Church Annual Campaigns

Annual fund campaigns in the church are pretty much non-existent.  Many of the churches I have worked with did not have one…or they had a haphazard appeal at the end of the year, to address budget shortfalls.  Usually done in late November or December. 

Annual fund programs get results, and if your church is not running some sort of strategic annual appeal yet, you should be and soon. You could be missing out on 15-20% of additional revenue.  Just by deliberately asking.  

Side note: the number one reason people cite for not giving is because they were not asked.  They were not asked to give.  Ask, and ye shall receive.  I say that tongue and cheek but it’s true.  You have to actually ask…clearly and deliberately.  When you do, you will often receive a joyful and generous response. 

Annual fund programs in the industry are just one part of a comprehensive development strategy for many organizations, particularly larger ones.  But, in smaller organizations it might in fact be their only fundraising strategy. This is probably true for most churches as well. 

The annual fund program would often include strategies in direct response, online giving, special events, and monthly giving.  The church has an opportunity to take advantage of these strategies as well, but many of them don’t or they do…but maybe not well.  

Special events are an entirely different subject which I’m not going to talk about here.  But I will say, I prefer events to be focused on saying thank you as donor appreciation events than as fundraising events.  But that’s a lonely opinion.   

Annual Fund Programs in the Church

I have found, there are three common approaches to annual fund programs in the church.  None without merit and others not as effective as they could be.

The Catch-Up Program

The catch-up annual fund campaign is probably the most common.  Your church has probably been doing this for years and you may have not even realized this is your annual fund strategy.  Laying on the annual stewardship sermon in November or December in response to a small (or large) shortfall.  You know the one.  We’ve all heard it.  The problem is, these campaigns are almost always driven by a “financial crisis” and lack in giving motivation.

Generally speaking, they are moderately successful, because the older generations still respond out of loyalty to the church institution because “it’s the right thing to do.” But, this type of appeal is not going to fund a growing ministry.  Giving context and motivation is what is often lacking in this crisis driven strategy.   

Commitments in Advance

A variation of the November catch-up appeal is the fall commitment in advance campaign.  Slightly more proactive than the catch-up, this campaign runs over a few weeks, often involves some planning with congregational letters, regular announcements (dare I say a bulletin insert or social media post or two weekly), perhaps a sermon or two on stewardship and some sort of response mechanism.   

These campaigns, although organized and well executed, are often based on incremental budgeting and again context and motivation are still the issue.  One of my favourite sayings is, “10% of nothing is still nothing” and this is where we see examples and results of that a lot. 

The benchmarks are inadequate, and we need to challenge people to think about giving as a discipleship issue, not a money issue. 

Holistic Annual Stewardship Campaign

A fundraising program that ties the challenge of giving to a more holistic stewardship response is a more proactive approach to the annual fund campaign.  Stewardship is a discipleship concept, not a money concept. What motivates Christians to give sacrificially and joyfully is not guilt or crisis, or a sense of coercion, but rather is based on the understanding of Christian values, blessings, and the joy of giving.  Christian giving is not based on need, but on character. 

The truth is even if the church didn’t need a dime, Christians still need to give because it is at the heart of who we are as Christians.

Annual fund programs built around this broadened holistic focus are more successful at resourcing ministry for both the short term and the long term.  The timing of the program does not matter as much as the fact that it needs to be done regularly. 

1. Deliberate Process

First and foremost, the annual stewardship campaign needs to be structured and calendared as a deliberate process and agenda item.  If the process is not formalized in a committee with job descriptoins, it probably will not happen.

The church calendar will become filled with many other legitimate and wonderful items that will be seen as more important or necessary to do.  Often these “other things” take precedence because truthfully, they may not seem as threatening as speaking about money. 

My father used to quote a study done on fear in which people were asked what they were most afraid of.  Of course, spiders, snakes, heights, flying and the usual made the list.  But interestingly, “death” and “asking for money” also made the list.   This is the part I always found remarkable, asking for money ranked higher on the scale of fear than death.  Meaning some people are more afraid of asking for money than they are of dying.  Let that sink in. 

Some people are more afraid of asking for money than they are of dying.

In my experience, many people are terrified to ask someone for money, including a lot of “fundraisers” in the industry. In fact, as Canadians, we are generally uncomfortable asking or talking about money (see my articles on Demographics).  I think this is particularly true when it comes to asking for money face-to-face with someone. 

So, a purposeful process with parameters, job descriptions, a specific timeline, and the right people on the committee will give you a great start to your annual stewardship campaign. People respond well to a deliberate, well planned process.  And by doing it every year, it reinforces the habit of regular giving. 

2. Leadership Modeling

Another vital step in a holistic stewardship approach to the annual fund is leadership modeling.  Leaders need to lead, and they need to be seen to be leading.  The most trusted principle in all of stewardship work, is that when leaders lead, amazing things happen. 

Your leadership commitments should come from formal leaders on your ministry team, your board and committees, and individuals in programming positions.  These people need to make their commitments to the campaign in advance of the greater congregation. 

When the church leaders are seen to be positive and supportive of the ministry financially, it is a tremendous encouragement to the general congregation.  You need 100% response from this group, and it is not unreasonable to expect that.  When leaders lead, amazing things happen. 

3. Sound Education Process

The third component of a successful annual fund campaign is a good education process.  Stewardship teaching has been taken off the agenda of most churches and that has affected the financial response of many congregations (again, a topic for another day).  But, in terms of giving motivation there are some questions you need to answer for people before you ask.

You need to be able to answer questions like, “what are we doing?” and “why are we doing it?”  The answers to these questions are about your mission, vision and ministry as a church.  Also, and perhaps most importantly because it has to do with the biblical principles of discipleship, you need to answer the question, “why should I give to this campaign and make my money available to the church?”

More and more people coming into church today need help understanding the basic principles of Christian stewardship.  Asking for money is not the real issue, although doing that well helps.  The real issue is preparing the donor to respond through education and is imperative to the success of any financial appeal in the church. 

Part of every faith-based campaign that we do, is a four Sunday sermon series addressing biblical stewardship.  The content is remarkably easy to find actually if you look for it…the latter part of that sentence being the more important part.  But the point is you have to formally address how people deal with the resources God has entrusted to them on the basis of a discipleship driven program.  This understanding is foundational to achieving your best response. 

Churches need to teach creatively on stewardship.  When people resolve issues of commitment and discipleship, money is rarely the issue.  If people own the vision, understand biblical stewardship, and are inspired by your ministry, money is rarely ever an issue. 

Money follows commitment, biblical understanding and ownership of the church’s vision. 

4. What do you want me to give?

In fundraising and stewardship, one of the most asked questions is, “what do you want me to give?”  How you answer this question is of utmost importance.  People do like a ‘standard’ and the truth is, clear expectations give confidence in the system.  The tithe represents a standard.  People may not give at that level, but it represents a standard to strive to. 

The temptation is to back away from teaching the tithe, and say overtly or implicitly, “anything is fine.”  But let me assure you, the response will be less than fine.  There needs to be a definitive, clear ask at some level.  How you come to that level is where it often gets interesting. 

Sometimes churches take budget and divide it by the number of giving units or families in attendance at the church.  Great math…bad stewardship.  People have vastly differing levels of ability to give.   So, asking everyone to make the same monetary commitment is ‘over asking’ some while ‘under asking’ others.  You need to challenge people to give at their level of ability to give. 

The best way to do that is through the percentage-based tithe.  And it is reasonable to ask and expect that everyone does something.  Another of my father’s often used phrases was, “Not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice,” and he would often refer to one of the most famous references of sacrificial joyful giving in the bible, The Widow’s Mite. 

The Widow’s Mite is an important example of giving because of the sacrifice she made.  It wasn’t that she gave in excess of anyone else, in fact what she gave was almost nothing by comparison.  It is that she gave ALL she had and ultimately made the greatest sacrifice.  Everyone else, although they gave generously (and that is always appreciated as well), they gave out of their excess. 

The Widow’s Mite demonstrates that anyone can give and even though the amount may be small, it is the act of giving that matters as a Christian. 

Conclusion

The church needs money and we shouldn’t apologize for that. While the church exists for spiritual purposes, it does not run on love alone.  The church operates in the real world, and it needs money to do this.  Ministry costs. 

When the focus of giving moves away from guilt or crisis, and is rather focused on discipleship and commitment, good things happen.  People do respond and make their money available to the church for dynamic ministry.  Most churches have significant financial potential they are not tapping into.  A well planned and executed annual stewardship program can help you achieve your financial potential. 

If you are looking for an annual fund campaign that works, have a look at the Stewardship Plus Campaign Toolkit on my website. You won’t be disappointed, and I can help you design a campaign that will bring elevate your annual giving and increase engagement at the same time.  Give me a call and let’s plan your fall campaign.