Dr. Zenet Maramara shares some words of encouragement and wisdom on how to be a better fundraiser.
Show Notes
Introduction
Brad: Zenet and I have this film, this little goofy film, where I start off and she goes, "Are you a fundraiser?"
And I go, "Oh, yeah, I have to, I'm not very good at it. I really don't like it."
And then she goes, "Can I share some things with you?"
Okay, and then she shares her principles. And at the end, again, it's a goofy thing.
I go, "Yes, I'm a fundraiser! Matter of fact, I'm glad to be a fundraiser! It's the best job in the world!"
And so when you said I'm a poor fundraiser, immediately, I watched kinda her jump, because she is a amazing encourager and she's a really good coach and she didn't let any of us get away with, "I'm a poor fundraiser. I don't like to fundraise."
And it's really about changing your whole mindset and you've got a team member there, and she is a big coach for that.
So Zenet I'm just gonna ask you to say a few things, cause you are really good at building teams between the president and the development officer and helping all of us to really enjoy our jobs in new ways cause you see it in a new way.
So, Zenet could you share some things on that?
A Paradigm Shift From Transactional to Transformational
Zenet: For me, it's my passion. So I think that's very important.
But it didn't always start there. It was started when I had that paradigm shift. I was doing fundraising for seven years, the transactional way, go stargates strategies.
But when I was converted into ministry fundraising, I realized that my work in ministry fundraising is more of a transformational fundraising.
Like we said, Rob mentioned, I'm with Global Trust Partners, and we say discipleship from dependency to discipleship, because really, I understood my theology of fundraising, my theology of development.
I shared earlier that it starts with God being the owner and the provider. And that really lifted a lot of burden on my shoulder knowing that it's God who is my chief fundraiser.
And all I have to do as a steward is to do with excellence with whatever my hands find to do, as I am called by God to do this ministry.
So it opened up a whole new perspective of how I treat ministry partners, or how I approach the process of fundraising.
Fundraising Requires Patience and Dependence
And the passion to share this with others and bring them alongside my thinking and be in step with me, it was difficult, I have a lot of obstacles. In the beginning, I felt I was fooling everybody.
But again, it takes patience because the work of transformation takes patience, that I have to be tenacious as well.
I was there, I persevered, so there might be times that you will be discouraged. But you have to keep on.
If that is what the Lord has called you to do, then He will see you through.
So we got to get everybody in step with us, some are ahead of us, some are behind us.
And we need to find the grace, that everybody is not in the same step of journey as you are. And I think that's very important.
And the thing is, we really need to let them understand that all resources belong to God. And our job is to mobilize those resources.
And the theme will help us in fundraising is everybody's job, it's not just the fundraiser's job, but everybody's job.
So I think as we talk about it, as we articulate what we're doing, then we gain more people, engage more people into this journey together.
It's not really about raising money as much as raising stewards who are rich towards God.
So that was my vision for ministry fundraising.
That was my goal, raising stewards who are rich towards that and we do that by visiting ministry partners, giving the biblical verses, listening to them and just walking alongside them.
And I think we leave the results to God after I have done my part.