Last week I shared about “New Year’s Resolutions” and how often these are idealistic and activity-based. For example, typical Resolutions include eating better or exercising. And it feels more achievable if we say, “I am going to go the gym three times a week.”
Of course we know that most New Year’s Resolutions last a week or less, so I have a couple of extra thoughts about how to make your “Support Raising Resolutions” stick.
The core to a successful Support Raising Resolution is the Annual Plan. Looking at a whole year really helps bring perspective.
First: Before making plans for the year, it is helpful to know where you are at. In support raising, this may include the following:
- Knowing your realistic support goal (hopefully, based on your personal budget or ministry’s standards)
- Knowing your solid monthly support
- Therefore: Knowing how much you need to raise
Then: Make realistic plans for
- Communications
- Thanking your partners
- Raising new support
The way TntConnect helps you in this process is primarily in helping you know what is true of your support. If you have assigned a Pledge Amount and Frequency to each partner, then the Analysis View will tell you your solid monthly support.
If you have 45 partners and are at 90% of your support goal, then on average, each partner is 2% of your team. So theoretically, you need about 5 partners to bring you to 100%. (I do not mean to be simplistic, but sometimes simple goals are more attainable than really complex ones.)
