11 WAYS TO SUPPORT STEWARDSHIP FOR YOUR CHURCH #2

 

            Last week, I started sharing about the VANCO stewardship booklet on the 11 Ways to support stewardship for your church. I started with the first way: How to Increase Tithing, and the eight ways to do that.

            This week, I want to share the second way: Fundraising, with the first part on fundraising guidelines and the eight ways to do that. To make sure you do fundraising well, make sure all the ground rules are set and all your “ducks are in a row.”

1.    Create a Clear Agenda – this is important to make sure you are only doing what you are allowed to do, by Discipline and by law.

2.    Establish Protocols for Approving Fundraisers – It is important that only approved fundraisers are allowed. Having someone fundraise in the church’s name, without approval and without guidance. Develop a process that will guide the church to from idea to fruition. Who do people go to with ideas? Who has the ability to approve? Part of the protocol is to determine what the point of the fundraising is; how will it benefit your ministry, and what is the cost to start.

3.    Limit the Types of Fundraising – Too often fundraising seems to be the focus of people in the church, because we “need money to stay open.” But when it becomes the focus, it can overshadow the ministry work. One of the phrases in the VANCO booklet said it this way “you also don’t want your church to become a religious flea market where you’re always pushing products unto members and visitors.” Wow! Reminds me of the scripture for the third Sunday in Lent this year. Create a list of the types of fundraisers you want to do and order them by level of importance.

4.    Incorporate Systems for Financial Responsibility – A budget needs to be created for each fundraiser and the ability to track the money, etc. needs to be in place. The ability to make online donations or purchases as part of your fundraising effort is important.

5.    Understand the Difference Between Ticket Sales and Donations – Basically, donations are non-taxable income, which means a gift being made with no expectation of receiving anything tangible in return. Purchases of tickets imply something else.

6.    Learn About Waivers and Liability – Check with your church’s insurance carrier to make sure your coverage is adequate for what you’re planning (event, vendors, etc.) Are there waivers that need to be created and signed?

7.    Event Marketing – Communication is important for everything in the church, but communicating about upcoming fundraising is also important. If people don’t know, then the fundraising won’t be effective.

8.    Establishing Quality Controls – Create objectives, communicate frequently, make changes as needed, and check in with each other regularly. And once the fundraiser is over, meet to debrief. What worked? What didn’t? Approach this not as a matter of finger-pointing but of learning, so future fundraisers will be successful.

We’ll learn more next week about increasing tithing and what that means. We started with the second part of that list (fundraising) but will continue the ideas about fundraising next week.

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.

 

              11 WAYS TO SUPPORT STEWARDSHIP FOR YOUR CHURCH #1

 

            Continuing my reading of VANCO’s stewardship material has led me to their booklet on the 11 Ways to support stewardship for your church.

            The first way is How to Increase Tithing. To do that:

1.    Teach Authentic Stewardship – we need to let our money serve God, not the other way around. This is obviously not the prosperity Gospel. Our folks need to feel comfortable hearing about money from the pulpit. Hearing about authentic stewardship helps lay the groundwork for healthy church finances. The entire point, however, is not to just increase the amount of money that comes in, but to help your folks live a more Christ-centered life.

2.    Lead by Example – Does your financial life reflect the Gospel? Take an honest inventory, consider a money autobiography; determine the areas of your life where you may be serving money instead of God. People are looking up to you as a leader in the church.

3.    Ask Frequently - I know people complain that we talk about money too much in church but, to be honest, we usually don’t ask. You can preach about stewardship and talk about Christ-center lives, but you still have to ask. The time in the service when we talk about giving is a good time to remind folks different ways to give and how their gifts are used.

4.    Get Excited About Church Projects – Tell the stories of how lives are changed because of the generosity of folks. People want to give when they know that their money is making a difference.

5.    Show Gratitude – We need to thank people for their gifts. A throw-away line in the bulletin or newsletter isn’t enough. Give a warm thanks. The year-end giving statement is a perfect place to thank people (not just the lines that the program spits out) – you can put in something that you create – share how their money was used.

6.    Explain Biblical Tithing – Some of our people don’t honestly know how much to give. If you talk about tithing, about determine what they are giving and what they are called to give, that will help. You could use the “steps” to help people determine where they are and where they can step up to.

7.    Be Financially Transparent – Most people, unless they are on a committee or in leadership in the church, don’t honestly know how much it takes to run the church. Let people know. And I don’t mean tell them how much we need weekly, and how much we’re short, but something more encouraging. Be financially transparent about how funds are used.

8.    Ask with Confidence - Don’t feel awkward or embarrassed. Ask with confidence. If you don’t feel confident, practice!

 

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.

 

       

                                         BE CREATIVE YEAR-ROUND #4

 

            For the past two weeks, I have been looking at Vanco’s creative list as a year-round stewardship idea. This list is part of the last of eight rules for effective church leadership laid out in the booklet put out by VANCO, titled The Complete Guide to Church Stewardship. It was to BE CREATIVE. In being creative,

            My breakdown of their list is below. For the fourth quarter of the year (October, November and December), I am providing some additional ideas below.

 

January                            First Fruits

February                          The Gift of Love        - Our Brothers and Sisters Keeper

March                               Ministry Team Spirit

April                                  Miracles and Wonders

May                                   It’s our Anniversary (heritage Sunday)

June                                 Planting Good Seeds

July                                   Virtual Messages/Social Media Sunday/The Conversion

August                              College Alumni Day

September                       The Unexpected/ Brick Layers

October                            Financial Testimonies

November                        A Praise of Thanksgiving

December                        The Christmas Gift

The fourth quarter of the year would include Financial Testimonies, A Praise of Thanksgiving and The Christmas Gift.

Financial Testimonies – Most of us do our stewardship work and plans in the fall, so I thought hearing other peoples’ generosity stories during October made good sense. I find it much more motivational to hear someone who has traveled what I have traveled or that I know speak about their generosity and talk about financial miracles and giving, than I do hearing someone talk about it in generalities. After all, it’s the faithful givers who have allowed our churches to continue his mission work and help others.

A Praise of Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving occurs as a holiday in November, so we could use this time of the year to be thankful and to reflect on the blessings received during the year. Hearing sermonettes from different people in the church or outside the church based a theme and scripture would be interesting to hear. Are there ways to share with others during a time when you’re thankful for what you’ve received?

The Christmas Gift – During this season, many people are in a giving mood. Remind your folks that the church should have a place on their Christmas giving lists. Do this reminder at the beginning of December and again the Sunday before Christmas. Use skits, have youth help. Christmas giving shouldn’t just be the latest joy or gadget, but sharing with others what has been given to us at Christmas!

We’ve traveled through the entire year with various creative ideas. Consider using a couple during this upcoming year!

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.

 

                                      BE CREATIVE YEAR-ROUND #3

 

            For the past two weeks, I have been looking at Vanco’s creative list as a year-round stewardship idea. This list is part of the last of eight rules for effective church leadership laid out in the booklet put out by VANCO, titled The Complete Guide to Church Stewardship. It was to BE CREATIVE. In being creative,

            My breakdown of their list is below. For the third quarter of the year (July, August and September), I am providing some additional ideas below.

January                            First Fruits

February                          The Gift of Love        - Our Brothers and Sisters Keeper

March                               Ministry Team Spirit

April                                  Miracles and Wonders

May                                   It’s our Anniversary (heritage Sunday)

June                                 Planting Good Seeds

July                                   Virtual Messages/Social Media Sunday/The Conversion

August                              College Alumni Day

September                       The Unexpected/ Brick Layers

October                            Financial Testimonies

November                        A Praise of Thanksgiving

December                        The Christmas Gift

The third quarter of the year would include Virtual Messages/Social Media Sunday/The Conversion; College Alumni Day; and The Unexpected/Brick Layers

Virtual Messages – During COVID, many of us started offering live-streaming or virtual messages. Now that some people have returned to the worshipping in the pews, there is conversation whether virtual messages should continue. I believe they should. There are people that cannot return to worship because of health and distance. Many people are more comfortable online then off-line, it seems. What if our virtual messages were more than people “watching us” and more worshipping differently? These messages can be live or recorded. Attention-grabbing graphics are important; a “talking head” alone probably isn’t enough. What if offsite Bible study were offered? This conversation came up for me recently in a discussion when a church that had traditionally offered a Lenten series realized that some of those classes had had to be cancelled in past years because of weather (Upstate New York—who knew?). Virtual worship would allow every class to occur.

Social Media Sunday – This is a continuation of virtual worship. What if people who have worshipped virtually were invited to come to church in-person for a special occasion. It could even be offered outside in the summer, so people might be more comfortable!

The Conversion – Virtual worshipping also brings up the idea of online giving. People who are in the pews also give online, of course. But, how are we asking/encouraging/helping online worshippers to participate in worship through their giving? There are websites, texts, chats on Facebook; simply providing the ability to respond to a moving message or a call from God by giving is a way to encourage online giving. This, of course, goes back to the virtual messages paragraph above. We need to change from watching worship and instead worshipping virtually.

College Alumni Day – When it’s summer-time, college-bound students are getting ready to depart. Churches can provide scholarships to help those students. Maybe a way to encourage giving toward support of colelge0bound students could be a college alumni day, where people wear their college jerseys. The church could be decorated with college pennants; youth ministry its placed in charge of the service. With education, every dollar counts. Seeing the youth in action, and hearing about future plans well help people understand how those scholarships are used.

The Unexpected – This is one of those topics that doesn’t really fit anywhere, but anyone who has been in the church for any length of time knows that there are often issues with the physical plant: leaky roof, broken pews, worn carpet, broken windows. We need to maintain our church buildings; but sometimes there isn’t enough money for routine maintenance, which can lead to greater problems down the road. We can’t become slack in our giving, because the buildings need to be maintained; when maintenance is delayed, the costs go up.

Brick Layers – In addition to maintaining the current physical plant, sometimes we have to raise capital for an expansion, or an education wing. Making it memorable can help with the giving: engraving bricks, giving trees or something that gets people’s attention.

So just a few more ideas; next week, I’ll visit the last quarter of the year!

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.