Dear Rabbit Room Community,

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote to you about a financial need at The Rabbit Room. I’m writing again, this time to say thank you and to tell how you and God met this need.

 

If you’ll allow me, I’d like to begin by sharing a few details about how God provided through your response to our appeal for help.

 

• Your encouragement and prayers have been overwhelming.

• Your support has included comfort, prayers, advice, and more. Your financial support has ranged from several dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. You gave from all over the country and even across the world.

• You blessed us enormously! More than 650 of you participated through a one-time gift or a new membership. More than 500 of you are first-time supporters. It’s been so encouraging to see your love for The Rabbit Room.

• God did indeed exceed our expectations. Both in terms of the encouragement from you and in terms of your financial support. We set out to raise $300,000 and to date have raised over $450,000.

 

The Rabbit Room is a partnership between God, artists, communities, and the team here. The last several weeks have been a beautiful mix of this partnership working well. Thank you. Through your help, we’re able to get past a hurdle and focus our attention on what’s ahead.

 

Now, I want to share a bit more about the growth of The Rabbit Room and what it means for this ministry.

 

One of the more encouraging conversations I had was with someone who has decades of experience working alongside ministries and nonprofits. We talked about “growing broke.” That might not sound like a pick-me-up talk, yet it normalized the experience of The Rabbit Room. As special as this ministry is, we’re not exempt from the typical life cycles all organizations experience.

 

The Rabbit Room isn’t out of money or in crisis. We’re in the spot thousands of churches, ministries, and businesses have found themselves in over the years. Today looks great. A few months from now looks scary. Even the fact that we’re able to know this is the result of incredibly hard work over the last several years! We’ve worked to steward our finances through better financial reporting and more efficient processes. We’re being honest about where we are and what we need to do to stay around for a long time. That includes sharing and asking for help from our community.

 

For any ministry to last long, two things are certain. It’s done a lot of things well, and it’s overcome many challenges, whether self-inflicted or outside of its control. Next year marks The Rabbit Room’s 20th anniversary. We’re planning some ways to celebrate! As we thank God for two decades of goodness, we want to look forward and ask how The Rabbit Room can be the kind of ministry that someday celebrates 100 years.

 

We’re at a time when decisions we make now will reinforce the foundation of this ministry and create new structures that support its longevity. There are three areas of focus I believe are important for us over the next several years. In each of these, we ask for God’s guidance. I also want to invite you to participate.

 

Debt-free Durability

The Rabbit Room is currently debt-free. We want to keep it that way and build financial resiliency into our operations. We’re improving processes and systems to help us steward our resources for a new sized organization.

 

Additionally, we’re working on better ways to communicate our need for financial support as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Presently, about 20% of our income comes from supporters. To build durability, we need it to be closer to 35-40%. One of the best ways we can build towards this is by growing our membership community, which provides the stability of consistent giving. A thriving Rabbit Room is a ministry that partners with its supporters to ensure financial durability.

 

Resources for Artists

An artist started The Rabbit Room. While, from the beginning, the larger community (see the next point of focus) has been central to our mission, vocational and avocational artists have always been at the core of The Rabbit Room. Our founder likes to say, “Art nourishes community, and community nourishes art.” In special ways, the works of artists are important to nourishing healthy Christian communities.

 

Also, it’s uniquely hard to be an artist. It’s not just hard to develop artistic competencies, it’s hard to put your heart and soul out there for others to experience. The Rabbit Room has been a place where artists are encouraged and mentored. It’s been a place where artists are connected to peers and introduced to audiences. A thriving Rabbit Room is a ministry that resources artists.

 

Access for Communities

Art needs an audience. Yet from its beginnings, The Rabbit Room has gathered people to be more than audiences. We’ve made friendships. “Art nourishes community.” And also, healthy Christian communities are sources of inspiration and admonition for artists. “Community nourishes art.” This reciprocal relationship between artists and communities reflects an important way in which the Creator made the world to flourish.

 

The Rabbit Room is just as committed to gathering and supporting communities as it is to bringing forth quality works of art. This commitment to community is one of the most challenging aspects of our growth. How do we deliver our programming to ever-increasing participants? A thriving Rabbit Room is a ministry that makes ways for our growing community to participate, whether at our events or through Rabbit Room-inspired gatherings among our friends.

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Spending the next five years focused on debt-free durability, resources for artists, and access for communities aligns perfectly with our mission: to cultivate and curate story, music, and art that nourishes Christ-centered communities for the life of the world. This focus allows us to respond to the favor God has shown to The Rabbit Room while keeping the ethos of a ministry grown from friendships.

 

Personally, I’m comfortably into my middle age. Among the ramifications of aging is experiencing friendships across decades. Those friendships have included celebrating marriages, births, graduations, marriages (now children!), births (now grandchildren!), and more. It’s been so fun to watch how we’ve grown over the years. I’m so glad my friends have changed over the decades. I know they’re glad I’ve changed! The road towards maturity is a grace God has built into the direction of our lives. He’s also built it into our organizations. The Rabbit Room is on a good path of growth. My friends, I’m so glad to be on this journey together.

 

In Christ,

​

Dave Bruno

Executive Director

The Rabbit Room