Best Practices to Increase Giving in Your Church

There’s an ice cream shop in Venezuela that sells more than 900 flavors, including Spaghetti and Cheese. Now I like spaghetti, and I like ice cream, but those two things just don’t go together.

A Gourmet French Ice Cream company sells Caviar Ice Cream. I’m pretty sure that’s a French rouse to get people to pay more money for ice cream.

There are some strange ice cream flavors in the world, but do you know what the most POPULAR flavor of ice cream is?

Vanilla.

Forget 31 Flavors. With all the options out there, most people still opt for vanilla.

In Japan, you can treat yourself to Taco Aisu, which is basically Octopus Ice Cream. But most people prefer a scoop of vanilla on a simple cone.

It may be boring, but the simple stuff works.

The plain stuff matters.

So here is the first really plain, somewhat boring thing you can do to increase giving in your church.

Best Practice #1:  Send Quarterly Contribution Statements

In our survey of over 1,000 churches, we learned that communicating with donors on a quarterly basis was a key factor for churches exceeding their budget. Communicating quarterly was MORE OF A FACTOR than preaching on giving.

Take a look at this graphic:

Do you see the problem? 57% of churches only send annual contribution statements – the minimum required by law. Since when is the government minimum the standard for the church?

Only 36% of churches are sending quarterly statements.

Sending a quarterly contribution statement was one of the top five indicators for churches that exceed their budget. The correlation is strong:  Most of the churches who exceed their budget send quarterly contribution statements.

Why Don’t Churches Do This 

1. You don’t want to overload people with information. If you do it right, people will actually APPRECIATE the updates.   People will NOT get mad at you for letting them know where the money goes.  People will NOT be upset to hear about how their donations are advancing the Gospel.  People WILL NOT complain when you explain the WHY behind the WHAT.
2. You say it’s too expensive to send snail mail to your whole church.  If you have a large church, the postage can add up.  If you have a small church, every dollar counts. But can I be blunt? Refusing to send regular communication to your donors because it will cost fifty cents is BROKE THINKING. Communicating with your key donors, and giving them an avenue to continue their financial support is one of the best investments you can make.
3. You don’t have a large staff.  A lot of churches don’t implement stuff because there’s not a person to lead. Don’t feel guilty…it’s actually a good leadership move to not over-commit yourself. But this isn’t complicated. You can find ONE KEY VOLUNTEER to lead the charge. You don’t have to pull your staff away from their regular responsibilities.

This is a great time of year to send a quarterly contribution statement. Here are four, completely editable quarterly contribution statements you can use now.