10 | Struggling With Donor Communication? What God Says About Imposter Syndrome

Do you ever feel stuck when it comes to donor communication? You sit down to write an update or share about your ministry, and suddenly the words just don’t come. Or maybe you do get the words out, but they feel flat… and you walk away wondering if donors will ever really get it.

You’re not alone. Many women ministry leaders wrestle with the same thing—and underneath it all is something deeper: imposter syndrome. That quiet voice that says, “Who am I to be doing this?” or “I don’t have the right words.”

In this episode, I want to encourage you with God’s Word and remind you that He delights in using our weakness. From Moses to Jeremiah to Paul, Scripture is full of examples of people who felt unqualified and yet were chosen to speak. God says, “I have put my words in your mouth.”

We’ll also talk about:

• How imposter syndrome shows up in donor conversations
• What God says when you feel unequipped or not gifted in speaking
• Why it’s not really about you—it’s about inviting donors into God’s story
• A simple storytelling framework that brings clarity to your messaging and freedom to your heart

You don’t have to carry the pressure of “saying it perfectly.” God provides the words, and you get to offer donors an incredible opportunity to partner with Him in His work.

Ready to clarify your ministry’s message and engage donors? Schedule a free call: https://irisstorytelling.com/getstarted

👉 Grab your free Ministry Newsletter Guide to easily write those updates that your donors want to read: https://irisstorytelling.com/guide

Connect w/ me:
lisa@irisstorytelling.com
https://irisstorytelling.com

Transcript

59:59

But you might feel like, "I don't even know what to say. I'm stumbling over my words when I talk to donors." I feel like sometimes they get it. Sometimes they don't. They don't see. I don't feel like I can articulate what is in my heart because I know the purpose and I know how important this is. I know that it's something that I've been called to. The Lord cares about it. The Lord cares about these people that I'm ministering to. But something gets lost, you know, by the time it comes out of me and into the ears of potential donors. It's something's disconnecting. I just don't know how to... what to say, how to say it, why it's not working.(Upbeat Music) Driven Ministry. I'm so glad you're here with me today. And especially if you are just maybe in a season of feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome. We all have these seasons where we feel like who am I to be doing this? I just don't have the capability. I am stumbling all over myself. I'm like, "Lord, why did you pick me?" I don't know what I'm doing and I keep failing and I keep falling. And maybe especially you feel this way when you are trying to connect and engage with your donors. You know, you probably didn't get into ministry just to fundraise or to put so much time and energy into engaging with your donors. You want to do the work. You want to do the ministry part and you want to see the impact. But of course, your donors are important. They're the reason why you can do the ministry work that you're doing. But you might feel like, "I don't even know what to say. I'm stumbling over my words when I talk to donors." I feel like sometimes they get it. Sometimes they don't. They don't see. I don't feel like I can articulate what is in my heart because I know the purpose and I know how important this is. I know that it's something that I've been called to. The Lord cares about it. The Lord cares about these people that I'm ministering to. But something gets lost, you know, by the time it comes out of me and into the ears of potential donors. It's something's disconnecting. I just don't know how to... what to say, how to say it, why it's not working. I just want to encourage you today. I will also have some tips, but first of all, I want to encourage you because God loves to choose people who are unequipped. We know this in our heads, but I think sometimes we need to remember. When we feel like we're unqualified, when we feel like we're not doing a good job, we forget that, "Oh, that's right." God loves to work through people's weaknesses. He says, "My power is made perfect in weakness." Paul says, "So I will boast more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me." When God is able to use us despite our failures and our weakness, then he gets the glory. It all points back to him because we weren't able to do it. painfully obvious that we aren't maybe gifted in that. All the glory points back to the Lord. If you need more encouragement than that, you can just look at all the people that God has worked through. God loves to work through people that are humble or maybe not humble. Maybe just are like,"Lord, I am not good enough." That's not really humility as we know, but he loves working through, like I said earlier, the unequipped. You can think about Moses. He's like, "I am so to speak." Maybe he stuttered. Maybe he had some sort of issue. God chose him to lead Israel. That's such a big job when you don't even know how to speak and you stumble over your words. Maybe you feel like that. Maybe you feel like Moses or David. Everyone looked over him. He was the smallest and youngest. They didn't even consider him an option. But the Lord picked him. Or you think about Jeremiah. I think that's such a good example, especially if you're struggling with knowing how to express yourself and knowing how to talk to donors. You think, "Well, stumbling over my words." We look at Jeremiah. Let me find the verse, actually. The Lord is talking to Jeremiah. He's like, "I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet." He says, "You are my Lord and King. I do not know how to speak. I am too young." The Lord said to me,"Do not say I'm too young. You must go to everyone I send you to. You must say everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of the people I send you to. I am with you. I will save you." Then the Lord reached out his hand. He touched my mouth and spoke to me. I have put my words in your mouth. That's amazing. I'm just going to leave it there because that's it. That says everything. If the Lord is appointing you to something and he's having you speak when you didn't really want to speak. You want to do your ministry part and the gifts that you know you're good at and that you're comfortable. But of course you do have to speak. You have to engage your donors and you feel like, "I can't speak. I don't know what to say. I'm not good at speaking. I'm this and that." The Lord just can reach out and touch your mouth. He says, "I am putting my words in your mouth." Thank you, Jesus. If that doesn't just give you an enormous relief to not feel like you have to do anything in a sense. You just can really let go of all of the worries and the fears and the negative thoughts about yourself. Just trust like the Lord is giving the words and he's putting his words into your mouth. I love that. Hey, I want to pause for a quick second. If you've ever sat down to write a Ministry Update and thought, "What do I even say? I've got something for you." I created a free resource to help you write email updates that aren't vague, but clear and compelling. Inside you'll learn how to use the power of story to craft subject lines that get opened, a simple format to follow for every update, and practical ways to engage your donors so they feel connected and a part of what God is doing through your ministry. You can download the Ministry Update Guide for free at irastoretelling.com slash guide. That's irastoretelling.com slash guide. Go grab it and start writing effective updates with ease. The second thing that I wanted to say is remember that this is not about you. When you get to a point where you are back in your head and you're worried and you're trying to talk to donors, trying to fundraise. You're just feeling the awkwardness again. that it's not about you. You are the facilitator. You are helping connect the donors to the people that you minister to. You are the one that's bridging that gap. Of course, you do a lot of other stuff in between. But when you are talking to your donors, remember that you're offering them this amazing gift. An opportunity for transformation to be a part of what God is doing through your ministry. God is writing stories of redemption. He is writing stories of transformation and working in people's lives. The donors need to be a part of that. God wants you to invite them to be a part of what he is doing. Remember, it's just not about you. You know, at the end of the day. That can just be incredibly freeing. It's not about how well you do, the numbers that you've done. It's not about taking people's money so you can keep doing your job. It's really about inviting the donors to be a part of what God is doing through your ministry. Connecting those two things together. a gift. You are You are giving others a chance, an opportunity to partner with the Lord and see and experience the stories. All of the glory goes to the Lord. You are not keeping it to yourself. You are offering others a chance to partner with the Lord. To see all that he is doing, that's an amazing thing. It can give you a lot of freedom. Remember, it's not about you. third thing I want to say is that you can have a tool that will make this so much easier. You can use the tool of Story Framework. This is something that I work with clients on one-on-one through four weeks. Where I'm going to help you build your messaging using a Story Framework that's going to be effective and transformational. It puts your donor as the main character and allows them to go through this journey of transformation. If they say yes to partnering with the Lord and to seeing everything that God is doing. If they say yes to that, this is a story of how it will transform their lives for the better. So instead of trying to come up with the words and the messaging and this is working, this is not. And the constant trial and error and the burnout. You feel like I don't know what to say and this stuff that I'm saying is not working. You can actually use the power of storytelling to clarify your message. To invite people in. Essentially you're inviting your donor into the story of transformation. Into the story of transformation where they get to partner with the Lord with you. Through your ministry they're partnering with the Lord as well. And seeing the amazing impact. Seeing the lives transformed. Seeing what God is doing which builds them. It builds their faith. It builds their generosity. All of a sudden they're like, this is incredible. And I'm so glad that I'm a part of this. So what does that look like? This is a chance to do one on one coaching with me to help you build your brand story. So that it's clear and it's simple. You can build this brand story one time and then you can apply it to every single message. Any single platform. Any time you have to write a message that your donor is going to see, you use this brand story. It makes everything. It makes everything so much more simple and clear and freeing. It's an effective way to communicate. To really engage your donors because now it's, you're not inviting them into a partnership where they're like, they have a role and they feel valued and they feel like it's not just about giving you money and hoping for the best. It's not about trusting you, you know, giving you money and trusting that you're just, you know, going to do what you're going to do. This is something where they're invited in. It's now their story. It's not just your story. It's now their story too. So over the course of four weeks, I will coach you one on one and we're going to build your ideal donor. This means that you're going to have an actual clear target of who you're trying to talk to. You're not going to try to talk to everyone under the sun because that's not as effective. You really hone in on one specific type of donor that you're trying to target. And then we're going to build plot point by plot point your brand story. So it's going to be clear and effective and something you can apply over and over on all your messaging platforms, on your social media, on your email, in your fundraiser events, in your donor appeals. Everywhere is going to be. It's all going to be based on the brand story that you create because that won't change unless you're unless what you do as a ministry changes drastically. Your brand story should stay the same for years to come, which is why it's so amazing. Yes, it takes a little bit of effort and time on the front end. But once you go through this process and you have a clear brand story that you can apply to everything, everything gets much more simple. You don't have to spend the time on trial and error and all the burnout that goes with it. You don't have to try to reward everything anytime you have to write something. You don't have to get blocked when you're trying to write your email updates. I don't even know what to say or when you have to do a presentation, you know, you have your three or five minute window in front of a church and you're like, where do I start? All of that can be so much more simplified once you have a clear brand story. I want to help you do that. Go to irisstorytelling.com slash get started. We'll get on a quick phone call, make sure that your struggles and challenges are fit for the workshop and then we'll we can get started pretty quick. And within four weeks, you're going to be so ahead of the game. You're going to feel a lot of freedom and simplicity and clarity on so much clarity on how to message how to write any of the messaging that is targeted to your donors. So remember, the Lord loves working through our weakness. So even if you don't feel like you're a great speaker, even if you don't feel like you're gifted in this area, God loves to work through our weakness. Secondly, it's not about you. This is about inviting your donors into the story of being able to partner with the Lord as well through your ministry. And three, all of this can be simplified building a story. You will have a simple brand story that will then be applied to everything. So everything is consistent. Your donors are invited into the same story no matter where they see any of your messaging. They're going to be hearing the same story. I would love to help you through this. To learn more, go to irisstorytelling.com slash ministry message. You can find out all about the coaching, what it entails, the cost, all the details. So irisstorytelling.com slash ministry message. Can't wait to hear from