March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

How To Wake Up DEAD Donors

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.

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February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Missing Ingredient in Most Church Financial Language

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!

Filed Under: Follow Up, Talking About Money Tagged With: ,
February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Who Should Follow Up With Givers

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.

Filed Under: Follow Up
February 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

5% of Churches Are Breaking the Law

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.

Filed Under: Financial Systems, Follow Up Tagged With: , ,
February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Make Your Follow Up Personal

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.

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February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Creative Communication with Your Donors

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.

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February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Following Up With Givers Isn’t About the Money

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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February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are You Following Up With Givers in Your Church

A missing element, in cultivating a healthy and God honoring level of stewardship and generosity in your church, could be the process of following up with givers. In reality, helping people create and maintain a healthy culture of stewardship is all about communication.

If you stop and think about it, this is true about almost every area of life.   You’ll have a better relationship with your wife and kids if you take the time to communicate.  Communication creates health.

You’ll have a better working relationship with your boss or with your employees if there is clear and open communication.  Communication creates clarity.

The same is true about donors in your church. If you want to encourage generosity and stewardship with the people in your church, adopt same approach.   Here are four things you need to do:

  • Identify the types of givers in your church.
  • Find out the best ways to communicate.
  • Determine what you need to say.
  • Be clear.

You need a plan for following up with all types of givers in your church.  And this is what we’re delivering to every Giving Rocket member this month.  If you’ll put the principles we will teach you this month into play, you’ll take a huge step towards creating a culture of generosity in your church.  If you want to learn this stuff, join now for just $1.

Filed Under: Financial Systems, Follow Up Tagged With: , , ,
May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Any Church Can Do A Generosity Retreat

We’ve worked with a lot of churches that have had great success with a generosity retreat – a special event planned for leaders and donors.  It’s one of the most effective tools for developing generosity in people, but it’s often one of the hardest things to implement.

But in my experience, ANY church – big or small, young or old, can do a generosity retreat.  Here are three tips.

1.  Plan an overnight trip. Your retreat doesn’t need to be long and it doesn’t need to be fancy.  In most cases, just one Friday night and Saturday morning at a nearby location is just right.  You can start your retreat after dinner on Friday night.

2.  Let people pay for it. One of the biggest barriers churches present is the cost of such an event.  Deep down, people know it will pay off, but it’s sometimes tough to find the cash to execute the event.  But it’s absolutely okay to let the people pay for this event!  Think about it – most of the people you would invite are already committed to your church.  They will appreciate the time with you!

3.  Provide a memorable experience. You don’t need sound and lights.  It’s okay to leave the band and speaker at home.  But you should take time to plan some meaningful moments during the retreat.  Let people know where your church has been and where you’re going.  Thank people.  Teach them something about Jesus.  Find a way to engage their hearts and hands.

Have you done anything like this at your church?  How can you make this possible for the leaders in your church?

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May 20, 2011 By 2 Comments

What To Do When Someone Gives A Lot Of Money

If you’re a giving rocket member, or even a regular reader of this blog, you know that we’re big on creating healthy financial systems in your church.  There may not be one silver bullet that will double your budget, but with God’s help, you can lead a financially healthy and generous church.  Part of your intentionality should be appreciating people when they do make a contribution.

Hopefully, you’ve got a process for thanking, appreciating and communicating with donors, but today, I want to talk about what to do when someone gives a large gift. You need to have a system for appreciating large and unusual donations.  And it’s really quite simple.  Here you go:

Large gifts need a personal response.

When someone makes a large donation, I recommend that you send a personal, hand-written thank you note.  Your personal touch communicates appreciation.  I’d say something like:

Dear Becky,

Wow!  Thank you so much for your generous donation to Cross Church.  I am blown away by your generosity and I’m so thankful.  Thank you so much for partnering with us to help people all across Austin find new life in Christ.  If I can ever help you in any way, just let me know.  Thanks again!

Randall

Are you and your church doing this?

Filed Under: Follow Up
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