When visionaries don't understand their role in bringing hope to the world, they hate fundraising.
I have heard visionaries lament the need for fundraising. I have heard board members say, "I wish we didn't talk about money so much." I have heard pastors say, "I HATE talking about money."
I think the sentiment is misguided.
It is healthy when visionaries need money.
When forward-thinking organizations need money it is a good thing.
When you need money, it means you have a vision for a better world.
When you need money, it means you have a living dream.
When you ask for money to accomplish your vision, donors are filled with hope.
Don Linscot tells why he is glad his church needs money (read here).
On July 23, 1970, my wife Connie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. For three years we had tried unsuccessfully to start a family, so our joy was great with the arrival of what was to be our only biological child.
We later adopted a daughter. Lance, the biological son was born before it became acceptable for the father to be present in the delivery room. A fact for which I have been forever grateful! I waited in the hallway just outside the delivery room. At precisely 4:13 I heard a sound I will never forget. Lance's first cry. The nurse emerged with a smile to say, "You have a baby boy." I responded, "Yes, I know, I never doubted that I would have a son."
I could hardly wait to get Connie and Lance out of the hospital and back home so I could get my hands on him. The wonderful glow of fatherhood was soon dimmed however when I was asked to visit the business office of the hospital.
They wanted me to pay for Lance. In fact, it seemed to me that my wife and child might be held hostage till the hospital bill was settled. I wrote the check paying all the expenses in full, freed my family and we made our escape.
That check turned out to be only one of the first of hundreds maybe thousands I would write on Lance's behalf.
Children are expensive. There was formula to buy. Food to buy. Doctors visits. Vaccinations...assaulted my bank account...diapers and toys took their toll. And clothes were a constant drain. Just about the time we built a great wardrobe for the kid he would grow, forcing us to start all over again...
As his age and size increased, so did the expense as soon it was baseball gloves, Nike shoes and uniforms...there were glasses for his eyes and braces for his teeth. And then disaster struck. Lance became a teenager. Now it was cars and dates and name-brand clothes.
Then came college. Lance had always and only wanted to be an architect. It seemed he would be in school until he was forty years old. Expenses soared. Tuition, books, drawing tools. But of course, just like parents everywhere, were happy to help him. And we did all we could to support his growth and his dream.
And then one day, Lance died. On Halloween day 1991, we buried 21 year old Lance in our church's country cemetery.
That afternoon we walked away from his grave and since that day we have never spent another nickel on Lance.
That's how I learned that death is cheap.
Death can be sustained without expense.
It is living that is costly.
It is growth that is expensive.
Our dreams, visions, and hopes require sacrifice.
That's why I will always belong to a church that needs money. A living, growing, thriving church will always require the continual, consistent, and conscientious financial support of its members.
Healthy visionaries need money.
Growing organizations need money.
The more "alive" your vision is, the more you will need money.
When you don't realize your role in bringing hope to the world, you will be timid in your fundraising and donors will not be attracted to you.
When you are passionate about your vision and ask donors to help you make it happen, it inspires donors and when they give, they are filled with hope.