As a church leader, one of the trickiest things to navigate is the conversation about giving at your church.
Why?
Well, for starters, it’s awkward…
Too many churches have a reputation of constantly asking for money.
And although we all know that isn’t true of every church, we also feel that tension every single time we stand up in front of our congregation and ask them to support our ministry by giving.
We feel like we’re begging…
Another thing that makes it hard is the fact that people might miss it.
Whether they’re out of town, missing church that morning, or present but completely tuned out, there’s always a chance that people will miss our call to give.
And when they miss the call to give, they usually miss out on giving!
I imagine we all agree that talking about giving is important. Financial support from your congregation is vital for the health of your church. That’s why it’s important that we learn how to talk about it well in all areas. We don’t want people to miss out on an opportunity to contribute to the mission and vision of our churches!
So with all that at stake when it comes to talking about giving, it’s important that you find a lot of ways to talk about it.
One of the best things you can do is incorporate a little variety into the way you communicate to your people about giving.
Let us start by suggesting email.
Email can actually be a great tool for collecting an offering at your church.
Think about it! Your people are checking their emails all day every day. They have a constant connection with their inboxes. Whether it’s a computer, phone, or tablet, email is with them everywhere they go.
So if they’re out of town, miss a part of the message, or simply zone out during the offering time on a Sunday morning, you can still catch them in their inbox. And when used the right way, email offerings can put a little kick in your church budget.
Here are 5 quick tips to utilizing this incredible tool…
Time Them Out.
There’s no science to this, but we believe that sending out 4 offering emails a year is a good starting point. If your congregation only gets one email offering per quarter, it’ll keep their inboxes from being inundated.
With all the marketing and junk emails that people get, you have to make sure your offering emails stand out. You want to be sure it’s something they’ll see, pay attention to, and open. If you send out too many, it’ll become white noise, and people will have an easy time ignoring it. On the other hand, when the emails are timed out strategically, people are more likely to click on it and read it.
Cast Vision.
In the same way that you cast vision when you set up Sunday morning offerings, you want to make sure you connect offering emails to a bigger picture. People need to understand why you’re emailing them to ask for their generosity. So help them understand! What impact will their money make? Where exactly will their money go? How will it help spread the love of Jesus?
Never forget that financial generosity of your congregation, and the vision and mission of your church, should be connected as often as possible.
Call Them To Action.
Give your people a very clear and easy-to-follow call to action. Make the next step easy to take, right then and there, as they read the email.
One of the best things about email offerings is that you can send people straight to your website to give. A simple “CLICK HERE TO GIVE” is as simple as it gets! Whatever your end goal is, make sure you place it CLEARLY in front of people in the content of your email!
Include Media.
Photos and videos are huge when it comes to sharing the story of how giving works at your ministry. They help people connect to the need in a more personal way. So if you use them in a Sunday morning call-to-give, why not use them in your emails, too?
- You can send people a personal message in the form a video.
- You can include a promo video for a giving campaign right to their inbox.
- You can include photos from people who were impacted by your congregation’s generosity.
When it comes to including multimedia in your email giving campaigns, the options are endless!
Start Special Campaigns.
Email is a great way to bring specific needs to your people’s attention and call them to give outside of the norm. If there’s an unexpected need in your community—a natural disaster, a medical emergency, or a death—mobilizing a last-minute giving campaign is huge! In an instant, your church can get moving and start meeting needs!
Your congregation will recognize that this is a request for giving that goes above and beyond their normal contributions. They can also pass it on to people outside your church who may be interested in giving as well!
