Inviting people to join our mission

Polly Hughes explains why fundraising and faith are intrinsically linked.

What springs to mind when you hear the word 'fundraising'? A career? Duty? Hard work? Someone else's job? For me, fundraising has always been deeply relational. 

Back in 2001, I was standing in a dusty field in Tanzania when I realised that I wanted to work for a charity. A school’s sports day was under way and, to get the older children to engage in the races for the youngest, we had tied the results for all races to the overall team scores.

The older children were cheering for the five-year- olds as they set off on a rather wobbly beanbag race, desperate for their points that now counted just as much as sprints or hurdles. The little ones were over the moon to get such attention and be contributing to the team.

The event was a success, yet I noticed in the following weeks a shift in the atmosphere. The children across the age range began to engage with one another more. There were high fives in the playground. When tales of the sports day were recounted, everyone could join in and feel part of it. What started as something transactional turned into something relational.

The power to take a transaction of value and turn it into a relationship is what makes me passionate about fundraising.

In A Spirituality of Fund-Raising, Henri Nouwen writes: ‘Fund-raising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission. Fund-raising is precisely the opposite of begging.

'When we seek to raise funds, we are not saying, “Please, could you help us out because lately it’s been hard.” Rather, we are declaring, “We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you – your energy, your prayers, and your money – in this work to which God has called us.”’

Like many relationships, God has given us a blueprint for this in the Bible. The theology of fundraising starts with a reminder that God owns it all (see Psalm 24:1), that he often uses material items to meet the needs of this world (see 1 Kings 17:4–6) and that he’s built the act of giving into the fabric of creation (see Isaiah 45:3).

The template of asking for funds, accounting for them and celebrating the impact is revealed in Exodus 38:21–31. Asking people to give is not about simply hitting a financial target, but also gaining their attention and awareness; people notice more when they have invested in a cause.

Imagine what might happen in your community if more people were not only giving but also paying attention to our work, volunteering and opening doors to new groups.

The wonderful thing is that we can ask people to give with the full confidence that this was God’s idea in the first place, and he designed it in a way that builds trust and extends that opportunity for a deeper sense of community.

As I step into my new role as director of fundraising, I feel privileged to be working alongside officers, staff, volunteers and supporters to create an invitation across the territory to join our Movement in being an agent of change.

Who is God calling you to invite into a relationship with The Salvation Army?