How do you recover lost offerings? Every year I produce a playbook focused on helping churches make up lost ground over lost offerings. Lost offerings? Yes, whether by weather cancellations or giving simply being behind, churches often end the summer with a decline in their offerings. This decline produces a gap between their budget and what people have given. This stresses their ability to continue missions and ministry for the rest of the year. They must close that gap to keep functioning. The question is how?
For one thing, you can't merely sit around wringing your hands about the decline in giving. You must act. However, your actions can’t come off as desperate. Ultimately, that will not make a difference. What is the best way to overcome any giving decline? I have found that it is using the connecting power of vision. Why? Because people are motivated by your vision and, if properly communicated, they will give.
Your vision is your foundation. If you have ever built a house or a new facility at your church, you know how important the foundation is. The same is true regarding a plan for making up a lost offering. Start by laying the right foundation, and it begins with crafting the message of your appeal.
The Right Message - Your first step is to craft a message that matters. Again, dollars follow a vision. Your vision is what leads people to give. Thus, every appeal needs a driver for the vision to penetrate and capture the hearts and, ultimately, the wallet of your donors. The more compelling the driver, the more likely you will get a response.
Every "ask" needs a driver. What's a driver? The driver is the message or story you are communicating about why people should give to your appeal. There is no better driver to achieve generosity than a vision, if communicated effectively.
What is vision? My friend, Herb Buwalda, came up with the best definition. He says, "’Mission,’ answers the question, ‘Why are you here?’ ‘Vision’ answers, ‘Where are you going?’ What is God asking of you now to impact the mission?"
The 3 Cs of Vision Casting – Your vision must contain these three Cs to be heard. Your vision must be…
- Clear – Remember, Keep It Simple Somehow!
- Concise – Can people repeat in two to three sentences what you are asking them to give to? If not, then you need to work on the "ask."
- Compelling – Does it touch their heart? If not, then the response will be less than you hope for.
Your message is your vision; the better you craft that message, the more money you will raise. Take time to think through how to best craft a message for the vision driving this appeal to recover your lost offerings.
The Right Tools - Let me share one final, important thing. You need your vision heard, and you need to give your members the ability to respond quickly. When it comes to tools, I advise the following,
- Dynamic website. Your website is the first place most people will visit BEFORE they ever darken your doors. Make yours a good one!
- Robust digital giving platform. You should be working towards most of your giving coming in some digital means. I’ll write more on this below.
- Social Media platform and presence. Like it or not, many people spend most of their time on social media. If you are not there, you miss an opportunity to connect with your people and those in your community.
- Postage-prepaid envelopes. I know this sounds old school, but this can be a great tool if used properly.
- Extensive database of your donors. A given is to have all your member's email addresses. Yet you also need to have the ability to break this list down by various subgroups like first-time givers, consistency, etc.
- A mass email platform, such as Constant Contact or MailChimp. There are many platforms to help you send out emails in multiple batches. Some offer free services for a limited number of sends. Most cost only a few dollars a month. Find the tool that suits your church database best.
All of the above make it easy and quick for people to respond. At the same time, you need your systems to be easy for your staff to use. I stressed the importance of having a robust digital giving platform. When looking for a giving partner, you need one that provides all the latest platforms, especially those that allow quick giving, like text and church app giving. You also need your giving platform to be easy to use for your staff. This is one of our major strengths. We are more than just a processing company. Our platform seamlessly integrates with other tools like your website and your ChMs.
Our platform and tools allow you to communicate your vision and tell the story of what your church is accomplishing. By casting a clear, concise, and, most of all, compelling vision, people will more likely give to support that cause. The same methods of broadcasting that vision can also allow people to easily give to support that vision.
Here is a post that gives great ideas on utilizing our platform to share the power of vision to motivate future gifts. https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/remarkably-custom-forms
Our 15+ different giving methods offer donors amazing convenience. We also provide the support to help you and your team learn how to easily use our platform to share your vision. Find out more at (615) 206-4000 or at support@onlinegiving.org. We can help you use the power of your vision to recover any lost offerings!
The Stewardship Coach
It's common for churches to notice a decline in giving by the end of the Summer. Communicating your vision and telling your story of Kingdom impact can make up lost ground in giving!https://t.co/seqJvm7dE8 pic.twitter.com/m2AaFcYY8Y
— Online Giving (@onlinegivingorg) August 10, 2023
