- Fundraising diverts missionaries from loving people and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, maybe more than any earthly concern.  It’s also one reason why I am not an appointed missionary with the Assemblies of God.

• Back in 2005, I attended the summer training course for Chi Alpha, the Assemblies of God college ministry at the Central Bible College campus. in Missouri.
• Then, I went back to Florida with my pregnant wife and prepared to move to Washington, DC as a new Campus Missionary Associate.
• Unexpectedly to me, but not suprising to God, that did not happen.
• Leaders in Chi Alpha felt my financial requirements, like my son (now six years old), made it unwise for me to work with them.

1. I now direct marketing for Hatch Marketing & Consulting (HMC) and its clients.

• My experience taught me why and how buyers connect with producers and service providers.
• I use technologies like “marketing automation” (MA), which were previously unknown to me.

2. I see MA as a tool, which presently helps ministries develop donors.

• Missionaries can use MA to find donors, partners, and other fellow laborers.
• MA’s cost is small, when managed effectively!

3. Ministries with MA are good stewards, who spend their resources wisely!  Needs are shared and victories celebrated better!

- My marketing work often reminds me of evangelism.  Both require great effort in spreading “the good news” of a better way.  When I “convert” a client into a buyer, there’s reason to celebrate. However, very few “seeds” from my contacts quickly “bear fruit” in a sale.

- Yet, unlike God’s evangelists, marketers have no biblical promise that their words “shall not return unto me void”! (Isaiah 55:11)  So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that 60% to 80% of sales leads, which marketers generate for their employers, are never followed up by the sales team!

- Marketers sometimes call this ineffective use of leads the “80/20 Rule”, and it may apply to missions fundraising.  Missionaries connect quickly with the most likely donors, but other connections and prayer partners usually receive little to no attention.  Yet, MA can change that.  As  a group of missionaries implement this technology, missionaries, volunteers, and experts can work together to improve Donor Prospect Follow-Up and nurturing.

– Dr. Harold Carpenter, director of the Department of Missions at Central Bible College, would remind his students to communicate.  He said to me that “burdens are built on information”.  That information is vital to missions.  Like Aaron and Hur in Exodus 17:12, donors want to support and hold up the arms of their “Moses”, the missionary.  However, their burden is built by broadcasting the need and a missionary’s work to meet that need.

- To start, I will highlight the way most missionaries find supporters and keep them informed.

1. Share the mission with Christians and church groups.
2. Some of those who financial and prayer assistance.
3. The savvy missionary asks supporters to spread the vision by

• Sharing news from the mission with their friends
• Asking them to use their talents to help (sending out newsletters, for instance).

4. S/He repeats step 3 over and over again.

5. After weeks of itineration, a missionary may have hundreds of email addresses.

• Then, s/he enters the emails into a database (sometimes!), send a “thank you” email, and send update… maybe.
• If not entered in the database, new donor prospects can not know a missionary’s victories!

6. After finding support, the missionary can go and minister, but donors must be consistent.

• If finances lag, missionaries can be diverted from spreading the good news.

– HMC wants to help missionaries connect with more supporters!  We can tailor our tools for the precise purpose of developing and informing donors.

1. Implement a Marketing Automation solution.

• Groups of missionaries partner with HMC.
• HMC helps each missionary to quantify the interest of donors or prospective donors.
• This is done by tracking if which recipients of an email newsletter opened it and who viewed online content.

2. HMC can create a Development-Smart Website (renamed from Marketing-Smart)

• Each page/site can be individualizes to meet each missionary’s needs.
• A present site can be updated so it focused on tracking the interest of site visitors.
• To keep costs low, friends of missionaries can partner with HMC to update the site.

3. HMC creates marketing-effective templates for emails, newsletters, and Social Media.

• HMC consults each missionary (by phone/Skype or email) to configure these tools, as needed.

4. HMC can produce 2 hours of generalized promotion and writing for use by missionary group.

• HMC will write +/- 1,000 words of original material to promote each ministry.
• HMC will also research and find relevant, general content.
• Each missionary can individualize this content, or it could be used with minimal editing.
• HMC meets monthly with each group by web conference or phone.
• To insure full participation, HMC can schedule meetings one to three times each month.
• HMC will respond within one business day (USA Eastern Time) to needs.

5. Every month, 2 hours of personalized content for each of the ten missionaries

• This is directed by each missionary, through phone calls, web conference, or emails.
• Customizing each missionary’s website would be (at least) the first month’s work.
• HMC needs pictures and ministry descriptions from each missionary to do this.
• NOTE: This may not be necessary for missionaries with volunteers/friends who want to help.

6. HMC will send up to 500 emails on a monthly basis for each missionary.

• These emails will be tracked to measure each recipient’s level of interest.
• Missionaries will know exactly much time each recipient spends with their content.

- You may ask, “What does this solution cost?”  or “Can I implement this?”.  If so, please contact me.  I want to share what I know with missionaries and ministries.

Eric Hatch

Phone: 240-565-1557

Skype: Eric-Hatch