As a faith-based organization, your church wants to ensure its values are evident across all of your operational activities, from stewarding physical assets like buildings to weekly gatherings uplifting the core tenets of your congregation’s faith. Living out your values in organizational practices honors your faith and also demonstrates trustworthiness to your congregation.
It’s especially important to align your church’s giving campaigns with your values. In order to lead a successful fundraiser, you must remind prospective donors what attracted them to your congregation in the first place and reinforce those values in your campaign.
In this guide, we’ll walk through four steps to ensure your fundraisers match up with your church’s values. Let’s dive in!
Be Clear on the Purpose of the Campaign
Your team has good reasons for launching a giving campaign—just make sure your congregation knows what they are. This both increases the congregation’s trust in your church and also makes them more likely to contribute. Sharing the heart behind the donation ask helps your congregation understand why giving is important.
Consider sharing information like:
- Campaign goal: Share how you determined the goal amount, what it is, and a breakdown of how the funds will be used
- Key contacts: Who congregants can speak to if they have questions
- Timeline of the fundraiser: How long you will accept donations, and when the funds raised will be allocated toward the intended purpose
Leverage a multi-channel communication strategy to communicate the purpose and details of the fundraiser, which will also raise general awareness of the campaign and make it more successful. When crafting your messaging, tie the fundraiser's purpose to your church’s values.
Involve the Entire Congregation
As a church, you value every member of your congregation. You can demonstrate that in your giving campaign by creating specific ways for everyone to get involved.
- Small groups: Encourage a little friendly competition by putting fellowship groups into teams for fundraising goals. The winning small group might be awarded pizza or another treat for their next gathering.
- Kid’s ministry: Generosity is probably already part of the curriculum for your children’s church. Give kids an opportunity to practice it, with kid-appropriate fundraisers.
- Lay leadership: This group consists of your most engaged members. Get them on board early with the giving campaign by testing messaging and asking them to take key roles in the fundraiser.
- Youth group: While teenagers don’t usually have their own disposable income, you can still get them involved with the campaign, and this is a great opportunity for them to gain volunteering hours as well, which may be a graduation requirement.
At the end of the giving campaign, make sure to recognize the role each group played in the efforts.
Provide Updates and Accountability Throughout
Implement checks and balances to ensure your values are upheld throughout the campaign. Your church likely already has risk management practices in place from your other operational activities, like running children’s programs and collecting weekly tithes, but all those concepts apply here as well.
Your church’s financial practices must align with your values and remain legally compliant. Foundation Group’s guide to church bookkeeping recommends hiring someone full-time or working with a contracted bookkeeper with faith-organization financial experience. Your church’s bookkeeper should be involved with the financial planning of the fundraiser and prepare timely reports for your church’s board and congregation on the campaign’s progress.
Fundraising campaigns also deal with sensitive personal information. If you don’t already have a data privacy policy and procedures in place, consult with data experts and create one. When donors fill out any sort of form or make a contribution, make the privacy policy available to them so they know how your church will use their data. Keep all personal data safe and follow best practices for data storage and updating.
A communication schedule can also help keep your campaign on track and make sure you don’t forget to share important progress updates with your congregation. In addition to keeping supporters informed, providing updates generates enthusiasm and reminds congregants to give if they haven’t already.
Incorporate Symbols of Faith
Your values are the framework for structuring your church’s fundraiser, but they can also show up in the specific fundraising activities. Generic fundraisers, like car washes or auctions, are great choices, but as a church, you have an opportunity to tie everything more closely to your values.
Lean into the symbolism of your faith and create a stronger connection between the giving campaign and your audience. Items or events that already have meaning to your congregants will likely elicit more engagement.
The possibilities are endless, but our favorite ideas are:
- Product fundraisers. Selling items with religious significance, like candles, Bibles, or religious books, is a great way to raise funds for your church.
- Seasonal campaigns. Follow the church calendar and theme your campaign with holidays. This could be a “30 Pieces of Silver” change drive for Palm Sunday or a “New Life Flower Fundraiser” selling flower bulbs around Easter.
- Events. Admission fees to a worship concert or the children’s nativity play can create fundraising revenue while also bringing your community together.
Whatever idea you choose, make sure you’re still communicating the purpose of the fundraiser. For instance, if admission prices are being charged to the annual children’s Christmas pageant, the funds raised should likely go to the kids’ ministry.
A fundraiser is another opportunity to live out your faith. By being intentional with planning your church’s upcoming giving campaign, you’ll not only reflect your values but also steward the members of your congregation well.
