Fundraising in a COVID-19 Era

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this is the mission matters we believe
there is nothing happening in the world
today more important than the mission of
Jesus Christ this epic work of
redemption is the centerpiece of his
plan for this age which means it should
be the focal point of his people this is
a place to talk about the importance of
the mission this was also a place to
talk about the matters of the mission
the mission matters is a partnership of
missio Nexus and 16 15 missions coaching
who have a shared passion to mobilize
God’s people to be a part of his mission
our subject today is fundraising in a
cove at 19 era this program is hosted by
Matthew Ellison from 1615 and Ted Esler
president of missio Nexus now Matthew
introduces our panel of guests on the
mission matters welcome everybody to the
inaugural episode of the missions
matters podcast i’m matthew ellis and
president of 1615 and i am joined today
by my co-host and good friend ted Esler
who’s the president of missio Nexus our
ministries have partnered for some time
but as of late we’ve been talking about
collaborating on a podcast and so Ted
I’m really excited to see this thing get
launched today the name of the podcast
if you didn’t notice is a double
entendre it has two meanings so one the
mission matters it’s an important
mission in fact we believe that there is
nothing happening in the world today
that is more important than the mission
of Jesus Christ so this is a place where
we’re going to talk about the
unbelievable importance of our global
mission but we’re also going to talk
about the matters of our mission the
ideas the issues and the topics that are
relative to this mission so Ted I’m
really thankful for the partnership we
share in the gospel would you set the
table today and give us an idea of the
topic we’re going to be discussing
introduce our guests and then get the
conversation started and particularly
particular importance in the ministry
world is what is going to happen
the whole fundraising situation as we
move forward through this this pandemic
and today we got some subject matter
experts that we’ve invited to talk about
this latina amine macmaine’s is vice
president of gift planning services for
National Christian Foundation
Virgil Dugan is president of national
Christian foundation in New Mexico and
then John Moore is a principal at John
Moore associates at a certified Kingdom
advisors so these are all folks with
their feet in the financial world
obviously and I think it is interesting
let me just start with this question
we’ve got a couple folks on the call
that have been affiliated with National
Christian foundation and of course they
have a lot of donor advised funds I
think a good way to start this off would
be just to hear I’ll start with with
Eugenie about just give us quick
description of what a burner advice fund
is for the uninitiated be listening out
there be happy to you thanks Ted and
thank you all for giving us the
opportunity to connect with you today so
a donor advised fund is fantastic giving
tool that allows God stewards to be able
to give of their resources grow those
resources and grant them out to the
churches and ministries and missions
agencies that God puts on their heart in
accordance with his proven timing and so
a donor advised fund is is basically an
account inside a public charity like the
National Christian foundation as an
example and when a giver gives to that
account they have the understanding that
they’re going to retain an advisory
privilege to be able to recommend where
those charitable dollars go at NCL we
see ourselves as immobilizer of
resources and we’re all about helping
our givers and give wisely and deploying
those resources as quickly as the Lord
puts on their heart so the question I
think that’s gonna be in a lot of
ministry leader Minds right now is our
donor advised
accounts are they going to be sat on are
people gonna just watch the stock market
because correct me if I’m wrong but most
of those funds are in fact invested in
some way in the stock market where are
they gonna give generously what do you
think is gonna happen well I’d like to
speak to that we we treat the
donor-advised fund and our thinking like
a pocket and what we’ve been encouraging
the folks that we deal with day to day
is it might be time to empty the pockets
and I think that’s one of the reasons
that some of the tax benefits that are
is that are in this the current Care Act
drive people to cash giving in our case
we’ve been praying meaning my wife and I
have been praying for gifts that would
really be game changers for the
ministries that we support and and I
think from a ministry point of view if
if they could be thinking about what
would be a game changer it might just be
pay the light bill but the point is if a
donor asked them that question that
they’re prepared with a project or
something that you know if God’s during
their heart to empty the pocket right
now let it have an impact make it
meaningful in the 2009 crisis John Piper
wrote an article and he said in times of
financial crisis that sometimes God’s
people will be more generous not less
because they’re more in touch with the
fragility of life and just the passing
nature of material things and so I’ve
been trained for that and you know we
don’t know what’s gonna happen across
the board but but I will say I’ve been a
personal or Minister a beneficiary of
some of those people emptying those
pockets at this point and you know
Virgil I know you interact with a lot of
donors I wonder if you could give us an
idea of what major donors are thinking
today do you have any idea or any sense
what they’re thinking and feeling yes
that’s a very interesting thing because
when something like the coronavirus
shows up we think of it as being a viral
borne illness but there are collateral
damages of the nature of this thing
they are social they’re economic their
environmental collateral damages or
collateral effects or impacts and so
well people tend to do when something
new and different comes along they have
to somehow deal with it it’s almost like
they’re – they’re protein computer
hanging-style so what we as individuals
we start focusing on changes that we
cannot anticipate or explain one of
those changes is our balance these and
other change that takes place maybe is
right in Cocke depending on whom we
might be but donors then are trying to
reconcile these changes in a situation
they may not have been calculated before
so a lot of the donors are trying to
understand you know is this something
that’s going to be lasting or is it
something short-term is this something
that’s going to have impact on my entire
giving strategy like John says should I
empty my pockets or is this something I
should wait and see how you know how the
charitable enterprise is going to fare
as a result of this so all of these
changes take place it was and what can
happen is people freeze they tend not to
react they tend not to act and I think
we see that full spectrum all the way
from the people who freeze because of
fear or uncertainty and then people who
are very confident and the Lord’s grace
and they do what John is dismissed
they give over and above but they may be
an example of that I can’t speak to the
national picture right now but I know
that New Mexico in March
our total donations from donor advised
funds under our supervision or eighty
percent higher than they were a year ago
hi
I have calls I have a lady calling me up
this week
has a $30,000 diamond ring if he doesn’t
watch he wants to know how can I give
that away I cannot take care of
ministries and another a young couple in
their early 30s
call me up day before yesterday and they
were wanting to know shouldn’t they
could they might they take money out of
their 401k and deploy to a ministry that
was on their hearts I think within the
Christian community we see the best come
out in times like this
that’s something great just a great
comfort and a great encouragement as you
see it virginal I want to make sure to
give you the phone number for missing
your Nexus nationally at the National
Christian foundation is it too early to
say what’s happening or does it appear
that people are giving more it does and
I would say this is where our biblical
worldview and our passion for living on
pursuit under the banner of the gospel
of Jesus Christ really plays out and
gentlemen we’re seeing that at the
national office now and I would say
coast-to-coast one of the things we’ve
been doing is having you know coffee
chats I didn’t see if we’re reaching out
to our donor base just like John said
and talking about we have been using
Genesis you know the story of Joseph and
seven years of storehouse scene and then
seven years of famine and for such a
time as this we have seen unprecedented
philanthropic giving into the
storehouses of donor advised funds and
we’re finding Ted and Matthew that
people are energized and being mobilized
now I always want to be cautious I say
typically the giving pathway kind of
looks like a a journey but at a time
like this where our calendars are
balance sheets our business plans our
accolades are all kind of tossed up in
the air it’s almost like a mountain peak
has suddenly erupted in the middle of
the pathway and it’s a watershed and as
believers in Christ we’re finding
communities rallying around
you know faith over fear and pressing
into what do you have for us Lord so I
see giving up our grant-making um is at
the same level or higher going out the
doors and we have people calling saying
how can I help and I think people are in
a rapid response to try to get this
resourcing out to the churches and
missions they’re caring for the people
who are having big questions about their
current state about eternity and really
need the gospel of Jesus right now
that’s beautiful
when God’s people give in times of
abundance
I don’t know how impressed the world is
I’m not saying that giving is not vital
or important but when God’s people give
generously in an economic crisis I think
the world scratches their head and they
start to say where’d you get your hope
from and I really pray that God’s people
respond in the way and an ongoing way as
you described Jeanne you know John I
want to ask you a question because we
had an offline conversation about this
because you interact with your clients
about generosity and all these things
and you mentioned that there’s a lot of
voices out there today that people are
listening to and it’s really critical
that donors are listening to the right
voices and so maybe you could address
that yeah it is you know the most
important voice we hear is our own
that’s probably and we probably talk
with ourselves more than anyone else but
the and so it’s really important in your
self-talk and in your quiet time that
you really think through the faith
versus fear dialogue that you might be
having in your own mind and secondly the
TV the Internet is just chock-full of
noise and it’s designed to attract
eyeballs and clicks and that sort of
thing and I can remember back in the
crisis and oh eight oh nine I got a call
from a woman and she said I’m really
worried and I said well what’s the
problem and she said CNBC and CNBC for
us is kind of like financial pornography
in and I said well why don’t you watch
the Food Channel instead and she says I
like the Food Channel I said that was my
point
change the channel and in one other time
I actually called the cable company had
him turn it off later clients house I
got their permission but it was just it
was just easier to remove that ten
tation the last thing we practice in our
office my wife started this and couraged
me to do this in Oh 809 was a Sabbath
from news and so we picked a 24-hour
period where we turn off the television
unless it’s a comedy we turn off the
internet unless it’s something fun and
basically not allow ourselves to be
inundated what stall the noise that’s
out there and it’s amazing you know this
Bureau it’s one more way to help the
self talk is to lower the volume for the
stuff that’s coming through the ears
like ever looking at the big um I’d be
curious if any of you maybe this is a
question you can answer but what is
going on with church giving when we
consider the fact that people aren’t
attending services now are they
continuing to give another formats and
is it giving at a level that’s really
replacing anybody heard anything about
that
yes there’s a bar nurse survey that just
came out it indicates that at least 25%
of churches are having significant
difficulties particularly smaller
churches within the urban environment
the reason for that is that churches in
general smaller churches are very
dependent on income-based yes and what
we have now is a what I call an income
crisis economically it’s not a balance
sheet or an asset problem is the income
he may have heard today I think we had
six point six million additional filings
for unemployment compensation today
following six point nine million last
week so we have a lot of people
unemployed and therefore their income in
the church is is significantly impacted
by that because a lot of church giving
is income based giving so that’s one of
the reasons why John
mentioning in this time of difficulty or
this time of struggle a spent base
giving becomes even more important for
the church for ministry for everyone
else comes a much greater importance and
I might add to we’ve talked about bas if
you look at statistics we have about a
hundred and twenty or thirty billion
dollars in this country in bas o not
Christian but all all bas that compares
with about a trillion dollars in private
foundations but that’s nothing compared
to something like probably today a
hundred and ten trillion dollars the
total assets that households and
charities oh so there are a lot of
assets out there that can be deployed
when there’s a need and I think we
identified this time there’s a little
bit of feeling at least in my world so I
you know if you’re in ministry context
that’s not weekly attendance based like
a church the immediate impact is muted
somewhat but as we project down into the
future we feel like things are coming
our way
bad news is coming our way in a few
months so on the one hand you know you
talk about the the income challenge
we’re facing because because of
unemployment that’s that’s definitely an
immediate thing that’s happening but
there’s also the more longer-term
concerns I think that at least in the
missions community among organizational
leaders they’re concerned about that
longer-term impact as well and and I
would add because cash flow matters the
Paycheck protection program loans are
available to churches and other
ministries and they’re you know it’s
we’ve encouraged our church to get in
line for that and we’ve encouraged some
other ministries that we work with to
get in line for that and it’s a
forgivable loan and I’m not a big fan of
borrowing but the opportunity to have
that extra cash come in and
has a loan forgiven under certain
conditions is a real cash flow planning
opportunity for ministries and churches
something to really think about the
other thing we did we do some work with
a radio ministry and they postpone their
spring fundraising drive and I encourage
them to time it for when the stimulus
checks show up and and maybe encourage
people who don’t need the money
do not hoard it go spend it give it away
and the timing of a request around the
delivery of those checks if half the
people don’t need it might really end up
providing some extra cash flow for a
ministry or for a church Virgil and John
go ahead well just one data point so
yesterday I was on a phone call with
about 80 Michigan agency CEOs and we
took a poll and asked them how many
organizations that are on the call are
either in process or planning to apply
for that aerial protection plan now on
this call
there were Canadians and there were some
African agency so they weren’t all US
agencies