The State of Giving
The following is a repost that can be found at https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/the-state-of-giving “Giving Continues Its Decline, Down 2.1% in 2023. Can Fundraisers Turn the Tide in 2024? 1. That was the headline of a recent post I read by The Chronicle of Philanthropy on Giving USA’s annual survey on giving. When you delve deeper, you find […]
Half Time for Giving
The following is posted at https://www.onlinegiving.org/blog and is used with permission. We’re now halfway through the year, and it’s time to assess the state of giving in your church. Are you meeting your budgeted needs, or are you falling behind? Based on my experience, most churches are struggling to meet their budget needs by this […]
A Question of Timing
About this time every year, churches call and ask, “Is it too late to start a capital stewardship campaign?” The answer is, it depends! We joke that most of our answers are, it depends! That is because there are so many variables that go into campaign planning. As I write this at the start of […]
Before You Can Start, You Have to Get It Out of Committee!
Don’t let a committee kill your dream of expanding your ministry! I cannot tell you the number of times I have talked to a pastor with a dream of expanding his ministry, only to have a committee kill that dream with questions, hesitations, and roadblocks. Committees are designed to enhance ministry, not kill it. Yet […]
Navigating Through Icebergs
An Open Letter to SBC Leadership In the fall of 2019, I began discussions with leaders of the Executive Committee about building a stewardship platform for SBC churches. Then Covid hit, and then controversy came, followed by resignations, and all that talk was shelved. Last April, I was invited to speak at the Executive Committee’s […]
An Easy Formula to Evaluate Your Church’s Growth (or Decline)
Is your church growing or declining? How would you know? We found a great article posted on the BP Toolbox site by Thom Rainer. We subscribe to the theory that if Rainer writes it, we need to read it. The following post, reposted here with permission, gives us a great gauge of growth. Without growth, […]
What Happens When We Blame Others for Ministry Difficulties
Chuck Lawless, in a recent post on BP Toolbox, brought up the topic of blaming others for ministry difficulties. It is our experience, and studies show this, that the Senior Pastor must be highly engaged and involved in building a culture of generosity. So, pastor, the path to financial security at your church starts with […]
The Seasonal Giving Strategy
Whether we like it or not, three-day weekends are built into our calendars. This is a major reason why churches must have a seasonal giving strategy. The following post, written primarily about an Easter offering, none the less contains valuable information about seasonal giving strategies including three-day weekends. It is used with permission. Does your […]
Common Mistakes to Avoid
One of the easiest ways to increase giving over the summer is through an effective online strategy. I use online giving options heavily in my summer plans. Below is a recent post I wrote for my sponsor: https://www.onlinegiving.org/. We are weeks away from summer, which is traditionally one of the most challenging times of the […]
7 Reasons to Make Summer Giving Plans
As we continue this Journal about summer giving plans, we bring you a previously posted article by Mark Brooks. Originally, it was published before Easter. We have changed the first sentence to reflect that we are now post-Easter. You can find the original post linked at the bottom of the article. As we post this, […]