End of year giving brings in around 25% of charitable giving so you need to know how end of year giving can help your capital campaign. From Thanksgiving to the last day of the year non-profit charities bring in around 25% of all the money they collect on a yearly basis. You can be sure they know how to use end of year giving. You can also be sure that your members are getting appeals from these same non-profits asking for donations. I want non-profits to succeed but I want the Church to succeed more! So, let’s look at how end of year giving can help your capital campaign.
First and foremost it is all about the message of the appeal. In the next few weeks your members will get letters from multiple non-profits asking them to give to support various needs. They will show pictures of starving children, abused dogs, devastated homes, etc. They are attempting to tug at the heart strings of donors. Their message is compelling and urgent. Yours needs the same sense of urgency and above all must be compelling.
Whatever the appeal make it about vision not numbers. People give to vision not to help you make some arbitrary budget number or even to hit a campaign numerical goal. Donors are more prone to give to something that has in their minds more meaning than simply making budget. Your people will not be motivated to give for the sake of hitting some numerical target. They will be motivated to give to ministry and vision.
Every appeal should have a driver. By driver I mean the appeal should be driven to touch my heart and thus get me moving towards my pocket. That is why the appeal needs to be about vision. Don’t make the appeal about hitting some number. Tell them why hitting the number is important, it fuels ministry! Talk about the ministry that will happen with the gifts that come in to fuel that work. Remember people don’t give for the sake of giving. The goal in any campaign is to link the raising of dollars to the vision you are attempting to fulfill. The project or why you are raising money is simply the tool used to facilitate ministry. So, make the appeal about ministry not money.
The best drivers are your story. Non-profits tell and show their stories of need and how your money will help meet that need. We have the greatest story ever told. So, tell your story! Show how this campaign will better position you to do ministry and missions. Show how their gift will make a difference in the lives of real people right there in your community. I always say, get a story, work your story, tell your story and people will give to support that story!
Make it easy for donors to give. The best plans allow for multiple ways in which people can give. If you are sending out a snail mail letter then include a postage paid self-addressed envelope for them to mail donations back in. Give them links to your online sites so they can give that way. The more option you give and the easier you make it for people to give then the more you will receive.
Finally, have an end of year plan. You are up against experts. Non-profits spends millions of dollars to raise the funds they need. They have the best plans while most churches have no plan at all. So, get a plan and work your plan. Good end of year planning can and will help you increase the amount your campaign raises this year.
Get my, “The 2 Minute Drill: A Winning Plan of Action for End of Year Giving.” Purchase The 2 Minute Drill
“The 2 Minute Drill,” will give you all the tools you need to help close out your end of year well. I have written all the various sample letters, emails, offering talks AND laid out a step by step calendar of when to send them. Using my plans at the end of the year I have helped scores of churches raise millions of dollars. I can help your church!
Act now to see an increase in your campaign giving with a well thought out end of year giving plan! If you don’t have a plan use mine! Get the 2 Minute Drill
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach
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