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Pastors know that year-end giving is crucial to their church’s financial health. In fact, most churches receive over 30% of their annual donations in December alone! Whether it’s the joy of the Christmas season that moves people to give, or the motivation to make a final tax-deductible gift before the end of the year, every church should be wisely leveraging their year-end fundraising strategies.
But despite the seasonal increase in giving, many churches still struggle with three common mistakes that threaten to limit the effectiveness of their end-of-year giving campaigns.
Let’s take a look at the top end-of-year giving mistakes and discover how to successfully encourage generosity that makes a big impact for the Kingdom!
Misalignment is when pastors, church leaders, and congregations have different visions of what it means to give generously. How does this happen?
Joe Jensen—former pastor and Senior VP of Content & Engagement at Barna—summarizes this tension well: “Pastors, we have to get honest with ourselves.’ We have to stop and ask, ‘What does the Bible tell us, and what are our people telling us about how generosity is part of this whole-life discipleship pursuit?’”
Simply put, people come to church with their own unique perspectives and personal opinions of what it means to be generous. But generosity doesn’t happen by accident—it takes intentional effort by the church leadership to teach, model, and cultivate biblical generosity as part of the discipleship journey.
Here are three practical steps you can take today to ensure that your pastor, church leaders, and congregation are in alignment.
Misinformation is the result of decisions being made based on past practices or assumptions rather than correct, relevant data. To fix this, churches may need to ask themselves some tough questions. For example:
The best giving platforms, like Subsplash Giving, provide you with world-class tools and support to find important information that helps you better understand your donors, save money, and make more informed decisions to encourage generosity!
Missed opportunities are strategies within your overall giving plan that aren’t being leveraged to their full potential, or sometimes not at all. In our quickly changing world, it’s wise to stop and review which parts of our strategies are working, not working, or missing altogether.
Here are the following three big giving opportunities that each church should consider.
1. Digital giving
One of the biggest barriers to church giving is a lack of digital giving options for congregants. Today, nearly everyone carries a smartphone and has access to the internet. People are used to online banking, digital transactions, and many enjoy the convenience of monthly auto payments.
Your church should be offering alternatives to passing the basket, providing digital giving solutions to make tithes and offerings as simple, continent, and easy as possible.
Offering a digital giving solution provides a secured and convenient way for people to give to your church. Your donors can see their donation history online, manage their accounts, and even set up recurring giving so they never miss an opportunity to give.
2. Next-generation givers
More Millennial and Gen Z donors are giving than ever before! Creating opportunities for online Christian tithing is a great way to engage the younger generations and provide them with easier ways to donate. And, if a resurgence or revival does happen among these generations, churches need to be technologically ready to receive them.
Of those who’ve made a donation at church, 71% of Millennials and 89% of Gen Z report they’ve made a donation through online giving, trending upwards. Additionally:
To effectively encourage younger generations to give, pastors need to identify practical needs that are being met by their generosity, needs that these generations care about and want to support in their church and local community.
The next step is to incorporate storytelling at different times during your church services (outside of the offertory and giving moments), in your communications, and on social media that paint a picture of the real-life impact your church’s generosity is having on the community.
3. Non-givers
Why do some people not give to their churches? While there are many possible reasons, one of the major factors is a lack of trust.
Building trust with your donors should be a top priority for your church. Research shows that 67% of donors consider trust essential before giving to a cause—but only 22% say they have a high level of trust in the organizations they support. The bottom line is that if someone doesn’t trust your church, they will not give to your church.
Your church can take concrete steps to increase that trust and give donors confidence that their contributions are making a difference. Financial transparency, accurate year-end reports, and regular budget meetings are practical ways to demonstrate accountability and integrity. What this means for your church is that:
It takes time for people to trust churches enough for them to feel comfortable to give. Understanding your donors’ hesitations, demonstrating ongoing financial integrity, and showcasing stories and statistics will all aid in creating a trusting relationship with your donors.
Not only has the way people give today changed, but so have the reasons why people give. For pastors, a practical place to start is by taking a look at your messaging and preaching to make sure that you’re tying generosity into your holistic discipleship approach.
Taking time to align your church on what generosity looks like, why it’s important, and where it fits in their discipleship journey can unleash generosity in your church, bringing powerful results.
And just as important, you need to offer multiple giving options for your donors and tithers. Without utilizing new digital methods and making giving as easy and convenient as possible, your church could be missing out on thousands of dollars in donations.
For example, the small congregation at Revolution Church in White House, TN was able to raise over $1,000 in a single week to help with recovery efforts for the 2020 tornado in central Tennessee. And the Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Minnesota launched a digital giving campaign that quickly raised $500,000 towards a new church building!
By understanding your donors, building trust, and providing convenient giving tools like Subsplash Giving, your church can unlock the full potential of year-end generosity—turning dreams into reality and making a lasting impact on your community!
If your church would like to learn more about Subsplash Giving and how to encourage year-end giving in your church, [.blog-contact-cta]let’s chat![.blog-contact-cta]
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