Churches and faith-based nonprofits are facing a future of new challenges and uncertainties. New challenges include shifting worship and donor-giving preferences, rising expenses, higher interest rates, and a tight labor market. All of this is complicated by unprecedented economic uncertainties brought about by living in a world economy in which what happens across the globe very quickly ripples into our daily lives.
Wise leaders are looking for the best ways to ensure long-term financial stability. Among the many possible options, an integrated approach to ministry funding is consistently the most effective and efficient.
Why Old Approaches, like a One Fund Strategy, are Increasingly Falling Short
An integrated approach to ministry funding acknowledges that a one-size-fits-all strategy, like dumping all funding streams into one single undesignated bucket, limits your ability to use evidence-based best practices such as segmented communication and individualized donor engagement.
Churches and nonprofits receiving the highest levels of funding have learned to embrace telling their impact stories using segmented, donor-centric strategies designed to meet donors where they are on their spiritual journey and giving practices and to inform, inspire, and invite them to take a specific action to more closely align with God’s leading. When you choose a one-size-fits-all approach, you are limited in your ability to isolate individual aspects of your discipleship and ministry funding strategies in order to know what’s working and what’s not.
An integrated funding strategy brings annual, capital, special, and planned giving under a single set of proven disciplines aligned with your unique mission, vision, discipleship pathway, and theology of generosity. By integrating and aligning each of these critical elements of ministry funding, you are better able to measure the effectiveness of each action you take.
Each new generation is increasingly less interested in supporting the institution of the church and more interested in seeing a direct connection between their giving and the impact of the gift. Our nonprofit friends are excelling at training their best donors to become “impact givers” because of how well they connect giving to their organization and to the impact it will have. Many church leaders are under the misunderstanding that church giving is falling because overall giving is falling. Giving in America has remained amazingly constant over the last 60 years, but the church’s share has fallen by 50% over the last 40 years and the pace of the decline is picking up.
The primary reason church giving is falling is not because Americans are giving less, but because our best donors are shifting their giving to what they perceive as the highest return or impact on their investment.
The cost of ineffective giving and spiritual formation/discipleship strategies is growing every day. It is time to act.
Increased Donor Engagement
An Integrated Funding Strategy also allows churches and faith-based organizations to reach a wider range of donors than might be available with traditional methods alone. This is especially important when people are engaging with the church in multiple ways.
By examining giving practices through the eyes and actions of your donors, you are able to learn what is most effective and adjust your investment of time, money, and energy to engage your non-givers, growing givers, and generous givers in the ways that they find most inspiring and helpful. We all have limited time, money, and energy, so I encourage you to think of integrated funding as good stewardship of the resources you have been entrusted with. Understanding what most effectively motivates your donors allows you to provide them with meaningful opportunities for deeper engagement resulting in spiritual growth and increased generosity.
Households that are active in small groups to provide community, care, and spiritual growth, or who serve in a hands-on ministry give three to four times as much of their income as those who only attend worship one to two times per month.
An integrated funding strategy includes measuring the cause and effect in the acquisition of new givers, as well as the retention and growing generosity of existing givers. The better you understand the effectiveness of your donor engagement strategies, the more opportunities you’ll have to grow giving – precisely because you will be more effectively growing disciples and changing the world. Further, you’ll have greater confidence in sustaining this increase over time.
Strategic Agility Increases Success
One of the other many benefits of embracing an integrated funding approach is the ability to quickly identify and adjust strategies, without excessive disruption or delay. Reacting to changes quickly and being agile enough to shift direction when needed can be the difference between failure and success. The ability to successfully adapt in a timely manner is a keystone skill necessary to succeed in today's ever-changing landscape.
By embracing flexible, adaptable strategies and processes, ministry leaders can reduce uncertainty and discover their generosity advantage. This strategic agility is even more important for churches and ministries currently facing challenging financial situations. Sadly, it is often this group who is most reluctant to change the very practices that are failing them.
An integrated approach to ministry funding is the best strategy for meeting an uncertain future. By understanding how each aspect of funding contributes to your ministry impact, leaders can better adapt and respond to changing circumstances. Doing so gives you a greater chance of not just surviving but thriving during difficult times.
Achieve Next Level Generosity
By embracing an integrated approach to ministry funding, churches and ministries can take their culture of generosity to the next level. This approach focuses on creating meaningful relationships with donors beyond traditional fundraising tactics. It also encourages mutual support and a commitment to long-term sustainability. Through creative strategies, recurring giving programs, financial leader development, and effective donor communication, churches, and ministries can inspire greater community engagement and cultivate mutually beneficial relationships for everyone involved.
Horizons has a team of experienced ministry strategists, trained coaches, and certified fundraisers ready to help. Through our coaching, learning, and generosity experiences, we can ensure you maximize your impact, fully fund your ministry plan, grow disciples, and create a culture of generosity that will change your present and shift your future.