Private/Public Dividing Line
Up to this point, your work has been quiet and behind the scenes. You haven’t made a public announcement or sent out a mass mailing. No mention of anything special has been made from the pulpit or printed in the bulletin. You’ve been making quiet ripples under the surface. That’s about to change. You’re about to move from private to public!
Late November—Early December: Public Launch
In late November or early December, you’ll launch. Dramatically and in a can’t-miss way.
- Don’t just announce: launch.
- Don’t just launch: launch big.
- Gather so much energy and momentum that every single person will be aware of what’s happening.
- You’ll want to do this in a way that maintains your credibility for future campaigns … a delicate balance!
Remaing Weeks of December: Message Reinforcement
You’ve announced your campaign in a way that no one missed. Now you repeat the message time after time, as if no one has heard anything! Keep the enthusiasm and energy alive by repackaging and reinforcing your announcements throughout the month.
Last Two Days
There’s almost always a window for giving between the last Sunday of the year and December 31. We don’t want to miss this important window to communicate to your people. I have a personal story to share and an example of an email that helped raise $15,000 in funds during the last two days of the year … we’ll share that in our course on year-end giving campaigns.
- Plan for a direct ask during the final 48 hours.
- Ask in such a way that moves people to action and doesn’t offend them or seem “spammy.”
January: Celebration and Evaluation
We all realize this isn’t the only time you’ll need to ask your people to engage financially with you in the ministry. Start planning now for how you will celebrate and how you will evaluate so people will look forward to being asked next time. We do this all in such a way so that people will look forward to the next time you’ll ask them to fund to mission.
