more of their income as a percentage. While the 8% does not equate to the 10% tithe that most churches advance, it is above the median nonetheless.

On the other hand, the share of net worth donated by America’s billionaires differs markedly. For instance in 2009, the following billionaires reported their percentage of giving as follows:

Stanley F. and Fiona Druckenmiller 20.14%

T. Denny Sanford 6.10%

Julian H. Jr. and Josie Robertson 3.00%

Jon L. Stryker 2.85%

Eli and Edythe Broad 1.95%

That wide variance is consistent throughout the billionaires who reported their percentages.

What do we learn about these numbers? It’s easier to give a percentage of one’s income but far harder to give out of one’s net worth.

On the other hand, it is an inevitable fact of life that all the billionaires on the list will suffer the same fate. Should we not encourage all to give for that greater end and to store up where moth and rust do not consume?

--William F. High is the President/General Counsel of the Servant Christian Community Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). Servant’s mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Ten Tips to Make Your Website Work for Your Donors

Bill High — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:24:17 GMT

The online world is here to stay for ministries. For that reason, it’s a good time to evaluate your website from a donor’s perspective. Here are 10 tips:

1. Be concise. Most donors are scanners. Big blocks of text scare people off. Use bullet points and small paragraphs.

2. Use pictures. Show the story. Don’t just tell it with text. Pictures produce emotions, and let your readers “feel” your mission.

3. Highlight your vision, mission and key objectives. Make sure that people know where you are going, how you are going to get there and your 3-5 mission critical activities.

4. State the problem clearly. Make sure that your donors know what problem you are trying to solve. Make sure your solution is clear as well.

5. Have a “donate” button. It’s imperative that you give people a way to help. Include cash, credit card and non cash giving options. See www.idonate.com as one non cash service option.

6. Make giving easy. No more than 2 clicks away to the donate page.

7. Give something away. The best bet: give away information. Maybe you can give away a white paper. Give them a reason to visit your site because of timely, relevant and shareable content.

8. Provide contact information for board and staff. People want to know who is involved with your organization.

9. Keep it current. Enough said.

10. Optimize your site so people can find it. Make your site easy to find with search engine optimization. SEO work doesn’t have to be costly. Use a provider from elance.com for instance.

8 Keys for 2011 Fundraising

Bill High — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:29:19 GMT

Fundraising has changed. What worked pre-crash 2008 does not necessarily mean it will work now. It is not business as usual. The wise charity is making adjustments now.

    Lisa Sargent Communications reported on a recent study on "What's Working in Donor Fundraising and Development Today." Here are some of the highlights:

    1.    Finding new donors remains a challenge. Non profits need to find new ways to find new donors.

    2.    Competition for donor dollars is at an all time high. Less dollars means more competition.

    3.     Social media is necessary but has not proven itself yet as a fundraising tool. Pursue social media, but keep adjusting, tweaking.

    4.    Donors are different. They are less loyal. They scrutinize more, demand more.

    5.    You still need direct mail.

    6.    Your marketing, communications, donor development, planned giving efforts all need to be integrated. This is no time for silos.

    7.    Relationships matter. Go deep not just wide.

    8.    Story matters. Tell stories that allow donors to connect emotionally.

    Start now. Adjust now. Your success in 2011 depends on it.

--William High is the President/General Counsel of the Servant Christian Community Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). Servant's mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. William may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

What Donors Wants-- 1 Big Thing

Bill High — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:29:44 GMT

    Do you run a really cool and happening ministry? Is it full of excitement and pizazz? Yet do you wonder sometimes why your donors don't get how cool your ministry really is?

    A recent study at Excitement or Peacefulness provides a powerful insight. People in their 20's, 30's, and 40's tend to equate happiness with excitement, activity, jazzy stuff. On the other hand, people in their 50's equate happiness with peacefulness.

    Implications? The young hip ministry tries to get their donor base excited over the ministry with cutting edge materials and presentations when in fact their older donor base may well want peace. This means calmer materials, steadiness, and a calm sense that "we are winning."

    As the study points out, remember who your donors are. Don't try to make them what you want them to be.

--William High is the President/General Counsel of Servant Christian Community Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). Servant's mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Year End Giving & Taxes

Bill High — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:59:36 GMT

As we turn the corner to December, many people are beginning to think about their year end tax calculations and correspondingly, their available tax deductions.

The biggest available deduction in any one year typically is the charitable deduction. I find many do not realize the rules. Here are the two big ones in brief:

    1.    you may contribute up to 50% of your income each year and still be allowed a charitable deduction;

    2.    30% of the 50% may be in the form of a non cash asset ( things like publicly traded stock, real estate, cars, collectibles, and closely held stock);

    3.    even if an individual goes over the 50% or 30% levels, the deduction can carry over    for another 5 years.

These are the basics, but in short, there's a lot of room to increase your giving and take a deduction. Now is the time to evaluate whether you have publicly traded stock that has appreciated in value. That is a good candidate for deduction because not only do you get to deduct the fair market value, but you also don't have to pay capital gains tax on anything donated.

On the other hand, the most missed tax deduction is the 30% of income non cash deduction. Are you planning to get another car? Give your old one. If you give it straight to a charity that can use it, you get to deduct the fair market value. On the other hand, the car can be sold and you can deduct the amount of what the car sold for. Look at real estate holdings as an option as well. For the business owner, you can also give shares in your closely held business.

With tax rates expected to go up in 2011, now is the time to make your gift. If you need to make the gift and have it available for future years, then donate to a donor advised fund. That way you get the deduction now, but preserve the opportunity to gift to your favored charity.

--William F. High is the President/General Counsel of the Servant Christian Community Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). Servant's mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com

Year End Giving-- Plan Now!

Bill High — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:12:07 GMT

It’s October, but it is year end tax season.

I work with people all across the country. Each year, we see people set up donor advised funds in the month of December. In fact, we’ll see 50% of our activity take place in the month of December. While it’s a good thing that we have that kind of activity, it’s also a lesson for those planning now. Encourage your donors to begin thinking about it now!

A few years back, I got a call from a donor who desperately wanted to set up a gift annuity. A few days later, we got a check for a million dollar annuity. In January, when we actually got to talk in detail, he admitted that he ran out of time, and he ultimately agreed that he should have chosen to use a charitable remainder trust which would have given him far more flexibility than the annuity.

Or consider the donor who called us with just a few days to go in the year and wanted to donate a $750,000 piece of real estate. He desperately needed the deduction, but as we looked at his situation, he had not owned the property long enough to get the maximum deduction. We simply ran out of time to help him give more and pay less tax.

Then there was the case of the woman who called us December 31 at 2pm. She needed to donate $40,000 before year end. She was frantic, until we explained she could set up her donor advised fund online and that if the check was postmarked that day she’d be fine. We solved her problem, but not without considerable angst to her.

I realize that some people cannot avoid it. But some know in advance that they’ll be taking their family on a Christmas vacation which will leave them little time to complete their tax work. The message is simple. Encourage your donors to start now. Encourage them to call their tax professional or your Christian community foundation and ask them how to maximize their giving while paying less tax. Make sure your donors are aware of their giving options and know how to go about the process. They will be grateful for your help!

--William F. High is the President/General Counsel of the Servant Christian Community Foundation www.servantchristian.com. Servant’s mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

3 Key Pieces of Advice: Fundraising in Recessionary Times

Bill High — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:46:10 GMT

In the first part of 2010, Guidestar reported that 4 in 10 charities reported a decline in giving from January 1 to May 31, 2010. Three in 10 had cut back on budgets and more than half reported they had saved money by cutting back on programs. Half of all non profits had frozen staff salaries. In light of this gloomy news, how should the non profit respond?

1. Seek a Development Partner. Whether formally or informally, all non profits should be seeking to align with those individuals, consultants, board members or organizations who can give them ongoing consistent feedback on their development efforts. That may mean seeking out training on grantwriting, or general development processes. But it clearly means that the conversation about development and fundraising must be ongoing. In the Christian world, one of the best opportunities is working with one of the local Christian community foundations.

2. Seek strategic partnerships and collaborations. It may seem contrary to the norm, but the more you seek alignment with strategic partners, the more likely you can find ways to extend your own ministry while at the same time cutting costs. At a more a basic level, you provide yourself the opportunity for fellowship and idea sharing. Equally important, you present a better case to donors by showing that you are seeking to use your own resources better. Donors hate duplication of effort. Make a list of potential partners and seek them out. Define what you’ll do and what they’ll do.

3. Seek to crystallize your vision and mission and ruthlessly eliminate anything inconsistent with those. Let’s face it. In times of plenty, we all tend to have scope creep. Have you every had a donor say to you, “I’ve wondered what you do? Or, “I’ve wondered how that all fits?” (It wouldn’t be surprising if your own staff says that…) It is equally powerful to stand in front of a donor audience and tell them what you don’t do. It places the emphasis on what you are actually seeking to get done. By crystallizing vision and mission, we are much more likely to get done what we said we would do. There is no more compelling fundraising pitch than a ministry which does what it promises.

Start today. You won’t be disappointed.

--William F. High is the President/General Counsel of the Servant Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). Servant’s mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Understanding the Big Why of Giving

Bill High — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 20:31:06 GMT

Not long ago, I sat in a ministry presentation. The ministry was clearly trying to win the crowd to gather support for its ministry.

It was a fairly typical presentation. They described who they were, and they listed the numbers behind the impact they were making. And they made a call for support.

But they failed to present the big why. Most importantly, they did not understand that their ministry was not the big why. It never is.

What is the big why? The big why is the overall strategic reason for the organization’s existence. For instance, Young Life is not the big why. Reaching young people, however, is a big why. The reason why Young Life exists as an organization is to reach young people.

So often we tend to elevate an organization as the big why. The organization is only a tool, however, to reaching or fulfilling their call. We place the organization as the first answer. In reality, that which motivates us—reaching young people—is the first answer. How we reach young people may be accomplished in many ways.

By keeping in mind the big why, we can better keep ourselves, our givers, our staff focused upon what is truly important. It is the cause first, not the organization. May we never confuse the cause with organization.

--William High is the President/General Counsel of the Servant Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). Servant’s mission is to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity. He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Why Give Even When Down

Bill High — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:08:06 GMT

I had a cup of coffee with a friend of mine the other day. It had been awhile since I’d seen him. I knew from our email trail that the days preceding had been hard. Business challenges. But little did I realize how severe…

He was ready to take his life so that way his family could have the life insurance money. A real estate development had gone sour and left him holding the bag with mounds of debt. Their large house was emptying rapidly with the effects of Craig’s list sales. Even his kids had gotten into the act by selling Ipods, TVs, video games—anything that would bring a buck.

But in the midst of their trial, they looked up and saw their neighbor. When they saw him at the mailbox, his shoulders were slumped, and the car didn’t slip out the garage anymore to head off to work. He was evasive, but they managed to catch him in the yard one day, and he confessed: they were down to eating peanut butter and jelly. His neighbor was planning to take his own life in his despair.

So what did my friend do? He and his wife wept—not for themselves but for someone else. And as they did, they sensed God asking them, in their own trial, to make a gift to their neighbor. When they presented the gift to their neighbor, he protested—“You can’t give this to me! You need it yourselves.” But they told him firmly, “don’t deny us the blessing of giving.”

And so they gave. The chapter of their neighbor’s life is still unfolding. Disaster averted. For them, they walked away—not with their own problems solved—but a renewed sense of the generosity of God.