Denominational Fundraising – It Has to Be Local!

What is the favorite denomination of the United Methodist Church, Orthodox Church, and Seventh-day
Adventist Church? Locally given $100 bills. After speaking with development leaders in each of these
church organizations about their national fundraising efforts, it is apparent that, ironically, they need to
focus on local church giving.

Anyone who works in denominational fundraising will tell you that development work in the local
church, synagogue, and mosque is different than pretty much any other type of non-profit. While
adopting common fundraising techniques to places of worship can be done, there are more than a few
challenges to simply taking the development model used in a university, hospital, or local food pantry
and telling a pastor to run with it. The local church faces challenges like; lack of trained development
personnel, insufficient marketing resources, and inconsistent messaging regarding why church members
ought to give. The good news is the local places of worship need not go it alone when it is part of a
denominational system.

So, what are denominations currently doing to help with fundraising at the local level? And how can
denominations improve in this area?

I looked at the United Methodist Church, The Orthodox Church, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church
to get an idea of how they promote giving throughout the United States. Each denomination has
structures for fundraising in place but struggle to infuse development work into each layer of the church
and ultimately get the message down to the local level where it is needed most.

At the United Methodist

Church, I spoke with Mary
Lou Greenwood Boice,
Director of The Advance, a
kind of donor advised fund
where global ministry
projects are vetted and promoted to church members. The UMC encourages giving to The Advance as
second-mile giving, the first mile described as giving to the local church. The church’s overall emphasis
of charitable giving comes through a general message of stewardship generated by the Board of
Discipleship. However, these principles of stewardship are rarely discussed, perhaps only once or twice a
year when church members are asked to make their annual giving pledge. Often the local church budget
is not fully funded by the pledge campaign and all non-essential expenses are reduced. Thus, it is
common to see cuts to children's ministries, community outreach, and small group Bible studies. When
it comes to raising money for the Advance's special projects Greenwood Boice said, “Projects really need
to have a U.S. promoter… because if there isn’t somebody on the ground promoting this project,
nothing happens.” In other words, when there isn’t someone local championing the ministry, people
don’t give.

The Orthodox Church has developed Stewardship Calling, a program to provide methods and resources
for local churches who want to go beyond just funding the basics. Bill Marianes, the creator and
principal speaker for this program, is a former corporate law attorney who retired early and “refired” his
life to work full-time in support of the Orthodox Church. Marianes
created this program to help local clergy incorporate stewardship
principles (the “Three Ts”, time, talent, and treasure) in all aspects of
their ministry. His goal is to create in each Orthodox organization he
works with engaged disciples, a culture of charity, a vision for a better
world, and effective worship experiences. Marianes has helped over
500 churches in the U.S. move beyond raising money out of necessity
through the annual giving pledge and ethnic festivals to a more
forward-thinking and aspirational development program. The Orthodox Church does not directly govern
Stewardship Calling, but it does endorse it. So even though the church itself is not providing training and
resources to local churches, Stewardship Calling sprang up organically to fill this need.

Perhaps the denomination that provides the most resources to local churches is
the Seventh-day Adventist Church (full disclosure I work for the World
Headquarters of the SDA Church in the field of Planned Giving). Here I spoke
with Michael Harpe, Director of Stewardship for the North American Division of
Seventh-day Adventists. The Stewardship department produces presentations,
study guides, promotional materials, even a feature-length film called The
Mysterious Note geared toward teaching young children stewardship principles.
There is even an online course for church members to learn Biblical stewardship
principles such as returning a tithe, creating a budget, living a balanced life
between work and family, and using your talents to glorify God. In addition to
stewardship representatives, the SDA Church also has planned giving representatives at local
conferences who meet with church members to help facilitate planned gifts. Harpe said, “Stewardship is
at the essence of all giving, planned giving as well as our basic tithe and offering.” Even with this
abundance of material, it is still a challenge to get them in the hands of local church members. Many
Seventh-day Adventists are unaware of these available resources, especially in community churches that
do not have a Stewardship Coordinator designated by the local board.

At the end of every interview, I asked each interviewee if they could reform their church's fundraising
department what would it look like? Each person suggested different structures to go about fundraising,
but the common thread in their answers was to get the message of giving, and the resources to promote
it, down to the church level. This entails messaging that promotes wholistic principles of stewardship
beyond just money, emphasizing mission to spurn aspirational giving, and incorporating development
techniques, like saying thank you, while still maintaining the spiritual component of returning a faithful
tithe.

If national denominations provided fundraising resources to local churches, they would have a much
easier time raising funds to support the church’s ministries. Also, local personnel should be trained on
how to use the resources and communicate a clear stewardship message to the local congregation. With
national religious organizations providing fundraising resources and training to the local level, it
wouldn’t take long for the offering plate to become flooded with that favorite denomination, $100 bills.