« Church raises $19M in 24 hours | Main | Ed Stetzer talks about money and ministry »
April 6, 2009
Experts offer advice on what works when it comes to funding
I came across this article and posted it via my Twitter feed like I do so many others. I received very positive feedback, so I thought I'd share this article with my readers who may not follow me on Twitter.
Check it out: Focusing on What Works: Veteran Fund-Raising Consultants Offer Their Ideas.
Two elements of success identified in the article are:
1. Understanding which fund-raising efforts are productive and which are not. Pastors and church leaders should be obsessed with this. Productive efforts create "evangelists" who will spread the word about your church as they spread The Word.
Because we typically don't do a good job at measuring results in church life, we end up relying on perception and intuition. No one should manage any operation or organization - including churches - based on intuition alone. It's important for us to constantly and consistently evaluate the results based on the investment (not just money, but time and energy too). Perhaps less is more.
2. Proving to donors what their money will do. The key word is "proving." You can't prove anything without evidence. What evidence can you provide your "investors" that you are taking their capital and achieving high "eternal" returns on their behalf?
The people who sit in your pews want to know how their money is being used. They want a say in the process. More important than ever, they no longer blindly trust you to do what's best. That level of trust has to earned not once but over and over again.
Showing your membership that you can make good decision, invest wisely, and yield a strong return will result in faithful giving and giving in larger amounts.
Posted by bstroup at April 6, 2009 4:39 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.lifeway.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2086