Show notes
Every fundraiser I know obsess over the ask. My buddy Ted Draper obsesses over everything that comes before the ask, and that’s how his team helped take Biblica’s major gifts revenue from about $12 million to more than $30 million.
Ted is the Vice President of Strategic Engagements at Biblica, the ministry that stewards the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible and works with roughly 150 partners in 120 countries to put Scripture in people’s first language. He’s been fundraising for almost 15 years, after a start in corporate sales and marketing (including a stint in ad sales). Like most of us, he fell into the work. He resisted it at first. Now he can’t imagine doing anything else.
In this episode, Andrew and Ted dig into how Biblica turned donors into champions who bring their friends to the table. Ted explains why he thinks of every ask as something you earn, and why a fishing boat makes a great venue for donor cultivation. He also shares the African vision trip that led to $3 million in new giving, and the three-word hiring formula he swears by: humble, hungry, and a hustler.
The Conversation
Act One: From Donors to Champions
Andrew opens with the big number (01:17): how does a major gifts program go from $12 million to over $30 million? Ted says there was no single magic moment (02:05). Biblica had a leader with a real heart for major donors. It partnered with a firm that brought in new donors. And it treated the whole thing less like hunting and more like farming. Plant, tend, wait.
The real accelerant was a simple question to existing investors (02:32): if you wanted to invite your friends into this journey, what would that look like? Donors started lending Biblica their relational credibility, not just their money. That’s when growth went exponential. Andrew asks how you build enough trust for that (03:32). Ted’s answer is radical transparency about where the money goes, plus a high level of engagement. He’s also noticed a shift over the last three to five years. Donors want to give in community, alongside people they actually enjoy (04:04).
So what does that look like in practice (05:03)? A thirtysomething entrepreneur asked Ted how his small group could get involved. Ted gave the great fundraiser answer: “What would that look like for you?” The group designed it themselves. A fundraiser visits, presents a couple of projects, the group prays and decides, then comes back with an answer (05:32). Biblica also hosts coffees and desserts. And Ted once took a group of guys fishing, where cell phones don’t work and nobody can leave for hours (06:27).
Act Two: Earning the Right to Ask
Andrew’s rule is blunt: if you don’t have the follow-up plan built, don’t do the event (07:35). Ted agrees. After every gathering there’s a thank-you email, a phone call, and, when possible, a sit-down to hear how the person is responding (08:02). Then the plan adapts. “Some of them need more information. Some of them need inspiration and some of them need an invitation.”
That’s the heart of Ted’s approach (09:11). The ask is important, but it’s a small part. First you prove credibility, accountability, and that the work actually works. “Essentially we’re earning the right even for the first ask, much less the second one.” How does he know he’s earned it (09:56)? He asks permission: would you be open to a strategic funding request? Don’t expect A plus B to equal C, he warns. He has four kids raised in the same house, and they all hear and respond differently. Donors are the same.
Andrew pushes on the obvious tension (10:51). What about the CFO asking when the money’s coming in? Ted says you guide the donor’s journey while respecting their timing (11:19). If you’re asking good questions and staying involved, the two usually line up within 30 to 60 days. And yes, he tracks it all in an old-school Excel spreadsheet.
Act Three: Shoulder to Shoulder
What’s changing in Christian ministry fundraising (12:09)? Ted sees three shifts. First, donors want outcomes and solutions, not just activity (12:30). He draws a sharp line here. An impact report shows what the organization did. A stewardship report shows what the donor did. Second, high-capacity donors are focused on multigenerational giving and passing generosity to their kids and grandkids (13:26). Third, the gap between a first gift and a second large gift is getting longer (13:57). There are a lot of options out there, and like restaurants, everyone can point to a bad experience.
Which brings us to vision trips. Ted takes investors overseas about once a quarter (14:46), from South America to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Standing shoulder to shoulder with church planters and Bible distributors moves investors into champions, and it answers every “Is this really working?” question at once (15:25).
Then the story (16:53). Ted took one donor to Africa to meet a church planter working in a Muslim-majority nation. After the trip, the donor hosted a simple dinner for his friends. Over the following two years, that one trip produced about $3 million in giving, because he opened his Rolodex. Ted is candid that every vision trip has something go wrong (18:12). Unstable governments and deep poverty are why they’re there. And they’re not there to dig ditches or paint walls. They’re there to see the work, pray for the people doing it, and receive more than they give.
Act Four: Hustle Isn’t Hurry
Asked about building strong fundraising teams, Ted opens with a confession (19:13): “I’m a horrible hiring manager.” He sees potential in everyone. His formula riffs on Patrick Lencioni’s “humble, hungry, and smart” (21:13). Ted’s version is humble, hungry, and a hustler. Humble, because you’ll never know as much as the head of translation or the regional leader (19:43). Hungry, because you have to learn the investor and the organization. And hustle, because there’s only so much you can learn from donor profiles. Andrew can relate (21:40). He fumbled his first face-to-face solicitation by paying more attention to the wealth screening than the conversation.
Andrew wants to make sure “hustle” isn’t mistaken for rushing to the ask (22:30). It’s not, says Ted (22:55). It’s patiently pursuing the relationship to find where the alignment is. His cadence is an email, a call, a postcard, another call, another email (25:01). Then sometimes he’ll “bless and release.” The file stays open, the Christmas card still goes out, and he’ll grab coffee when he’s in town. One donor ignored him for a year, came to dinner, went quiet again, and gave three years later (25:30). When a staffer complained that a donor never emailed back, Ted’s reply was simple: “So it’s his responsibility?” (28:22).
Andrew adds his favorite persistence story (28:50). A man finally picked up and said, “I’ve got 13 calls from you in my call log. Nobody ever calls 13 times. OK, I’ll give you 10 minutes.” Ted’s advice: when you get the 10 minutes, make them count (29:49).
The lightning round wraps it up. The belief Ted had to unlearn (30:23) was that it was all on him. “I’m not smart enough, I’m not strong enough, and I’m not clever enough to make anybody do anything they don’t want to do.” Ad sales taught him to present three options. Fundraising taught him to ask permission instead (31:23). His advice for new fundraisers is to stay put (32:10). Longevity deepens relationships, and “nobody ever gets fired because they raised too much money.” And for the C-suite (34:29): give the next generation room to redefine the job. Fundraisers are a long-term investment, and “everything runs at the speed of relationships.”
The Big Ideas
Turn donors into champions. Ask your investors what it would look like to bring their friends along, then let them design it. Their relational credibility is worth as much as their gift.
Don’t plan the event until you’ve planned the follow-up. Thank-you, phone call, sit-down. Then adapt to what each person needs: information, inspiration, or an invitation.
Earn the right to ask. Prove credibility and impact first, then ask permission to make a request. The ask is the smallest part of the process.
Show, don’t tell. A few days standing next to the people doing the work builds more trust than a year of reports, and champions who’ve seen it will open their Rolodex.
Hustle isn’t hurry. Pursue the relationship patiently and persistently. If a donor doesn’t call back, that’s not their responsibility. It’s yours.
Stay put. Longevity deepens relationships, and nobody gets fired for raising too much money.
Quotable
“Some of them need more information. Some of them need inspiration and some of them need an invitation.”
“Essentially we’re earning the right even for the first ask, much less the second one.”
“I’m not smart enough. I’m not strong enough. And I’m not clever enough to make anybody do anything they don’t want to do.”
“It’s your responsibility to patiently and politely pursue the relationship.”
“Everything runs at the speed of relationships.”
Connect with Ted
LinkedIn: Here
Website: biblica.com
Learn more about Biblica’s Bible translation, publishing, and engagement work with partners around the world.
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