If you listen to public radio — particularly to WUNC in Chapel Hill — then you’ve undoubtedly heard several people over the course of the last couple of weeks of the station’s fall fundraiser talk about how they are sustainer donors to public radio through that local NPR affiliate of ours.
I am not a sustainer donor for WUNC, but I am a sustainer donor for Love Wins Ministries (LWM).
I’m a sustainer for all of the usual reasons touted by organizations to be one, the main ones probably being:
- You don’t have to think about it or do anything; it happens every month automatically.
- It helps the organization to count on regular, monthly income.
- You get the satisfaction that the work being done by the organization is partly because of your ongoing support.
That’s all true for me, but I’m going to be brutally honest about why I donate religiously—and by religiously, I mean monthly—to this incredible organization, whose mission is described on their website as:
Our mission is to demonstrate and promote God’s love for the marginalized through personal relationships, education and support. Love Wins Ministries shares unconditional love and friendship with the homeless and poor population of Raleigh, North Carolina. We focus on relationships, not outcomes— just like you do with your friendships.
My own, selfish reasons for donating to Love Wins Ministries, though, include:
- This organization is approaching the problem of people being without homes as a relationship problem, which not only is a different approach, but is an infinitely more labor-intensive, time-consuming, and heart-wrenching approach, that I’m frankly not willing to commit my own time to — at least not at this point in my life.
- Writing a monthly check is a hell of a lot easier than doing all that, and it has the bonus of assuaging the guilt that I’m not willing to invest my own time, which isn’t flattering, but is at least honest.
- Being a part of a historically “marginalized community” myself, I have empathy for the community served by this organization, some of whom are <sarcasm>“twice-blessed”</sarcasm>—being a member of both the homeless and the LGBT communities.
- Even though LWM challenges me with the question, “Why are you so concerned about what happens with the money that you give a homeless person on the street,” I still am concerned about that. While I work through that, I just feel better about giving it to Love Win Ministries as my steward to give it unconditionally on my behalf.
So, in the spirit of sustainer donor fundraising, I’m going to issue a challenge:
If 10 people become sustainer donors to Love Wins Ministries, in the amount of $10, $20, or $25 (or more!) a month, between now and Thanksgiving 2013, I will increase my monthly donation to this fine organization by 50%!
However you choose to do it, write “#JohnsChallenge“somewhere on the check, or wherever you can on whatever vehicle you’re using to donate, so LWM will know you’re accepting the challenge. If there’s nowhere to indicate it, please send a quick email to hugh@lovewins.info or sara@lovwins.info and let them know your donation is part of the challenge. And thank you!
Ready? Set? Donate!