When George Eusterman continued to hear about missionaries having to return from foreign fields due to pledged finances dropping off, he began to gain a vision for what would become E Giving Systems. That seed has developed into more than the recurring electronic giving tools he’d originally imagined, though. That’s the thing about a visionary: The dreams expand to new horizons with each step.
In much the same way, your ministry needs goals and ideas, always knowing that they’re subject to change and re-vision. In fact, when you fill out the online application for E Giving Systems, we ask you about your ministry’s vision and goals. Do you desire to eliminate the need for a part-time financial secretary to manage donations? Would you like to eliminate fundraisers, altogether? Would you like to have 80% of your budget provided for through electronic giving? Would you like to see your organization’s website develop into a vibrant online community that includes an active online donation portal? Whatever goals you have, we’ll make them our goals as well, and we can recommend strategies to help you make them realities.
Sometimes believers are hesitant to establish concrete goals for ministries or to implement financial tools because they think they’re functioning outside a God-ordained framework when they do. While “we just trust God to provide” and “we just want what God wants for our ministry” may sound spiritual, they fall short of recognizing that God has created our minds as precision instruments, more easily motivated when specifics are detailed.
When you communicate to prospective supporters that you’re raising money for a specific building project or fund, they may be more likely to give than to a more general cause. If you name a specific target amount, you allow your givers to be part of helping you accomplish something; you may also open the door to accruing funds through donation-matching. In the same way, if you state that you’re close to meeting a goal of having 75% of your ministry’s funding provided through E-giving accounts, you’ll awaken the adrenaline in some donors who may or may not realize how goal-oriented they are.
As much as we encourage you to create goals for your ministry, we’re constantly expanding ours. In 2012, we plan to launch a fleet of new tools that can be used as part of a strategy to bring you cutting-edge giving and management options. A few of our dreams include these:
• API links to software
• Customized searching capabilities
• Links to Ekyros, Quickbooks, Microsoft products, and other applications
• Text giving options
• Various processors supported
In order to make our dreams realities, we rely heavily on partners that share our Kingdom focus. Your ministry needs the same kinds of partners, and we hope you’ll invite us to become a partner to share in your reaching your goals and seeing your vision become a reality.
Leave a Reply