Follow Up

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We’re Giving Away a Case of Giver Booklets

May 31, 2012 in Follow Up with 39 Comments

A few months ago, we released a super-practical, done-for-you product. It’s a short, mailable, booklet you can personalize and send to people who make donations to your church. Take a look, but keep reading…

We designed this to be a simple solution. Whenever you see that someone made a first time donation to your church, grab one (they come in a case of 48), personalize the included thank you note, and put it in the envelope. Send it in the mail, and you’ve gone a long way to personally thanking someone for their donation. Here’s the website where you can get more information and order.

Today, we’re giving away a case of 48 of these booklets. Simply answer this question in the comments and you’ll be entered to win.

What do you do when someone gives money to your church for the first time?

How to Follow-up with Digital Donations

May 29, 2012 in Church Finance & Ministry Money, Church Fundraising, Follow Up, Online Giving In The Church with 0 Comments

Churches often forget a key group of people in church – digital givers.

People who give online may go unnoticed if the pastor does not set up systems to remind them to follow-up on first time digital givers, just like first time givers with cash or checks. Sometimes, because churches use digital giving systems outside of their church database management system, the digital givers could be left out.

As you build your systems, make sure that your online givers receive the same communication that other givers in your church receive.

For what it’s worth, we think every digital donation should receive:

An immediate thank you email with relevant links.
A hand written thank you note about a week later. You won’t find a better option than this.
A quarterly contribution statement at the end of the next quarter.

Giving Rocket Member Story

May 25, 2012 in Church Finance & Ministry Money, Church Fundraising, Follow Up, Online Giving In The Church, Talking About Money With Your Church with 0 Comments

Here’s a story from one of our international members, Proclaimers Church who has been going since the early 90s and has been lead by Pastor’s Tom & Denise Rawls since 2003. They currently average over 500 each Sunday and have a campus in Norwich and in Ipswich, UK.

“When we did the first quarterly report for 2011 we had come in more than £5000 under budget on tithes and offerings. I first started to read some articles by Casey Graham and others around this time to see what we could do to try and turn this around. Despite seeing a slight upturn, we were over £8000 behind budget at the end of June. It was at the start of October that we decided to give the $1 trial of Giving Rocket a go – nothing to lose!

It turned out that we were doing most of the right things but weren’t doing them strategically or intentionally enough. Giving Rocket helped us take what we already had and use it in the most effective and efficient way.

We had 2 online giving systems, both of which were a bit confusing so we simplified this down to one with the option of automating giving on there. We were a lot more intentional about how we spoke about money during our church service. We revamped our first time giving system and redesigned our quarterly giving statements. It was around this time we started running budgeting courses too to help people with their personal finances.Giving Rocket helped us take what we already had and use it in the most effective an efficient way.

Tithes and offerings have consistently increased since we were members. We ended last year above budget on tithes and offerings and the first quarter of this year was up more than 25% on the previous year and April was our highest month on record as a church for tithes and offerings.”

Special thanks goes out to Olly Kiff, Proclaimers Business Manager, for sharing this fantastic story with us! We are truly honored to serve your church.

If you’d like to see what Giving Rocket can do for your church, sign up for the $1 trial membership today!

How To Wake Up DEAD Donors

March 26, 2012 in Follow Up with 0 Comments

Did you know that the largest group of donors in your church aren’t really donors at all…they are non-givers – people who may care about you and your church, but they don’t participate in the offering at all.

Engaging this large group of people can be tough, but if you do it, it will unlock the opportunity to do a ton of ministry. Here’s four things you can do to wake up dead donors.

Step 1: Realize that you have dead donors.

A dead donor is someone who claims the name of Jesus but doesn’t give. They are in your church. Identify them.

Step 2: Pray for your dead donors.

Pray that God would do a work in their life so great in the area of money that only He can be credited. Giving isn’t a financial issue – it’s a spiritual one. Start praying that God would speak to them.

Step 3: Do a big offering and give the money away.

If you would do a special offering and give the money away, it usually wakes up a bunch of dead donors. Special projects and offerings are GREAT ways to engage brand new donors.

Step 4: Follow up personally.

Send them something like this to thank them. It really does make a difference.

Waking up dead donors must happen. Start identifying the dead donors in your church today.

The Missing Ingredient in Most Church Financial Language

February 28, 2012 in Follow Up, Talking About Money With Your Church with 0 Comments

If you use numbers to talk about the numbers, you’re leaving behind a ton of people. Most people in your church could care less about spreadsheets and charts and never open Excel.

Yes, information is important. But mind-numbing facts and stats are only going to communicate to the accountants and engineers. If you want to communicate to everyone, you’ve got to tell stories.

• Tell stories of how your church helped provide groceries for a local family in need.
• Talk about how your church has given money to a mission organization to feed the hungry and impoverished children in another country.
• Talk about how your resources have been used to walk hurting and broken families through healing and restoration.

Make sure you tell stories that inspire, encourage and inform people about the things happening in your church. Information is great, but if you combine it with a story, you’ll hit a homerun.

The key is to make sure you communicate that those who are giving to the ministry of the church are directly part of these stories. It gives people a place and point of significance. When people feel significant, they continue to invest!

Who Should Follow Up With Givers

February 27, 2012 in Follow Up with 0 Comments

When it comes to following up with givers, here’s one of the most frequent questions we get: Who should be the primary person to follow up with givers in my church?

I believe that it primarily should be the pastor, as a means of leading the way. After all, you are the person who needs to know the heart condition of your church. A lot of churches are struggling because the pastor doesn’t assume financial responsibility, confining himself to his office or study. The reality is the pastor is the pace setter.

Just because you’re the primary point person doesn’t mean you need to do all of the work. Utilize your staff and team of volunteers to get this done.
When it comes to follow up emails, you can write a note, but have someone else compile stories, create and send the final email. As for things such as quarterly newsletters, you create an outline, write a personal thank you and let your most creative person produce it.
If you’re creating videos, get your church’s techno genius to help you produce, upload and send them to the church. Let a creative guy have fun.

If you’re in a multisite church, you can utilize your campus pastors to handle these things as well. However, when it comes to the High Capacity giver, no one can follow up with them and have the impact that you will.

No matter what, take the time to invest and love the people in your church who are generous. Let Giving Rocket help you develop a plan and strategy for following up with givers in your church. If you join this month, you’ll get access to a ton of follow up coaching, samples and templates.

5% of Churches Are Breaking the Law

February 16, 2012 in Church Finance & Ministry Money, Follow Up with 1 Comment

In a few months, we’re releasing the results of a massive giving survey, and some of the results are truly amazing. The entire findings will be available soon, but I was floored by one particular answer.

We surveyed more than 1,000 churches and found that 5% of respondents don’t send any form of annual contribution statement at all.

Not only is this not smart, it’s actually against the law. While each person is responsible for providing documentation to back-up their charitable contributions, 501c3 organizations are required to provide written documentation to substantiate donations. Since it’s usually not possible to provide “on the spot” receipts, churches send an annual contribution statement.

Not only should you do this on an annual basis as required by law, you should also do this on a quarterly basis to regularly communicate with your donor base and show them how their donations are helping ministry happen. Four times a year, send them something that connects their donations to the vision. Inspire and inform your donors. It’s good leadership.

Make Your Follow Up Personal

February 14, 2012 in Follow Up with 0 Comments

This month, we’re talking about following up with donors. We’ve provided a TON of coaching and documents for our members. But we’re also unpacking a few things here on the blog. Today, Michael Robison, the Lead Pastor of Uncommon Church in Austin, Texas, shares some thoughts about making follow up personal.

Personal Follow Up Is Better

The world is becoming less and less personal. With mass email, Facebook, twitter and more, there is less personal connection than ever. But, the reality is that people crave personal attention and connection.

So, the more personal, meaningful and memorable you make your follow up process, the better response you will get.

I come from a background in high-end retail sales. In that market, people are overwhelmed with mass mailing, television advertising, sales gimmicks and radio. They become numb to the efforts to get their attention and create a response. In fact, I would say that the less personal your contact is, the more likely you are to lose a person. One of the greatest ways that we increased sales was to personally give time, attention and invitation to people. Let them know you care about them more than you care about the sale, but be genuine! People can smell a fake for miles!

The same applies to follow up with givers in your church. The more personal you make the follow up, the better your return. The key is your intention and heart. People need to know that your follow up is motivated in helping them reach their potential as a follower of Jesus. That is meaningful to a person. What makes it memorable is the manner in which you approach it all.

Creative Communication with Your Donors

February 13, 2012 in Follow Up with 0 Comments

When it comes to following up with first time givers, you need to thank them personally. When it comes to following up with consistent givers, you need to communicate with them regularly.

That means you should at least send a monthly email highlighting the ministry of the church and connecting the dots. This isn’t a church-wide email; it’s something specifically written to donors.

And one of the key ingredients in this communication is telling stories. Here’s a video that one church produced to communicate with their donors and thank them for their participation.

Following Up With Givers Isn’t About the Money

February 9, 2012 in Follow Up, Talking About Money With Your Church with 0 Comments

Following up with people who give to your church isn’t about providing information, it’s about investing in the discipleship process. People who give do so for a variety of reasons, but it’s important that you help them understand the “why behind the what.”

Aside from a yearly giving statement, there is little if any communication from many churches, about how money given, is advancing the mission.

If you want to know where someone’s heart is, follow the trail of treasure. After all, that’s what Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34 say. Giving and stewardship comprised over 26 percent of Jesus’ teaching and is found countless times throughout each book of the Bible. It’s the only area of life in which God actually tells us we can test Him. (Malachi 3:10-11)

So if you overlook this area – this principle – then how can you ever fulfill your calling to equip the saints for every good work? (Ephesians 4:11-12) Simply put, the reason you need to follow up with the givers in your church is the fact that you want them to be mature disciples and followers of Jesus. That can’t happen without the area of stewardship in their life being developed as well. It’s about the person’s heart and not about their money.

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