Show Me the Money (Please God)

The other day some of our staff attended a teleconference seminar titled "Fundraising When Money Is Tight".  It had a lot of good ideas and a lot of suggestions that we are already doing.  However, it got me thinking.  Lutheran Hour Ministries started pretty much as a fundraising organization.  It was started by 12 men as the Lutheran Laymen's League to raise money to save the LCMS from financial ruin.  However, we of course see our mission as so much more that an organization that raises money for ministry.  Our mission is "Bringing Christ to the Nations - and the Nations to the Church."  We are an organization that tries to be on the cutting edge of ministry as we engage people with the Gospel.  BUT, we still have to raise money to be able to carry out the ministry that God is calling us to do and the ministry that God is calling us to help other people to do.  

In general it seems like a lot of Christian ministries need to spend a lot of their time "fundraising."  I know at the Christian college I attended, people saw the president of the University as primarily a fundraiser.  My sister-in-law, the director of a mission organization finds herself doing more fundraising than she would necessarily like to do, and less time overseeing the ministry of her organization.  I often wonder why this is.   An organization that fundraises, if it really is an effective ministry, is doing the funders a service by allowing them to share the gifts God has given them for soul saving ministry.  Americans generally have way too much discretionary funds.  However, sometimes it seems like congregations and Christian organizations didn't really have to ask for funding, it just came from people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to give.  I wasn't alive then, maybe that wasn't the way it was, although in hearing about the early days of "The Lutheran Hour," people sent money towards that radio show without any real requests.  It also seems like we shouldn't have to ask for money, that Christians should be inspired to give on their own personal motivation.  The point is: it is interesting to think about people's motivation for giving.  Are people more or less motivated to support ministry today than in earlier times?  Why do people give to one organization and not another?  How much do people's values play into their giving, and is it the Church's job to help people re-shift their values?  Thanks be to God for people with a generous heart who love the Gospel!  Any thoughts?  I'd like to hear them.