Prayers for Major Donor Fundraising

Last week in my LinkedIn posts I shared five prayers for major donor fundraisers.

🙏Jehovah Nissi (mighty Creator), you have given us a special vision for healing and transformation…as we present this vision, in any form, help us to do it with passion, humility, articulation, boldness and integrity.

🙏Jehovah Shalom (Father of peace), we pray that you would stir hearts and move spirits to help further the vision you have given us.

🙏Jehovah Raah (ever present Shepherd), in whose life are you working right now who needs to hear this vision? Help us to have your eyes and ears to see this week who those people are.

🙏Jehovah Jireh (God of provision), we pray for all of the proposals that are under consideration. We pray for a release of funds.  We pray that you will help us to be excellent and wise stewards of funds as they come into the ministry.

🙏El Elyon (Lord over all), we pray for spiritual protection for the staff, the board, the donors and potential donors.  Help us to be humble and obedient.

These were first shared with me early in my career by a very good friend and mentor, Rich Haynie.  I later included the various names of the Creator as a reminder of his diversity and care for the sacred work we get to do.

Right around this same time I was introduced to Henri Nouwen’s text called “A Spirituality of Fundraising”.  His short chapter on prayer is one of my favorites.  In it he suggests that prayer moves us from hostility to hospitality, jealousy to graciousness, judgmentalism to love, and suspicion to compassion.  This has been one hundred percent true for me.

Rich had some practical advice for the use of these prayers:

• Focus on one for each day of the work week or one a week for 5 weeks and then cycle back through.
• Recruit a handful of people who agree to join you in these prayers.  These should be people that you have no hesitation trusting with confidential information about donors, amounts, etc.
• For the third prayer (who needs to hear this vision?), keep a running list of names that come to your heart and mind as you pray.  Share this list with your prayer team and have them do the same with you.
• For the fourth prayer (proposals under consideration), keep a running list of all of the specific proposals under consideration.  Share this with your prayer team along with any other relevant details.
• For the fifth prayer (staff, board, active and prospective donors), share with your prayer team any key milestones that you are aware of and other prayer points.  Again, this team should be committed to sacred confidentiality.

Nouwen reminds us that “from beginning to end, fundraising as a ministry is grounded in prayer and undertaken in gratitude”.  Confidence in our vision and mission is therefore, not dependent on how people respond when you invite.  It may feel uncomfortable at the moment, however, don’t let it dampen your faith and conviction in the good work you and your team are undertaking.

I would love to hear how you integrate prayer into your fundraising efforts.  Reply to this note or hit me up on LinkedIn!

See you next week.

* * * * * * * * * *

Depending on your day to day needs in major donor fundraising, I have three options you can choose from to energize your efforts:

• ‍The Catalyst Course - a major donor fundraising course for those who are new to the task.
• ‍The High-Performance Course (inquire directly if interested) - a major donor fundraising course for experienced professionals.
• ‍The Flywheel Package - a customized six month consultation for people who are leading teams of major donor fundraisers.

‍The Catalyst Course is affordable at a cost of $500 and can be done in a schedule that fits best for you, taking anywhere from four weeks to three months to complete. Everything I have learned, successes and failures, is packed into these courses for your benefit and enjoyment. I have taken hundreds of folks through this content, helping them with fundraising strategies to empower causes all over the world.  

‍Now is the time to take advantage of these resources!

‍I look forward to hearing about your good work.

Blessings,