Recent reports have discovered that younger donors are trusting charities and not for profits less than older generations.
This discovery needs to be strongly considered by churches and the pastors that lead them. According to numerous other reports, giving is down and with the rise of inflation in the United States, pastors need to consider how they are encouraging giving and generosity in their local church.
While the Biblical mandate of tithing should be sufficient, that unfortunately is not enough anymore to encourage people to be consistent givers to their church. As pastors, we have to find new ways to make generosity part of the DNA of our local ministry.
Let’s face the fact.
Giving to a local church is placing trust in that ministry that the funds will be stewarded well, and the church will do good things with the faithful gifts of the donor. People are skeptical and it’s ever more important for the local church to show it can be trusted with the sacrifice of their donors.
As pastor and church leader, we have two important roles in establishing trust to the donors of our church.
First, as we’ve already mentioned, it’s important to make generosity part of the DNA of our ministry. Not only should we talk about it, preach about it and make it part of our core values but we need to further that by exhibiting it in how ministry resources are utilized.
The key to increasing giving and generosity in the local church is to model to the donor that Their Giving equals Ministry Happening!
My Giving = Ministry Happening
My Giving = Ministry Happening!
This can take many forms, but the basics are that each donor needs to be shown and reminded that they play an important role in funding the ministry of the church.
Most simply, send a quarterly giving statement to each donor showing their giving Year to Date. Not only that, attach a thank you letter that shares stories of lives impacted. Provide tangible explanations of ministry that happened that was a direct result of the generosity of your donors. It cannot be shared enough, trust me.
Secondly, your donors need also to find trust in a transparent and foundational financial management system for your church.
They need to see that the funds are being stewarded and managed professionally. Gone are the days when trusting “Sister Susan” as volunteer bookkeeper.
Consider a solution like SimplifyChurch Bookkeeping to manage your church bookkeeping and accounting. Our system has proven over almost 2 decades that a solid church bookkeeping foundation is key to reaching and retaining faithful donors.
Your ministry is too important to not take giving and generosity very seriously. It’s not enough to just hope that people will be faithful. It’s not enough to assume people will see the need and step up. As pastor, you have to consistently remind your congregation that giving is not only a big step in their spiritual development but is vitally important in that success of your local ministry.
