The are several types of church fundraising ranging from tithing collected during religious services to direct mail campaigns, phone solicitations, and specific types of church fundraising events like gala dinner events or bake sales. But regardless of the types of church fundraising chosen, there are a few simple principles that should be examined.
The first principle is that successful fundraising requires careful thought and planning. The second is that no organization should rely so much on a single funding source that the group would not be able to function without it. All types of church fundraising planning needs to be guided by this second principle because an organization that is totally dependent on a large fundraising donation from one person is extremely vulnerable.
The organizations that put forth the effort to use diverse types of church fundraising such that the loss of any one source of contributions would not have a large impact is clearly in a strong position. For example in 1869, the Metropolitan Museum of Art turned solely to the wealth citizens of New York City for support. More than a century later, it still gets support from wealthy citizens but it also receives aid from local, state, and federal governments, and from corporations and foundations as well. Sure this is just an art museum and not a church but don’t lose sight of the bigger lesson here in terms of diversifying the source of donations and not being overly reliable on any single source of funds.
Today, diversification of fiscal support is critical and no organization can generally expect to fund its work repeatedly from any single source. Even if the organization succeeds in getting one huge grant, it cannot and should not be realistically expected that the grant will be renewed every year, and the future of the organization is far from secure. Furthermore, funding sources prefer seeing that a nonprofit organization’s funding is indeed well-diversified because this shows a consensus that the organization is important and worth supporting.
By becoming associated with all types of church fundraising supporters, fundraisers can select those most appropriate to their own organization. Remember, it is not very likely that all your supportes will show interest in your campaign, and so, with limited fundraising resources, you will need to choose the opportunities you are most likely to win.
Philanthropy can be traced back to individuals rather than to governments, businesses, or foundations. The founding philanthropists of the United States were individuals such as Benjamin Franklin whose generosity and vision led to the making of several of Philadelphia’s earliest nonprofit organizations.
During the Middle Ages, Europe’s cathedrals were constructed not only through the largesses of queens, kings, and other nobility but also through the generosity of artisans and trade people. Many members of guild and merchant associations, including bakers, carpenters, weavers, shoemakers, butchers, masons, fishmongers, furriers, and other contributed to the building of the famed cathedral in Chartres, France; their funding underwrote the creation of many of its breathtaking stained glass windows. Church fundraising goes way back in time, as you can see.
This article was written by Todd Nelson, Marketing Director for Capital Merchant Solutions, Inc (HolyProcessing.com). CMS has been in the merchant account business for nearly 10 years, and offers free merchant accounts to both online and retail businesses. CMS also offers special programs for Churches and their members. One of these unique programs is called "Refer a Congregation", which allows Churches and their members to earn money. This article may be republished as long as absolutely no changes are made, and the resource box is included. Copyright 2007 - Capital merchant Solutions, Inc. - All rights reserved.
- Todd Nelson
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
