Church Fundraising Principles
The are different types of church fundraising ranging from tithing contributed during religious services to phone solicitations, direct mail campaigns, and specific types of church fundraising events like bake sales or gala dinner events. But regardless of the types of church fundraising chosen, there are a few simple principles that must be examined.
The first principle is that successful fundraising requires careful preparation and planning. The second is that no church should rely so much on a single funding source that the group would be unable to operate without it. All types of church fundraising preparation needs to be guided by this second principle because a church that is totally dependent on a large contribution from one person is very vulnerable.
The churches that put forth the effort to use many types of church fundraising such that the loss of any one source of contributions would not have a large impact is clearly in a strong position. For example in 1869, the Metropolitan Museum of Art turned solely to the wealth citizens of New York City for contributions. More than a century later, it still gets donations from prosperous citizens but it also receives contributions from local, state, and federal governments, and from corporations and foundations as well. Sure this is just an art museum and not a church but don’t lose sight of the bigger picture here in terms of diversifying the source of funds and not being overly dependent on any single source of contributions.
Today, diversification of monetary support is critical and no church can realistically expect to fund its work repeatedly from any single source. Even if the church succeeds in getting one huge grant, it cannot and should not be realistically expected that the grant will be renewed every year, and the future of the church is far from secure. Furthermore, funding sources prefer seeing that a nonprofit organization’s funding is indeed well-diversified because this shows a consensus that the organization is important and worth supporting.
By becoming associated with all types of church fundraising supporters, fundraisers can select those most appropriate to their own church. Remember, it is not likely that every supporter will show interest in your work, and so, with limited fundraising resources, you will need to choose the battles you are most likely to win.
All philanthropy can be tracked back to individuals rather than to foundations, governments, or businesses. The United States’ founding philanthropists were people such as Benjamin Franklin whose vision and generosity led to the creation of several of Philadelphia’s earliest nonprofit institutions.
During the Middle Ages, Europe’s churches were constructed not only through the largesses of queens, kings, and other nobility but also through the support of trades people and artisans. Many members of merchant and guild associations, including bakers, carpenters, weavers, shoemakers, butchers, masons, fishmongers, furriers, and other contributed to the building of the famed cathedral in Chartres, France; their funding underwrote the creation of many of its breathtaking stained glass windows. Church fundraising goes way back in time, as you can see.
This article was written by Todd Nelson, Marketing Director for Capital Merchant Solutions, Inc (HolyProcessing.com). CMS has been in the merchant account business for nearly 10 years, and offers free merchant accounts to both online and retail businesses. CMS also offers a unique program called “Refer a Congregation“, which allows Churches and their members to earn money. This article may be republished as long as absolutely no changes are made, and the resource box is included. Copyright 2007 – Capital merchant Solutions, Inc. – All rights reserved.
- Todd Nelson
:: Oct.12.2009 :: Health :: No Comments »
