For most churches, December makes up a large portion of budget giving. Studies have shown that in 2017, 23% of online giving for churches happened in December.
I don’t know about you, but making the most of year end giving can be the difference between making your budget or missing it.
One email can make all the difference in year end giving.
To make the most of your year end giving appeal, take these steps below:
1. Send an email to your entire database using the template below. If you’re using our Church Bookkeeping Software Portal, this email can be prepared to your active donors along with their donor statement showing what they’ve given to date.
2. Send this email Friday December 28 or Saturday December 29. Plan to send it around lunchtime or shortly before dinner time. This will hopefully catch people when they are checking their personal email and has less chance of getting lost in business emails.
What should that email contain?
1. Make it personal
Most databases have the option to enter the donor name automatically from the record. Take advantage and put the donor’s name in the email.
Dear John.
Hint: In most databases, this will be done by adding something like {first.name}
2. Re-Share The Vision
People give to things they believe in. Remind them about the vision and mission of your church.
2018 has been another great year of ministry for our church. Because of you, we’ve continued to reach our community for Christ and be a light in the dark world.
3. Share the Successes
I’ve written previously about sharing with your donors the tangible results of their giving. When people see that their efforts are working, they are more likely to continue. Same thing why diets fail, it’s hard to continue when we don’t see tangible results of our efforts.
Because of your faithful generosity and everyone else that calls our church home, we were able to baptize 25 people and see more than 40 come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
We sent mission teams to Honduras, Florida and East St. Louis and were able to support sending a missionary family to Albania.
We also saw a rise in our average worship attendance and now average 100 kiddos in our children’s ministry.
This is all possible because of generous givers like you.
4. Be Thankful
Kind of obvious, but remember to say THANKS!
5. Have a Call to Action – Make the Ask
The old adage, you have not because you ask not is true here. Be sure to remind people that our mission is not over. We’ve been successful, but there is still more work to be done.
While we’ve experienced great success in 2018, there is still work to do. Would you consider making one final generous gift to our church in December? Your faithfulness allows us to continue ministry and finishing out 2018 strong will have a great kick-start for 2019. Click here to setup a gift online.
6. Personal Close
Close with your name and a personal comment of thanks. This is an opportunity to show vulnerability and praise for your donors.
I am personally grateful for your partnership in ministry. Because of you, I can continue to serve our church and I’m always encouraged to know there are faithful and generous partners on this team together.
Your Pastor,
Steve
7. Remember a PS
Many marketing studies have been done and show that the PS statement is often the most important CTA (Call to Action) of an email. More people click the PS CTA instead of the link in the actual body of the email. Remember to add it.
Remember, gifts must be received in the church office by 11:59 on Dec. 31 to be credited in 2018. You may also opt to give via our online giving option here!
Make Generosity a Culture
Generosity is such an important part of a person’s spiritual development and you as their pastor have a great opportunity to have an impact on that. This one email can really determine the success or failure of your year end giving appeal.
If you’d like to know more about how we can help manage your finances to make generosity a culture in your church and let our Church Bookkeeping System manage your donor records click here to setup a time for a Free, Live Demo.
