Strategic and planned annual fund programs in the church get results.  Just like they do in the non-profit industry. The challenge is knowing what will work in your church or organization.  So, in this article, we are going to look at some of the strategies that work well in church congregations.

As I mentioned in the last blog, Church Annual Fund Campaigns, annual fund programs would usually have strategies in the following areas; direct response, internet giving, special events, monthly giving and maybe major gifts or legacy giving.  Churches can also employ these strategies and many of them already do. 

There are a number of ways your church can “ask” for funds that are both inspiring and effective.  The most important factor is that you ask across multiple mediums and you have varied and targeted appeals with consistent messaging.  Churches can offer online appeals, hard copy appeals and face to face appeals which is easily done with today’s technology. I discuss more of this in detail and how a complete communications plan is tied into fundraising and stewardship in the communications chapter of my upcoming book, Harder’s Faith-Based Fund Development. 

Face to Face – Sunday Morning Appeals

A part of every church service I have ever been to in multiple denominations is “the offering,” and I have witnessed a number of appeals from the pulpit accompany that, some of which were good and then some that were not so good. 

Some church’s do the minimal and simply announce “it’s time to take the offering now.”  The ushers come forward to pass the proverbial plate down the rows as quickly as possible while the organist plays some nice music so we’ll all be distracted while we suffer through the awkwardness of the offering.  This I would suggest is some of the not so good.

Others would up their appeal slightly and mention that the offering is only expected from “our members” (insinuating the members need to give) and letting visitors know it is not expected for them to give…yet.  A little more proactive because we are actually talking about money and who should be giving.  This is probably sufficient week to week in between targeted appeals.     

Still others would take a much more pro-active approach and have designated Sunday’s for targeted appeals. Another variation of this is to ask for an additional appeal for a few Sunday’s in a row for a special project or event (i.e. kids summer camps, or mission trips). 

These churches are utilizing targeting strategies and are tailoring specific appeals which will increase the response rate significantly.  Having someone who has previously benefitted from the program tell their story as part of the appeal increases the response even more.  This is what I referred to earlier in the budget chapter as “putting a face to the budget” and ultimately giving people a real and tangible outcome or result of their donation.  Or…showing them the impact of their gifts.

Email is a variation of this and can be equally as effective if it is done right.  The advantage of this strategy is that you can reach people even if they are not attending regularly on Sunday mornings with you. 

Direct response is actually a very big topic with much research and best practices depending on how sophisticated you want to get.  There are multiple levels of segmentation and targeting that larger organizations certainly utilize efficiently.  But for the purposes of most churches, having a few effective appeals targeted at a few different demographic groups should suffice and it really doesn’t need to be that complicated.  You need a plan…but it doesn’t need to be a complicated plan.

Side note:  I really believe that many smaller non-profit leaders often get very overwhelmed at the expanse of strategies available in fundraising.  But, in most cases it really doesn’t have to be that complicated and many strategies can be boiled down to a few effective steps that make all the difference in the response.  Sometimes it can be hard to see the forest for the trees and small changes can make big differences.

With direct response you also have the choice to do things other than ask for money.  You can make a first contact with visitors in your church, report important information to your congregation, and invite people to attend special events.  The point here is, you have multiple options in a written appeal, but you should only have one purpose per appeal or communication and not try to cram too much in.

Online & Social Media Appeals

Fundraising and the strategies used in fundraising really had not changed much for many decades until the introduction of the internet and social media.  What has changed is the medium of the message…and that has actually changed a lot in fundraising. 

Primarily, the accessibility and speed of which the message can be relayed has changed infinitely.  We can send information to our people that are around the corner and around the world in the same amount of time at virtually no cost.  If our congregations and donors have given us their email address and permission to email them (in Canada we have an “opt in” policy while many other countries have an “opt out” policy) or they follow us on one of our social media channels we can communicate with them instantaneously.  Brilliant!

Additionally, it also gives our audience a way to engage with us instantly as well and have a conversation with us.  Brilliant again!  And as if that wasn’t enough, the costs are affordable for everyone to get in the game. 

Having said that though, the big organizations with big budgets are still going to have an advantage here, because you can always leverage economies of scale somewhere.  But it certainly gives smaller churches and organizations affordable opportunities to communicate with their congregations and donors. 

However, the caveat here is that asking for money through social media channels is not that successful and does not yield the high returns one might expect and hope for.  Its ok though, because the real power of social media is storytelling and engagement, two really big elements of successful fundraising. 

If you can use your social media wisely as part of a greater fundraising and communications strategy, then it becomes a very powerful tool that will in fact drive fundraising and stewardship results.  I expand more on this in the chapter on communications in my up-coming book, Harder’s Faith-Based Fundraising.

Monthly Giving & Envelop Usage

Monthly giving is another very effective strategy that actually had roots in the church long before it ever really took hold in the charitable sector.  People have long been giving to the church on a monthly if not weekly basis and many more still to outreach and missions.  In fact, the sponsor a child programs were doing this very effectively long before anyone on the other side of the sector was.

What’s new is that most monthly giving is now done through some sort of online program as opposed to bringing in a cheque in the church envelop and dropping it in the offering plate or mailing it off to missions.  

Church Envelops – Still Relevant

Church envelop usage has been around for decades…like 7 of them and is still in use in many churches today.  When it was first introduced, it was revolutionary and extremely effective for a number of reasons.  First of all, the envelop system assisted in the accurate recording of donations.  They were dated and coded to specific donors with a number system for anonymity (which was/is paramount in the church).   It provided space to clearly designate where the money was to be used and how much was being given which aided in the accuracy of record keeping.  Additionally, the envelop system increased church offerings!  So, it wasn’t long before everyone got on board and thus the envelop secretary was born.

If you are still using envelops, and many senior congregants still prefer this method of giving, there are ways to be more effective with it. 

1. Make envelops available quarterly and include a thank you note with them. The power of saying thank you is often underestimated by many when it comes to fundraising and stewardship.

2. Make envelops available based on peoples established giving patterns. Envelops were initially given on a weekly basis because this is how we as a society got paid…weekly. But, as our compensation systems changed, so has our giving and most payment systems have moved to a monthly (online) format.  So, if people are giving you a monthly gift, they don’t need 4 envelops every month. 

3. Moving to a generic envelop will significantly lower the cost of having them printed. These can also be placed in the pews and other strategic places in the church for use to donate and as a reminder that people need to give as members of the church.

If you have seniors who still want a personalized envelop, I encourage you to print some labels in house and stick them in the corner of your generic envelop.  Our senior congregants are probably still some of our biggest givers in the church…so if they want personalized envelops, we should give them that.

Online Giving

Many online giving platforms have established themselves as reputable and reliable options for online giving to registered charities who do not want the cost of maintaining an online secure server for financial transactions.  The fees are often percentage based and are affordable for most organizations.  I have in my experience found CanadaHelps.ca to be a good program for this, but there are certainly others.  In addition, many of them offer optimized for mobile usage as well. 

Having a monthly giving program that it accessible online is an industry best practice now for a number of reasons.  Preauthorized monthly giving programs make donating automatic. This automation makes the process easy for the donor and the organization.  Monthly giving also often increases the donation and in the church, it encourages and models regular giving. 

Automatic monthly giving programs also make it easy for donors and their donations can be easily tracked and changed if necessary. The result is increased loyalty and increased giving.  On the organization side, it gives you a certain level of predictable income, has low administration costs and is environmentally friendly.  A cumulative tax receipt is often issued at the end of the year as well.  

More importantly, it allows you to change the focus of communications with your donors from “asking” to “sharing” positive results achieved with their donations which also gives you the opportunity to build rapport and strengthen the donor relationship with you.  Win win!  And all of this is completely appealing to the younger generations in their giving space.  In fact, if you don’t have an online giving option you likely won’t get their gift at all. 

Conclusion

I believe the church needs money to fulfill  our mission and we shouldn’t apologize for that. But having a well developed annual fund plan an asking well, really is the key.

Why?  Because a well planned and executed campaign will inspire and invite participation, increasing your results.   

When the focus of giving moves away from guilt or crisis, and is rather inspired by 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 next campaign.