Gratitude may be the most powerful source of encouragement for partners to remain committed.
Receiving thanks is a potent motivator to continue praying and giving. Yes, we would hope that our partners will be motivated by purely spiritual reasons. We want them to be part of our lives and ministry because they love the Lord, us and our work, but they are human!
God responds to a grateful heart, and He created us in His image, to respond in the same way. We are no less spiritual when we are motivated by receiving heartfelt thanks.
Our motive for giving thanks must never be to get people to give. We express gratitude because it pleases God, it is an act of obedience and it blesses people.
Think about this. Have you or any of your partners ever experienced something similar to the following? I (Gaylyn) gave $500 to another ministry. I never got a verbal or written thanks, even though I saw the head of the ministry almost every Sunday. I believe in what the ministry is doing, but I’ll never support it again. I didn’t give to get thanks, but I don’t want to give to a ministry that won’t take one or two minutes to say a simple thank you.
Excerpted from Never Do Fundraising Again: A Paradigm Shift from Donors to Lifelong Partners.