Year-End is coming. You know what that means: many of your clients will be stressed out because year-end giving is here. It’s time to push that extra mile, but they certainly don’t want to guilt anyone. But if they don’t, what will that mean for their bottom line and next year’s budget? You can help them take a step back from all the pressure and shame that surrounds financial deadlines. 

Year-End: The Big Picture

Let’s take that big step back together: What is year-end for? It’s a time of reflection. Helping your clients take a step back to note and celebrate where they succeeded and what was accomplished is important. When you are confident in the difference you have made you can ask for support with confidence. Start with ministry goals, not financial goals. The why behind people’s giving. When you steward gifts well and have results to show for those gifts, this is your time to shine. Encourage your clients to provide updates on all that has been accomplished. Encourage them to tell stories of God at work, of lives transformed, of communities changed. 

Looking at year-end giving from this vantage point provides the motivation for people to keep giving… because they know what they are giving for. They know what their giving is accomplishing. In this way, their giving can flow from joy and from partnership in the mission. 

4 Steps to an Effective Year-End Giving Ask

1. Reflect on progress

Highlight the ways God has moved in this past year–specifically as a result of your ministry.

• What have been the most successful events this year? What made them successful?
• What has happened that would not have otherwise happened? 
• How do those things connect to your mission and vision?

2. Reengage with the mission

People don’t want to just support the same old thing; they want to see it change and grow. It’s important to clarify the next set of goals. 

• What will you be doing next year?
• In what ways will next year be different?
• How will your ministry grow?
• What will be new? 

3. Connect giving to something specific

Show people their money at work. Transparently open the books and use visuals to help people understand how their giving makes a difference. Demonstrate your faithfulness in stewardship in the past and how you will be using the money in the future.

• How can you best communicate to your community how their money makes a difference?
• If they are faithful in giving, what will they see at the end of 2024 that they don’t see now?
• What concrete goals will the ministry be accomplishing?  

4. Ask with confidence

God is the one at work; God is the one who is faithful. It’s not about you. God has been faithful in the past and he will continue to be faithful in the future. Encourage your clients to stand on his confidence rather than their own. They may feel worried, stressed, or uncertain… but God has something bigger than they can imagine. This is actually something to be excited about! 

• What is God asking you to accomplish?
• How can you be sure?
• What do you need to confront personally in order to release this ask and the results to God?
• What words will be helpful to use in communicating confidence?

Resources

Effective Communication Resources– This group of downloadable coaching resources are designed to help you identify communication effectiveness and help individuals develop good communication skills. *Link will take you to loganleadership.com.

Cover Photo by Karolina Grabowska

Photo by Klaudia Piaskowska on Unsplash