Stewardship Through the Years and Through the Year

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Stewardship Through the Years and Through the Year
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Two Questions
Do you know who gives what?
What are you doing now in your church related to
stewardship?
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Where Can You Start When They Dont Want to Start
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Sermon Series
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Start a Conversation
Estimate of Giving Card
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Enlist the Finance Committee
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Plan Your Stewardship Year
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Spring

• Plan the Fall Stewardship Series
• Raise Disciples, not Budgets

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Summer

• Understand Levels of Giving
• Write Letters Accordingly

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Fall

• Enlist Volunteers letters, testimonies, small
  group studies, financial workshops
• Annual Meeting with Report
• Charge Conference
• Visit with Lead Donors

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Late Fall

• Prepare for Christmas Eve
• Prepare Parent Workshop

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Winter

• Thank Lead Donors - December
• Communicate Use of Christmas Eve Offering

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All Year Long

• Communicate!
• Website
• Announcements
• Enote
• Pastors Report at Church Council
• New Members Class

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Have You Considered?
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1. Bank Draft or Automatic Withdrawal

• The most common option
• Creates least resistance
• Easy to implement

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2. Credit or Debit Cards

• Rare ten years ago
• Much more common today

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3. Online Giving

• Online commerce is growing.
• Churches are increasingly using their websites to
  permit online giving.

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Advantages of Expanded Options
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1. Predictability

• Steady and predictable amount of giving.
• Helps cash flow
• Softens slump times of the year

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2. Increased Giving

• Many churches using these options report
  increased giving.
• Certainly people have more opportunities to give
  and less reasons not to give

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3. Convenience

• More and more members desire to pay their church
  pledge the way they make other payments.
• Many have converted almost all their regular
  payments to automatic systems.

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4. Reaching Younger People

• Many young people carry little cash and write
  few, if any, checks.
• Online payments are a way of life for them.
• Political campaigns show the power of online
  giving by the young.

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Responding to Questions and Concerns
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1. Are we separating giving from worship?

• Worship and giving patterns already vary. Some
  contribute monthly yet attend weekly.
• Many churches provide cards in the pews for
  members to put in the offering indicating that
  they give through electronic funds transfer.

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2. These ways of giving just dont seem right.

• Dont underestimate the ability of people to
  change their patterns.
• 83 of Social Security recipients receive
  payments by automatic deposit.
• Offering envelopes, common today, were
  controversial when first introduced.

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3. Does permitting use of credit cards encourage
debt?

• Some churches provide caution language and
  others offer debt counseling.
• But few claim that charitable giving is the
  reason for high debt.
• Most use the credit cards for convenience and
  card perks.

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4. What about the expense of these options?

• There are administrative costs and fees.
• Most feel the advantages far outweigh the
  expenses.

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5. What about the poor who dont have these
options?

• Estimates are that about 10 of households have
  no bank account and function solely in cash.
• Before implementing any option, make sure it fits
  the circumstances of members.

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Getting Started
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• Who should be talking about this?
• What new option seems to fit best your church?
• What information do we need to gather to
  implement this option?
• What else needs to be done to move ahead?
• When and how should we introduce the option to
  give the best chance of success?
• Have we tested the option sufficiently before we
  go public?

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• Establish a
• Congregational Giving Profile
• for your congregation

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• Your Congregational Giving Profile (CGP) will
  vary from other churches
• But your CGP will stay remarkably the same from
  year to year
• Changes will occur gradually so the CGP is
  recalculated each year

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Using the Congregational Giving Profile
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Step 1 Determine Your CGP

• Gather data on giving each month (or week) for
  the last three years.
• Eliminate large one-time gifts that might skew
  normal giving patterns

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• This gives 12 (or 52) totals leading to 100 for
  each of the three years.
• Now for each month (or week) calculate the
  three-year running average.

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Step 2 Apply CGP to Current Budget Year

• Using budget goal for current year, use the CGP
  monthly or weekly percentages to calculate how
  much is needed each month or week.
• This becomes the amount expected and monitored.

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• The key figure is the cumulative amount needed
  through the most recent week or month based on
  your CGP.

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Pay Attention to How You Are Doing
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• The old system could lead to complacency as
  churches get used to being behind all year but
  the money comes in December.
• The CGP is a much more precise method.

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• How you are running within a month or two should
  indicate how you will end the year.
• This permits time for adjustments if needed.

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