MORE "WORST" MISTAKES???

 My friend, Jonathan Clark, Baptist Campus Minister at Murray State University, chided me on my first list of 'WORST MISTAKE a College Minister Can Make?".  He chided me about leaving out one I harp on all the time.  So, here it is and one more.

NOT WRITING HANDWRITTEN THANK YOU NOTES

Almost every college ministry I know about struggles for budget funding.  And, more and more College Ministers are raising all or part of their salaries.  Showing gratitude, first of all, is just polite.  It is just demonstrating gratitude.  But, here for me is even more to that.  First of all, a handwritten note says more than a form letter or even a typed personal letter.  Or, if for some reason, there are more than can be done in a needed time frame, a handwritten sentence can be "scrawled" at the bottom.  There is a story about a Congressman who did not let a letter go out of his office without his writing a handwritten sentence at the bottom.

Have you ever mailed a check to a ministry and heard nothing?  I have.  Then, the check clears the bank and you at least know they got it.  But, did it matter?  Did it meet a need?  What was done with it?  A handwritten note does not have to be long.  You can use the small thank you note type cards.

"Dear Charlie, We received your check for $25.  Thank you so much.  We were signing people up for our Retreat and I used it to scholarship a great freshman.  Thanks for making that possible Blessings to you.  Arliss"

"Dear Sally, Your check for $50 came today and it is always an encouragement to me to know folks like you want to invest in our ministry.  Thank you so much.  When you have time, send me some news about you for the Alumni Newsletter.  Arliss"

For those who send you a check every month, I would not send them a note every month.  HOWEVER, I would send them one occasionally.... at least once a year, I would write a personal thank you note to the pastor of each church that supports the ministry at least once a year.  That is a great December project.

NOT INCLUDING A RETURN ENVELOPE IN ALUMNI NEWSLETTERS

Yes, I have harped on this one previously.  Some say, "Arliss you are old and out of date.  We have online giving."  Here is my response.  First, hooray you have online giving and you should, if you can.  But and however, the people most likely to give you money....and even to give you larger amounts of money are older people!!  And, many of them either do not do on line giving because they do not know how or they do not trust putting their credit card information online.  They like writing a check.

The other thing a return envelope does is to serve as a reminder.  In my experience with using return envelopes in alumni mailings, we would get those envelopes back throughout the next several months.  People would stick them somewhere to give at another time.  No, it does not have to have a stamp on it; it can just be an envelope with your stamped address on it.  I do not know if the experts say having a postage guaranteed indication on it increases the percentage of return or not.  One other thing, older people do not like newsletters on red paper.  It is hard to read.

Ok....so, there are two more nominations for "WORST MISTAKES".  Maybe like the Oscars or Grammy Awards, we will have to create categories and have the WORST in each.  Send me YOUR NOMINATION for the WORST.  You can Facebook me, email me (arlissdickerson@gmail.com) or text me.

Arliss Dickerson's book, ALMOST EVERYTHING ABOUT COLLEGE MINISTRY, is available at amazon.com.