Ep. 108 | Haven’t Fundraised in Months? 3 Steps to Restart Your Ministry Fundraising Without the Panic
Has it been a while since you’ve actually fundraised?
Maybe ministry got busy. Life happened. You meant to send that newsletter, follow up with those potential donors, or schedule a few conversations. Then suddenly three months turned into five or six.
And now you look at your support account and think, Okay. We really need to start fundraising again.
That pressure can make you feel like you need to do everything immediately. Ask everyone. Send the email. Start posting. Get some meetings on the calendar.
But you don’t have to make up for months of silence in one week.
If you’ve fallen out of fundraising, I’d start with these three things.
1. Get Clear on Your Fundraising Message
Before you start asking people for money again, look at your message.
You might know your ministry inside and out. Maybe you’ve been doing this work for 10 or 20 years. You understand the need, the people you serve, and everything your ministry does.
That doesn’t automatically mean you’re communicating it clearly.
Sometimes knowing the ministry so well actually makes this harder. There’s so much you could say that you end up saying too much. You ramble. You explain every program. Or you fall back on the official mission statement and assume people understand what it means.
Meanwhile, your potential donor is trying to figure out one basic thing:
What exactly does this ministry do, and where do I fit into it?
Clarity matters more than sounding clever.
I’ve seen ministries use branded phrases, initiative names, mission statements, and taglines that sound great—but someone outside the organization has absolutely no idea what they mean.
If someone has to hear another paragraph of explanation before they understand the phrase, you’re making them work too hard.
And donors don’t give because they finally decoded your ministry language.
They need to quickly understand the problem your ministry addresses and how they can become part of meeting that need.
Try the seven-year-old test
Find someone who has heard you talk about your ministry several times and ask:
“Can you explain what our ministry does in one sentence that a seven-year-old could understand?”
Then try it yourself.
One sentence. No run-on sentence stuffed with five different ideas. No ministry jargon.
Can you clearly explain what you do?
If you struggle with that exercise, your potential donors probably struggle to understand your message too.
Your fundraising message needs to help the right donor connect quickly. From there, you can show them the need, explain how your ministry responds, and help them see the meaningful role they can have in what God is doing.
That clarity gives you a much stronger place to restart your fundraising.
2. Set Goals and Fundraising Rhythms You Can Actually Maintain
Next, decide what fundraising is going to look like moving forward.
Yes, you need a financial goal. Know how much support your ministry needs monthly or yearly.
But money shouldn’t be the only way you measure whether your fundraising is working.
Consider another question:
How many people are you inviting into what God is doing through your ministry?
I love thinking about fundraising that way because every conversation gives someone an opportunity to participate.
So set goals around the actions you can actually control.
Maybe you decide how many donor conversations you want to have each week. Decide how often you’ll follow up with potential supporters. Create a rhythm for communicating with your current donors.
And pay attention to what happens after someone gives.
How are you helping donors see the impact they’re making? How often are you connecting with them? Are they hearing from you regularly, or mainly when your ministry needs money again?
Fundraising is deeply connected to nurturing relationships.
Build rhythms around that.
3. Choose Consistency Over the Fundraising Sprint
This may be the hardest part.
You can create a great plan when you’re motivated. You can decide that this time fundraising is going to be different.
Then ministry gets busy again.
Something unexpected happens. Your calendar fills up. Fundraising starts sliding down the list.
And six months later, you’re restarting again.
So when you create your fundraising rhythm, make it something you can realistically maintain when ministry gets busy.
You don’t need an enormous fundraising plan that works for three weeks.
You need a rhythm you can keep showing up for.
Have the donor conversation. Send the newsletter. Follow up with the person you talked with last week. Keep nurturing the people who already said yes.
Relationships grow when you invest in them. When you disappear for months at a time, those relationships naturally weaken.
Consistency gives those relationships room to deepen.
Eventually, fundraising starts feeling lighter because you aren’t constantly stopping and restarting from zero.
You Don’t Have to Catch Up All at Once
If it has been months since you’ve fundraised, resist the urge to panic.
Start by getting your fundraising message clear. Decide what realistic fundraising rhythms you can maintain. Then keep showing up.
You can restart with one conversation this week.
And if the first thing you need to restart is your donor communication, I created a free Ministry Newsletter Guide to help you write newsletters that build trust and strengthen your donor relationships.
You can grab that free guide at irisstorytelling.com/newsletter.
And if you realize your bigger problem is your fundraising message—maybe you know what your ministry does but still struggle to explain it clearly to donors—that’s exactly what I help ministry leaders work through in one-on-one coaching.
We’ll look at your message together, clarify what your donor needs to hear, and build a fundraising message you can actually use when you start having those conversations again.
Learn more about one-on-one fundraising message coaching at irisstorytelling.com/coaching.
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