It’s a heartbreaking truth that many financially capable households give more to their favorite charity than their church. This rapidly accelerating trend is a primary factor in the growing financial strain most churches are experiencing.
Americans say 67% of their giving is spiritually motivated, yet only 24% is being given to the church.
As church leaders, we are responsible for this trend. The primary reason is we fail to move beyond answering the spiritual question of "Why Give?" and provide a compelling answer to the question, "Why Give to Our Church?".
Even among the most well-funded churches, Horizons is finding the most capable givers are increasing the percentage of their giving to other nonprofits. This trend is easy to miss. It happens slowly over time. Givers simply stop or slow increasing giving to your church and shift these dollars to where they believe the greatest impact is occurring. In their minds, it is good stewardship of the resources God has entrusted them with.
As church leaders, we must constantly demonstrate to the satisfaction of our givers that investing in our mission is both impactful and good stewardship of the resources entrusted to them.
If you are interested in reversing this giving trend in your church, I encourage you to download The Financial Crisis - Five Practical Ways to Overcome Persistent Ministry Funding Challenges. It is a resource developed with Tony Morgan of The Unstuck Group to help you address five key areas that are impacting your ministry funding and long-term financial stability.
The following are a few keystone practices from among the many covered in the downloadable resource - The Financial Giving Crisis.
A Clearly Articulated Theology of Generosity
Generosity is central to our theological understanding concerning our relationship with God, ourselves, and one another.
Most churches send mixed messages about giving; in some cases, they don’t talk about giving. The result is that people fail to grow spiritually, miss out on the joy of generosity, or never understand the importance of joining in God's work by giving through their local church.
The starting point for growing individual generosity is to clearly articulate in detail your Theology of Generosity - what your church believes the bible teaches about Giving, Stewardship, Generosity, Tithing, and Offerings.
Your Theology of Generosity is your source document for all communications, ensuring a single and clear message is heard through all communication channels.
Discipleship and Giving Pathways
Giving is part of personal spiritual growth, and everyone needs to understand its importance along with other important spiritual disciplines like prayer, worship, spiritual formation, and serving.
A discipleship pathway lays out measurable steps for personal growth as part of their spiritual journey. In the same way, a Giving Pathway lays out measurable steps for growth in giving. For example, for someone new to giving, the first step might be to prayerfully consider what amount they will give in the coming year and sign up for recurring giving to memorialize this decision. A regular giver might find their next step is to identify what percentage of their household income they give through their church and prayerfully consider growing by one or more percent of their income as part of a plan to reach a tithe (10% of household income).
Be sure your giving pathway language uses words to which you can attach clear definitions, such as
- Cheerful giving - joyful and not under compulsion or guilt
- Percentage giving - a specific percent of household income
- Priority giving - the first use of income household income
- Tithe - 10% of household income
- Offering - a giving beyond a tithe from the 90% of household income we are to steward and enjoy
Ministry Plan
A ministry plan is a graphicly enhanced collateral piece grounded in your Mission, Vision, Discipleship Pathway, Theology of Generosity, and Ministry Goals.
Write your ministry plan using giver-centric language (from the giver’s point of view) and fill it with pictures and stories that make a case for giving to your church by demonstrating in measurable terms the transformative impact of your ministries made possible by your members' generosity of time and money.
Your ministry plan should:
- Cast your vision
- Describe compelling plans to generate more transformation
- Include pictures and stories
- Use giver-centered language
- Contain an effective ask or invitation to give.
A well-crafted ministry plan becomes a cornerstone in your annual ministry funding plan implementation strategies to inform, inspire, and engage existing and new givers.
Using an Integrated Funding Strategy Framework
The world of ministry is constantly changing, especially when it comes to funding. It isn’t easy to stay current with the emergence of digital technologies and ever-evolving trends. An integrated funding strategy (end hyperlink) is built on the understanding that success does not come through one thing but all parts working together. It is a helpful framework to ensure your ministry funding plan is comprehensive and well-rounded.
Your 52-week (year-round) ministry funding plan defines why, what, when, how, who is responsible, and your goals and desired outcomes in measurable terms.
Ensure your ministry funding plan takes advantage of the natural rhythms in people's lives such as promoting the convenience of automatically recurring giving before the summer vacations begin or launching your year-end giving strategy on Giving Tuesday.
As you create your plan, use an Integrated Funding Strategy framework and its supporting best practices as your guide. Horizons suggests:
- Keeping it spiritual
- Communicating impact through stories of transformation
- Building donor relationships
- Creating effective calls to action
- Measuring the effectiveness of your plans and strategies
- Building trust through transparency
Common best practices include connecting generosity to spiritual growth, telling the story of one life that was changed each week making clear the connection to giving, creating first-time and lapsed giver strategies, intentional giver appreciation practices, sharing returns on giving investments (for every $100 given we can ______), sharing internal controls on spending, information security, theft prevention, and donor transparency practices.
Giver-Centric Communications
The most effective form of communication is one that is written to address the giver's desires, needs, and aspirations in combination with compelling storytelling that highlights the real-life impact of the ministry. Utilize case studies, testimonials, and stories of changed lives to illustrate transformational outcomes and connect givers emotionally to the cause. Consider implementing these practices.
- Understand your givers: To get to know your givers' needs, desires, and aspirations by reviewing your current data and analytics, conducting research and surveys, and examining previous successes.
- Define your message: Write concise messages reflecting your ministry’s mission.
- Tell powerful stories: Stories connect donors to the individuals they help. They provide a tangible example of the ministry's work and the giver's generosity. Stories evoke emotions, create empathy, and make your ministry relatable to your givers. They are most effective when sharing the story of one life that was changed. Each new face you introduce into your story weakens the emotional connection with your giver. Use data points to demonstrate the scope of your impact beyond this single life.
- Incorporate visual elements when necessary: Add photos that match your message. If you add a picture of a person, ensure they are happy and smiling. Donors respond to smiles, not scowls. GO beyond photos by incorporating infographics and charts to enhance the impact.
- Personalize your message: Personalized communications help a giver feel seen, valued, and connected. It demonstrates you care enough about them to know their name and interests.
Taking the Next Step
To help you take the next step, Horizons partnered with The Unstuck Group to create The Financial Sustainability Crisis - Five Way to Increase Ministry Funding. To download this resource, click here.
To learn more about how you can grow giving in your church, access our free resource library Giving365.com and check out Next Level Generosity. Click here to schedule a no-cost exploratory conversation.