Because of Your Generosity
I wrote the following post for my sponsor, OnlineGiving.org, in 2019. We find that 80% of our receipt emails after a donation are opened and read. As a result, we encourage our partners to utilize receipts as a thank you, pointing out the value of the donor’s gift. The story below, used by permission, illustrates how a thank you can lead to the next gift.
“Because of your generosity, we were able to disciple and share the gospel with 349 middle schoolers, 389 high schoolers, and volunteers at Elevate Summer Camp this July.” Donors at The Summit Church in Durham NC receive an email confirmation like this one every time they give online.
Blair Graham, Summit Church’s Pastor of Stewardship and Generosity, had a big idea. He wanted to show donors what their gifts accomplished. “We wanted to grow in how we articulate generosity. We wanted to tell the story of what generosity accomplishes in a fresh way.”
The Summit Church in Durham NC, reached out to OnlineGiving.org to find a creative and unique way to tell the story of what offerings to the church accomplish. Working with the tools provided by OnlineGiving, they have modified the giving receipts that are sent out to tell stories of how God is using their gifts in the local community and beyond.
Graham stated that every three to four weeks The Summit changes the message of the receipts. “We try to personalize the receipts around what is going on at our church that might be attractive for people to hear about and compelling for them to give to,” said Graham. The following are a few of the first sentences of past receipts:
Because of your generosity, we were able to share the gospel with 1,100 kids at six Summit campuses during VBS in June.
Because of your generosity, this Easter, we were able to share the good news of the gospel with 16,352 people who attended one of our Easter services! By God’s grace, 73 of those made professions of faith!
When The Summit expanded into another campus, the giving receipt said this,
Because of your generosity, we were able to launch our Garner campus on January 13th. By the grace of God, we had 582 people worship with us, including over 100 first-time guests, 108 kids, and 27 students on our very first Sunday! What each of those numbers represents is a life, a story, that is now being shaped by the gospel. Your giving has given many a new church home!
These receipts have given The Summit another way to communicate with people, making giving meaningful through stories of life change. Dan Boorn with OnlineGiving said, “When The Summit asked us about customizing receipt confirmations, we were more than happy to respond! We love it when our clients come to us with new ideas that increases the local church’s ability to share the gospel of Christ with their communities and ultimately lead to life-transformation.”
The Summit is using a tool from the non-profit world of telling stories to touch a donor’s heart. Look at any non-profit’s website, and it is all about the story of meeting the needs of people. They then boldly ask you to give. Stories help you show people what a gift to your church accomplishes. Stories put a face on giving. A good story motivates generous giving.
Consider this giving receipt that The Summit sent out around the launch of a new campus.
Four years ago, Anna Murphy was a student at NC State and not yet a believer. She came to the pre-launch services at the Blue Ridge campus, became a Christian, and was baptized. On September 25, Anna stood in that same room where she was saved and helped launch the Garner campus.
A donor to The Summit feels the significance of their gift and is thus more likely to give again.
The Summit family loves the receipts. Graham said, “People stop me all the time to tell me they love the receipts message. It is encouraging to people to see what a gift to our church accomplishes.”
The Summit Church has found a way to connect how giving to their church impacts the world. They don’t just thank people for giving, they show them what their gift accomplished. Your church can do the same thing.
My friends at OnlineGiving.org can help you set up your receipts to tell the story of what your church is doing. OnlineGiving.org currently offers an incredible 12 different methods (tools) of giving, including mobile giving, text giving, and church in-app giving.
Find out why it’s time for a switch, contact OnlineGiving.org today at (615) 206-4000 or drop them a line at support@onlinegiving.org.
The preceding can be found at: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/because-of-your-generosity