Are you treating your donors and volunteers like the big box store checkout?
You know the experience…you’ve just paid your money and the clerk mindlessly says,
Thank you. The notion of gratitude lasts as long as the time it takes you to gather up your purchase. Do you feel appreciated? Of course not. You know yours was just another of hundreds of transactions in the checkout line. You know those two little words are meaningless, they’ve been repeated so many times.
When people give of their resources…time, treasure, talent, testimony…do you thank them in the same way as the cashier in a store checkout? Like it’s just another transaction?
I thank God for you!
Now that has a different ring to it!
What if you viewed your donors and volunteers as partners? As co-laborers? What if you were to thank God for them as partners in the mission you share?
That’s who they actually are…or who you want to help them become. Look at Paul’s words in Colossians 1:3-12.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven…And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (ESV)
Powerful! I know I want to be on Paul’s team when I read these words.
Gratitude that grows your donor stewardship and volunteer engagement
Don’t misunderstand me, expressing gratitude is not only appropriate, it’s essential.
Express thanks to your partners – donors, volunteers, and others – often and in creative, varied ways.
But when you do, remember you are not thanking them for giving you something, so that you can go off and you do something with it.
You are thanking God for your co-laborers and
their obedience and their faithfulness to God’s call to join with you.
As we move into this season of Thanksgiving, let’s practice an
attitude of gratitude that gives God the glory and shows real appreciation for His people.
Resources you might find helpful:
