EACH HUMAN IS INFINITELY PRECIOUS

There's much talk in the faith-based nonprofit sector about "not treating donors like ATMs".

It sounds good.

But ... I mean ... "not treating donors like ATMs" is a remarkably low bar.

It's also not new. It's been an ongoing conversation since at least 2004, when I first shifted from the Fortune 500 world to a national ministry doing data-driven fundraising. All the same agency people were saying that same line back then too.

We all mean well. And no doubt I've failed at this too, especially earlier in my career. I'm sure I've had every intention of "not treating donors like ATMs" and then - when push came to shove - inadvertently treated donors quite a bit like ATMs.

This is the problem when we elevate "metrics" and "efficiency" and "ROI" above all else. We will *inevitably* treat donors like ATMs. Because what really matters - when ROI is everything - is performance, not people.

But that's not what matters to God.

We have to try to grasp how infinitely precious each human being is to God.

And so, as marketing professionals charged with reaching out to God-made human beings, we ought to approach those people with the awe and circumspection proper to them.

"With the awe and circumspection proper to them" isn't my line; it's C.S. Lewis's.

I think any Christian who dares to reach out to people in a marketing or program or fundraising context ought to read at least the last paragraph of Lewis's famous essay "Weight of Glory".

At last week's Wonder Camp, I barely made it through reading that paragraph aloud, without completely breaking down.

I think it's because these past few years for me have been a time when I've been made inescapably and viscerally aware of how immeasurably valuable - and how infinitely remarkable - each human being is. Perhaps you have had such periods in your own life.

"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit..."

My goodness, is that ever true.

Look, I don't have this all perfectly figured out. But we at SUBLIMITY are surrounding ourselves with the people who want to humbly approach audience members "with the awe and circumspection due to them" and create remarkable experiences that they absolutely love (and that - yes - drive real, sustainable growth).

If that sounds like something you might want to be a part of, then I hope you'll DM me. We've got an ongoing community (price: $0) that you might like to be a part of. And we have only two more meetups scheduled for this year, so we'd love to add you to the crew before we wrap up 2023.