On October 3 we weighed in on the economy. This was during the height of the talks about “the first bailout”. We were receiving dozens of calls and emails every day about how to respond to the economy.
Message synopsis: Get out and visit with your best people, now more than ever. Don’t make decisions for your prospects and focus on the fundamentals (top of the list, message and the ask)… be a social entrepreneur… don’t hunker down in your bunker.
I’ve picked three great stories that were posted in comments and emails.
- “It’s time to give”: From Rocky at Mission Generation
“The man I was speaking with told me I came at the worst possible time. He had lost 200 million over the last three days. He was ready to end the meeting with that sentence when I quote the scripture below.
And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: (Gen 26:1,12-13)
“I said, ‘it’s time to give.'”
“The time spent at the Impact boot camp gave me tremendous confidence. We ended up talking for three hours; he cut a check on the spot and committed to helping monthly.”
- Don’t Make Decisions for Your Prospects: This comes form Peter Schrappen at the Washington Health Foundation. The foundation’s largest previous gift was $40K.
“We asked for and received a $400,000 commitment yesterday (yes, yesterday 10/9) while the Dow dropped 400 points).
- Be out in field and good things will happen: And finally, this email comes from Armen at the Charlotte Diocese.
“We’ve been out in the field making visits with your encouragement. I just wanted to report that not every person is crying the blues. We’ve made many visits in the past few weeks and we’ve picked up 9 new Bishop’s Circle members [$1,000+] and a new major gift.
These notes are all from recent funding boot camp alums. That being said, success comes not from their status as alums but because they’re out in the field, visiting with real people and having real conversations about these prospects can save lives, change lives and impact lives.
As the media continues to pummel us with story lines about the economy just remember today’s combined message from Rocky, Peter and Armen: EVEN THOUGH THE DOWN DROPS, NOT EVERYONE SINGS THE BLUES. IT’S TIME TO GIVE!
