January and February are often the best times for churches to invite estimates of annual giving. We have seen this hold true across churches of many sizes and denominations. In addition to improved generosity, shifting the timing of your annual giving appeal and fiscal year can spare many from the self-inflicted misery of December.
Running annual giving campaigns in the fall, while using a calendar fiscal year when most church ministry years begin in August with the new school year, is a holdover from a time long since passed. Our calendars are fuller, attendance patterns are less predictable, and better financial tools have eliminated the need for a fall campaign. Yet far too many churches persist with the practice without asking whether it still serves their needs or what better ways exist.
If your church still collects giving estimates in the fall, ask one simple question: Does this timing still serve your people and your mission—or are you keeping it because “that’s how we’ve always done it”?
If any of the following situations feel familiar, it might be time for a change.
- Attendance thins during the fall stewardship season as football, soccer, school activities, travel, and the holidays compete for attention. Your generosity message may be meaningful, but it cannot inspire people who are not present.
- Your finance team still estimates giving for households that did not return a card. In other words, you collect cards in the fall to avoid having to estimate giving, yet you end up guessing and plugging giving for many households anyway.
- For some of the church’s most essential leaders, December feels less like celebrating the birth of Jesus and more like starring in a year-end financial thriller. Pastors, staff, and lay leaders chase giving cards, finalize next year’s projections, solicit additional gifts, and watch the budget inch toward the black—all while joyfully welcoming guests, leading worship, and projecting the peace of Christ into the world.
- Your church receives increasingly anxious emails, letters, and updates about “needing a strong December,” while leaders wonder whether the budget awaiting approval is a responsible plan or a Christmas wish list.
- Your pastor or treasurer receives increasingly urgent reminders from the denomination about year-end payments—because nothing says “peace on earth” quite like a phone call from an anxious denominational leader.
- Your ministry year begins in August or September, but your budget ends in December. Staff members want to plan for the full school year, yet spending slows in November as everyone waits to see whether December giving will rescue the calendar-year budget.
Exploring a Better Way
Moving the giving invitation from the fall to January or February and aligning your fiscal year with your ministry planning year replaces December anxiety with new-year clarity. Better yet, each change addresses a problem your leaders and givers already feel:
- Your people have better information: By January or February, many people know their raise or cost-of-living adjustment, have received an annual bonus, set new sales or profit goals, or have closed the books on a small business. With fewer unknowns, they can make a thoughtful estimate rather than choosing a cautious number “just to be safe.”
- Your teaching series on stewardship gets more attention: Fall calendars are crowded with school, sports, travel, and holidays. The new year often brings a slower pace, stronger worship attendance, and a natural desire to live more intentionally. Your message may be compelling—but first, people need to be in the room to hear it.
- Your leaders can plan with confidence: Few churches receive giving cards from every household. Finance teams already use giving history and modern accounting tools to project what other households may give. Moving the invitation to the new year does not weaken planning; it frees leaders to stop chasing cards in December and focus on generosity, discipleship, and ministry impact. Instead, they can use actual giving from January through June—or through the end of the fiscal year—to project income with the same tools used throughout the year.
- December and your January–February stewardship emphasis create midyear momentum—and time to respond: December is notoriously difficult to forecast. When your fiscal year aligns with your ministry year, however, December falls near the midpoint rather than the finish line. If giving exceeds expectations, you can strengthen ministry plans. If it falls short, you still have months to adjust thoughtfully rather than making last-minute cuts. A January or February annual giving effort can provide another unbudgeted lift, creating welcome margin for the second half of the year. In short, you trade a year-end cliffhanger for midyear flexibility.
- You can plan a focused year-end giving appeal that launches in early December and builds on GivingTuesday’s momentum: Americans—including people in your church—give an average of 2.4 times their usual monthly amount in December. The question is not whether your most capable givers will give; it is whether your church will present a compelling opportunity before another worthy cause does. That requires planning. When a fall campaign runs directly into December, while leaders are still collecting annual giving cards, the year-end appeal often becomes an afterthought. Move the annual giving invitation to the new year, and use December to tell powerful ministry stories, invite generosity, and direct more of that seasonal giving toward God’s work through your church and the ministries you support. This is a low-cost strategy with the potential for big impact.
- Your calendar finally supports your ministry: When the fiscal year aligns with the ministry year—often starting in July or August—staff can plan for the full school year rather than slowing ministry in November while waiting for December to rescue the budget. Leaders can build the next spending plan using six months of actual giving data, and the December increase arrives near midyear. Your calendar should serve your mission, not compete with it.
- Generosity becomes spiritual formation: Separating the giving invitation from budgeting allows the annual effort to focus on gratitude, discipleship, and lives changed through ministry. People quickly recognize appeals centered on institutional need—especially those that sound like, “If everyone gives a little more, we can balance the budget.” This messaging, along with failing to tell our impact stories, directly contributes to the rapid shift in church members’ giving away from the local church. Invite people to respond to God’s goodness, not merely to close a financial gap. Discover the stories of three churches that have made the switch.
Moving from Fundraising to Spiritual Formation: A Better Way
- Check the motive: People-centered generosity begins with an honest question: Is our primary purpose in stewardship to raise money from the congregation to meet the budget, or to help people grow as disciples? No church leader would choose the first option. Yet many annual appeals focus on the institution’s need to fund the budget rather than on the individual’s opportunity to grow spiritually. Members can tell the difference—even when a budget appeal puts on its Sunday clothes.
- Choose formation over fundraising: Our experience helping churches cultivate cultures of generosity has made one truth clear: when an annual giving effort prioritizes spiritual growth and missional impact over merely meeting a budget target, households give more generously. The goal is not simply to fund ministry. It is to form generous disciples whose giving faithfully responds to God’s work in their lives and through the church.
Replace December anxiety with January clarity. Take a fresh look at the timing, motive, and message of your annual giving effort. If you would like help building a more thoughtful, spiritually focused process, Horizons Stewardship can guide you. Read “Scrap Your Boring Annual Campaign.”