Tag Archive: giving

The Church’s Large Donor You Don’t Know About

Do you have a “large donor” in your church? Or as some call them, a “high capacity” giver?

I’d say, “Yes, you absolutely do.” It’s you. It’s the church leadership. The church leadership has the responsibility of stewarding well whatever resources God has brought to the local church. And if you steward well and maximize what you already have, you’ve effectively become a large donor for your church.

Sure, most every church would like to have people who could write a check and end their church’s debt, or help them construct an attractive building, or even replace that 40 year-old carpet.

But first, as church leaders we have to put on the hat of steward. Grade yourself as a steward – currently, how well do you:

– Effectively train your volunteers?

– Handle responsibly the dollars you do have?

– Cast a compelling vision for why people should give their resources (talents, time, and treasure)?

– Connect the dots between vision and practical ways to give their resources?

I think a lot of our churches are not resource-rich for two reasons:

  1. We’re not stewarding well what we already have (so why should there be more given?)
  2. We haven’t compelled our people with a vision or convinced them of a need

God says He loves His church, and the Bible says He has equipped it. As church leaders, we have to see ourselves as stewards. At times, that might requiring active curating, but the people and resources are there – we just have to be intentionally looking.

You might already have a large capacity giver. You might already have a person who’s willing to give 300 man hours in volunteerism. You might have a graphic designer who’s willing to give work in-kind to the church, or a capable handy man who would work at a discount and could lessen your church’s maintenance fees.

God has given us what we need to serve His church, and as stewards, curators, and discerners, we can accomplish His ministry with what He has already given.

Don’t allow yourself a victim mentality… “That church (down the street) has everything.” But instead, know that God may have already given your church what it needs, but it will take some prayerful discerning, curating, and excellent stewardship of those resources.

 

Continue Reading

How To Present A Compelling Church Budget

Our church’s budget has increased 172% over the last decade. That’s due to God’s blessing, but it’s also a product of good presentation (amongst other factors). To inform and compel, we have to continue finding new, creative ways to present our budget each year.

Some people will give financially either way, but our budget presentations are for the other people—those who have means to give but need a vision for their money, and also those who give very little and need a God-reason for their giving to increase.

What goes into creating our budget, and later, presenting it? Here are some key components to make it compelling:

•             Present a process that’s prayed over throughout its iterations.

•             Give people the opportunity to speak into the process and ask questions. We do this by presenting the budget drafts to multiple groups in order to get their thoughts. Two weeks before a congregational vote, we host town hall meetings to address questions. Read more about our church’s unique governance.

•             List easily identifiable categories and their budget amount. We do this at town hall meetings and on the web. We also list the previous year’s budgeted amount and the % change, if applicable.

•             Use multiple mediums to promote the budget and vote. We use two: a video and a printed brochure.

View examples for the 2015 budget: printed brochure and teaser video.

We strive to make the video story-based, while still providing clear numerical information. We give numbers, but also frame them in a way that’s helpful to tell the stories behind the dollars.

The printed brochure changes from year to year. It acts as an advertisement for how God uses our monetary gifts.

We’re blessed to have a great Communications Team who helps produce these. But the same things can be done for presenting small budgets, and it can fit to your church’s situation or scale.

The key is to appeal to as many audiences and learning styles as possible. Use figures for left brainers, graphs for visual learners, stories for all, and art forms for the artists. All of these can still point toward how the church is going to use the money God allocates to it through the givers.

Here are a few tips on how to plan your presentation:

•             Consider your different audiences at each point. Remember you’ll have to have communicate multiple times, in multiples ways, to multiple groups in order to get the message out. Your budget presentation has to be agile and contextualized.

•             Present broad buckets for those less inclined towards numbers, and use words they understand.

•             Be specific enough to answer most accountants’ questions. Town hall meetings can also help address higher level concerns.

•             Communicate how your dollars are accounted for. Refer to audits, finance teams, or whatever measures you use for checks and balances. Givers want to trust you. Make that easy for them.

 

Continue Reading