Increased Giving in Difficult Financial Times: How to Get The Most Out of The Tools You Have

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Increased Giving in Difficult Financial Times
How to Get The Most Out of The Tools You Have

• Deneen Morelli, Regional Stewardship Consultant
• Heidi Janis, Regional Stewardship Consultant
• Neil Orchard, Rivertree Stewardship Services

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AmericanChurch

• Provider of Products and Services to
• Enhance Giving
• Improve Communications with Members
• Foster Vibrant Church Community

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Who We Serve

• Over 17, 000 Churches
• National Reach
• Dozens of Denominations
• Church attendance from 50 to over 15,000
• Non-profit organizations

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Agenda

• Current economic giving trends
• Steps to Optimizing Giving
• Employing your Tools

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Economic Giving Trends
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Generational Differences
World War II generation - Loyal - If church says
give, they give Baby Boomers - Not as trusting
will investigate - Hold institutions
accountable Gen Xers - No confidence in anything
they cant see, hear and touch - Hold small,
local groups in high regard rather than big
institutions
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Our Church Members
70 - 100
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State of the Plate

• 30 of churches surveyed said year-end giving
  missed their expectations.
• 32 of churches surveyed have cut their 2010
  budget by as much as 20.
• More churches plan to preach and teach on
  finances and generosity in a variety of ways.
• More churches say theyre seeking outside
  resources to help with church finances, giving
  and generosity.
• http//www.StateofthePlate.info

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Steps to Optimize Giving
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Competition for Dollars

• Every year the number of nonprofit organizations
  in America grows anywhere from 5 to 7.
• Churches are competing with nonprofits for
  dollars of members
• Not My Parents Offering Plate, J. Clif
  Christopher

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Why do you take an offering?
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• Your perception cf with the perception in the
  pew.
• Giving is often understood as a loss
• Change one word and change the focus.
• Invest instead of Give.

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Factoids

• less than 6 of born again Christians tithe
• 1921 giving was 2.9 of income
• 1933 giving was 3.3 of income
• lt2.0 of income given in 2001

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Why People Give
(Invest)
Revealing our CORE VALUES
4-Cs thanks to Kennon Callahan
C ompassion C ommunity C hallenge C ommitment
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Vision or?

• We prefer the word VOW
• Instead of asking What is our vision ask,
  What vows will our church take to make and grow
  disciples for Christ?

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Vision and Mission

• Mission The How
• How we perform our vows or fulfill our vision

• Try using the word vow
• Vow The Why
• Why we do what we do

Our Vows and Mission must be clear if our
stewardship message is to be accepted.
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Your church budget

• Is your Mission statement.
• Is a better interpreter of the church than your
  mission statement.

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What is Linear Giving??
IT IS...

• Connecting the dots - ownership and participation

• Connecting the offering plate directly to the
  vows and mission of the church.

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What is Linear Giving?
IT IS...

• Connecting the dots - ownership and participation
• Connecting the offering plate directly to the
  vows and mission of the church.
• Investing rather than giving.
• Investing with eternity in view.
• Ultimate fulfillment through motivated investing.

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Why do Members Give?

• They believe in the mission of the organization
• They have a high regard for leadership of the
  organization
• They believe the organization is fiscally
  responsible
• Not My Parents Offering Plate, J. Clif
  Christopher (pg 13)

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Set Goals Annually

• Understand what we are trying to accomplish at
  our Church and what funding is needed
• Maximize income for growth
• Meet budgeting needs for operations
• Achieve a giving participation level () from
  members
• Provide options to share all gifts
• Improve community vibrancy

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Set a Strategy

• A conscious plan for how we represent and
  deploy tools for giving, and how the tools relate
  to each other
• Understand church member demographics
• Languages and preferences
• Clarify purpose and impact of envelopes
• Clarify purpose and impact of online giving
• Plan the use of other communications
• Bulletins
• Newsletters

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Employing your Tools
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Use All of Your Tools

• Online Giving
• Offering Envelopes
• Newsletters (Inform!)
• Address Data Management
• Targeted Mailings
• Bulletins
• Website

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Offering Envelopes

• Encourage consistent giving
• Reinforce your Message
• Educate your membership

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Offering Envelope Planning

• What is your plan for using envelopes to achieve
  operating income requirements?
• How is this communicated to members and how
  often?
• Does the church use envelopes to record
  attendance?
• Has the church considered the value of the mailed
  envelope packet as a giving reminder?
• As a vehicle for communication and education?

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Why Use Newsletters?

• 20 increase in giving
• 22 increase in volunteerism
• 17 increase in spiritual time
• 19 increase in outreach
• Financial transparency results in
• 29 increase in Giving
• Zech Best Practices in Stewardship

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Best Practices for ChurchesBased on
multidenominational studies by Charles Zech,
Villanova University

• Report Church Financial Information to Members
• Build Community through Engaging Church Members
• Give Members a Role in the Decision Making and
  Planning
• Create roles for Ministers more than
  Volunteers
• Institute Pledging
• Communicate to Members Through Multiple Channels
• Special Cultural or Language Needs of Members

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Summary

• Set Annual Goals
• Determine Your Strategy
• Evaluate your current practices
• Use All of Your Tools
• AmericanChurch can help

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Thank You!

• AmericanChurch Stewardship Solutions-
• Deneen Morelli
• 800.446.3035 ext. 6333
• dmorelli_at_envelopecenter.com
• Heidi Janis
• 800.446.3035 ext. 6327
• hjanis_at_envelopecenter.com
• Rivertree Stewardship Services (Linear Giving)
• Neil Orchard
• 866.862.3700
• churchhelp_at_aol.com
• www.rivertreestewardship.com