An exclusive club

You know the routine. Almost every non-profit organization you support has its own variation, but it’s the same approach.

Big-time donors get extra attention. Whether it’s the President’s Club or the Gold Circle or the Century Advisers, the point is always the same: Give at a particular level, and you’ll get special treatment.

The problem we have here at WORLD is that we have so many big-time donors. No way could we ever get them into one room for a thank-you luncheon.

To be sure, it’s important you know what I mean by a “big-time donor.” I’m not referring so much to those wonderful folks who give five- and six-figure sums every year to keep WORLD in hot pursuit of its mission. They are critically important, and you can be sure I work hard to tell them “thank you” for their focused and really generous commitment.

Our World Movers have joined us on the uphill march of ‘revitalizing journalism,’ and our marching together has edified all of us.

But the big donors I have in mind here are those regular WORLD readers who each year go well beyond the basic price we charge for WORLD membership to make a cash gift or to provide a gift subscription for someone else. (A few even make gifts of stock or other securities.)

We call these people “World Movers.” Our World Movers understand they have a stake in the health of a nonprofit news organization committed to a biblical worldview. The government would never fund WORLD the way it funds, say, public radio or television, but that’s OK—WORLD would never accept those funds. Huge foundations find common cause with NPR, but not with WORLD. Instead, we turn to our members—our World Movers—for support.

WORLD right now has about 85,000 members. Those are folks we used to call “subscribers.” But over the last few years, as we’ve been reflecting on the mission we adopted over 30 years ago and asking how it fits in a new generation, we’ve observed the special bond that links us to our subscribers. We aren’t here just to produce magazine stories, radio programs, and web articles for a paying audience. We haven’t really addressed our mission until, working together, we’ve developed the habit of articulating and applying a Christian worldview to life as it unfolds around us. We are, I think, helping each other do this better.

A few years ago, theologian J.I. Packer told us how he thought of our mission: “Think of what revitalizing journalism would do for the cause of Christ in America. It is the most needed sort of pre-evangelism. It is training in Christian worldview. It is an aid to sanctification.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Our World Movers have joined us on the uphill march of “revitalizing journalism,” and our marching together has edified all of us.

How you have helped us. Of the 85,000 members I mentioned above, some 10,000 of you have been faithful to provide gift memberships for friends and acquaintances. That’s the very best outreach tool anyone could hope for. I don’t know of another news organization anywhere that enjoys that kind of loyal support.

But you didn’t stop there. Some 5,000 of you expressed your loyalty and commitment with your giving. Some gave once a year, while others spaced your giving (monthly, quarterly, or otherwise) throughout the year. It is an outpouring without which WORLD would not survive.

Really, our World Movers have turned our surviving into thriving. Your increasing commitment to the mission has enabled us to:

On all these fronts, we are working hard to be faithful to our mission. Will you help us with a generous extension of your own membership—not for yourself this time, but to benefit others on all these fronts? Whether you mail in check, call, or donate online, we’ll send you a receipt for your tax-deductible gift.

Welcome to our exclusive group of big-time donors!

Email jbelz@wng.org