Fundraising Basics

Revitalizing the church requires revitalizing your financial strategy.

It appears to me that there was a time when even a smaller American church could get most of its funding from within its congregation, but I assure you those days are long gone for most of our ministries (if they're in revitalization mode). This means the revitalization pastor is on the hook for yet another skill and that is fundraising. I have never been through any sort of formal training when it comes to fundraising, but I have been able to raise enough money to go full-time in a lower-income church, do major renovations in our building, and even purchase the property right next to our church which was sold to us at about $170,000 outright last year. All glory goes to God. There is no doubt in my mind that ultimately, He is the one who provides, and my efforts would be entirely in vain without the moving of his hand. Yet, there are a couple principles I picked up along the way that I’d like to share with you as you seek the finances you need in your revitalization. I hope to write a couple of posts on this topic - one about fundraising basics and one about fundraising details. Let’s start with the basics.

1. GAIN CONFIDENCE IN YOUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Before you can ask for money, you need to know and believe in the way your church handles its finances. Our church has always handled our finances very well, but when I came in 6 years ago, I needed to modernize a few things to be sure we had a foundation to build on. First of all, we needed to simply check in with our bank. All of the deacons and I went to the bank together, sat down with a staff member, made sure we had the best account, the cards we needed, and could use the online service they had to offer.

Speaking of online services, we needed to go digital. Most of you can skip this step, but we then had to set up online giving which took an afternoon or two of me doing some research on the various platforms available. At the end of the day, I simply picked one - tithe.ly - and it has served us well since. Next, we hired an accounting firm, SPARA accounting, right here in Greenville. For about $225 per month, they took over nearly everything. From storing receipts to producing giving statements, to putting donations in the right accounts. A huge bonus is the added layer of accountability. Our policies and procedures were good, don’t get me wrong.

There’s a peace of mind that comes with everything being seen, processed, and reported by an outsider. It makes it much harder to make a mistake.

Finally, I made sure we were all on the same page. For example, before I started raising support, I went over the plan with the deacon board. They knew I was raising support from friends, family, and others outside of the church. That it would go through www.supportgriggs.com rather than griggschurch.com and be easily recognizable by the accounting firm so it could be added to my pay. Everyone was on board with the plan since we all recognized it was time for me to go from bi-vocational to full-time and this seemed to be the best way.

2. MAKE A REALLY, REALLY LONG LIST

I learned this one from a book called “Funding Your Vision” by Matt Rogers.

Funding Your Vision

Sit down and write the name of every person, church, or organization that you can think of.

Include old friends, new friends, Facebook friends, family, extended family, acquaintances, college roommates, old co-workers, that guy you went to high school with, neighbors, your barber, your mailman - you get it. Write down everyone you can think of who has a name and a pulse.

Don’t create this list based on your mental calculations of how likely folks are to give. In my experience, it's a total surprise when it comes to who will give and who won’t. Just write out the list and save it. You can make calculations later.

3. ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS

Fundraising requires being able clearly to articulate your mission and cast your vision. In other words, you have to be able to SHOW and TELL the answers to potential donors' internal questions.

• What exactly is your church trying to do? For us, at Griggs, it’s, “Make disciples that transform the neighborhood of Poe Mill with the gospel of Jesus.”
  

• Why is it vital that your church succeed? For us it’s, “Poe Mill is an over-looked and underserved neighborhood with an average household income of $18,000 a year and is riddled with addiction. We believe the only hope for redemption is the another Jesus-centered, neighborhood-focused church to meet their physical and spiritual needs.”

• What difference will the donor be making? This dips into our vision - or what we want to see as a result of our mission - which is, "Jesus-centered living, church revitalization, and neighborhood-based missions in Poe Mill, West Greenville, and beyond.”

You’ll also need to be able to explain what you’re fundraising for.

Is it for a project? If so that’s a one-time gift. Is it for support? If so, that is likely a smaller but recurring gift. As I said, you need to SHOW and TELL. In other words, you have to answer all these questions in physical and digital materials. I use a PDF with photos, graphs, and stories. It is easy to print as many as needed or send as an email.

I also have used a website to help raise my personal support to be full-time:

Support Griggs

And once you have a lot of this written down, it’s easy to basically recite it in front of a camera, and BOOM you have a video. I don’t think videos need to be too fancy. I’ve done a lot of fundraising using only my iPhone. But they do need to SHOW some of the needs, the neighborhood, or the project.

For an example of a simple video my all-star assistant pastor, Josh Moll created check out

Sample Video

By God’s grace, so far, we’ve raised $17,000 of the $45,000 we need.

4. ASK THIS QUESTION

As vital as it is to cast your vision, ultimately fundraising comes down to the guts to ask one question, “Will you consider partnering with us financially?” And you’re going to have to ask this of (likely) more than half of that giant list you made earlier. First, you’ll take that list and mark out people who truly aren’t askable. Like, perhaps you know that one uncle that you listed is completely out of work. Or you don’t know the phone number or address of that friend from jr. high and they’re not on Facebook. Mark them off the list. Second, with the list you have left, you'll need to contact each one in some manner (email, message, call, face-to-face if possible) and make the ask.

There will be maybe 5 people you feel comfortable asking. And like 95 you feel uncomfortable asking. But you’re going to have to ask. Not hint at, not hope for, not ask for prayer with an asterisk of “money would help too.”

You have tell them what you need and ask them to help meet the need.

This can be really awkward, really forward, and really hard. And, this can end in one of our greatest dreads - rejection. But if you can’t do this, you can’t fundraise. Here’s some good news. In my personal experience, no one hates you for asking, most people don’t mind being asked at all, and some people actually liked to be asked. But you have to ask.

• You can and should change the way you think about what you’re asking. I mean, in one sense, you’re not asking for anything, you’re inviting people to partner with you in building the kingdom of God and meeting the needs of the lost! You’re giving them an opportunity! But you have to ask.

You can ask them to consider one of several options. For example, $25, $50, or $100 per month. But you have to ask.

• You can ask them to consider giving for a certain amount of time. For example, I have a few givers that have agreed to help for a span of 2 years. But you have to ask.
  

• You can ask them to give a gift by a certain deadline. For example, “We are trying to upgrade our soundboard by Easter, so from now until then, will you consider partnering with us financially?” But you have to ask.

Which ultimately means you have to trust.

You have to trust that your identity is not in who does or does not believe in your vision. It’s not who writes a check or doesn’t even respond. It’s not in how weird you feel as you try set up meetings with people in the business community. And it’s not in how much money comes in.

Your identity IS in the one who called you to revitalize the church and reach your neighborhood.

One Big Idea: Ultimately, He’s going to use you for His plan and fund it His way through His people. Trust him as you seek financial partnerships that make revitalization possib

mitch@griggschurch.com