communications

Non-profits will begin their year-end appeals very soon. Why? Because they know that the largest percentage of charitable giving occurs during the last two months of the year.

What are you doing to accelerate generosity toward your ministry in 2011? As people begin to consider how to invest the last of their charitable dollars this year, you will want to have top-of-mind position with your congregation.

To do this effectively, consider all your communication channels. Email news, newsletter, worship bulletin, pre-service slides, pre-offering stories and updates, video blog, and weekly email communications.

Communicate the effectiveness of your ministry - tell your givers about the return on their charitable investment. Make it about life change, not about funding the budget or ending the year “in the black”. People want to know that their giving is making a difference!

There are at least three reasons why this is important:

In October I started a series to look at ways you can effectively compete and WIN the battle for contributions. Do you not think you are in a competition for charitable dollars? You might want to review these statistics. It is not simply a checklist of things you can work on for two weeks and move on. But instead, it will require a significant amount of time and energy.  For many of you, this may mean a complete rework of how you currently approach stewardship and generosity in your church.

Part One was devoted to Mission 

Part Two was devoted to Communication

Part Three considered “Donor Stewardship”

This issue looks at Options for Receiving Gifts…Making it Easy for your donors to give to your organization.

First and foremost – because this series is about competing for the charitable dollar, most non-profits are offering an online giving solution to receive gifts from their constituency. Don’t think so? Pull up their websites and have a look. Online giving options are everywhere.

To my amazement, the conversation with churches over whether to offer online giving still meets with resistance from some who do not feel it is necessary. One lay leader recently told me that he strongly disagreed with my statement “Your church makes it difficult for some to be generous.” 

They take the offering the way most churches have taken the offering for years – by passing an offering plate or basket during worship services. And that’s the only way one can make a gift, without stopping by the church office or mailing in a check during the week.