Your annual stewardship campaign invites members of your congregation to pledge from their financial resources to support the day-to-day work of the congregation. These resources walk through the different types of giving and the strategies behind a successful campaign.
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21 & Luke 12:34
When you break down an annual campaign to an intentional monthly calendar, the many to-dos become do-able! How do you plan, create, launch, track, succeed, celebrate, and thank within an annual cycle?
Eight steps to a successful annual campaign
Tap a step to open it.
1Choose a Leader
Choosing the right leadership for your Annual Giving Campaign is vital to the success of your campaign.
Sample job description for a Stewardship Committee Member
Stewardship Mission at St. John’s
We strive to make stewardship part of the fabric of our daily life together: for all of our members to take ownership and support our church’s programs and future by pledging toward our annual campaign and considering planned giving options.
Membership and Time Commitment
The Stewardship Committee shall be comprised of at least 6 and up to 8 members of the congregation. At the discretion of the Stewardship Chair and Rector, more committee members may be recruited and more volunteers enlisted. Members of the Executive Committee, Rector, and Church Administrator will be ex officio members.
The Stewardship Chair is asked to serve a three year term; the first year as co-chair with the incumbent chair and the third year as co-chair with the succeeding chair.
Stewardship committee members are asked to serve at least one year and no more than three years, and should be prepared to meet at least once a month May through January, as needed February through April, and be accountable for the execution of agreed areas of responsibility.
Qualities of a Stewardship Committee Member
The Stewardship Committee Member shall:
Be spiritually motivated – A person who is seeking a deep relationship with Jesus and is grateful for that relationship; regularly spends time in prayer, scripture study and regular attendance at Eucharist; will be concerned about the relationship of all members with God as well as the needs of the church.
Exemplify and live out stewardship – A person who is already committed to stewardship as a way of life; who volunteers their time in various congregation and community activities; who is committed to making a regular and generous financial pledge and additional financial contributions as able to St. John’s.
Be comfortable talking about money – A person who can tie together the concepts of giving of time, talent and treasure.
Have personal qualities that contribute to success – A person who follows through on what they have agreed to do and is persistent, optimistic, organized, patient, creative and willing to share their faith with others.
Responsibilities of the Stewardship Committee
Ongoing Stewardship Ministry:
Stewardship Formation – Cultivate a prayerful and spiritual identification of stewardship as a way of life in our congregation through messages in the weekly bulletin, eNewsletter, prayers, monthly newsletter, brochures to be mailed or made available in the gathering area, homilies from the pulpit, use of the congregation’s website and social media presence, and education programs.
Children, Youth, and New Member Stewardship – Encourage a stewardship curriculum for all levels of Faith Formation and seek to increase children, youth, and new member stewardship awareness, education, and participation.
Time and Talent – Communicate opportunities available for all members to share their time and talent with our congregation and our community as a whole; prepare a time and talent brochure of congregational activities and organizations, and keep the brochure current.
Events – Organize annual events, such as the Ministry Fair, Annual Meeting, and Service Sunday, to demonstrate the impact of member’s contributions, showcase the ministries of St. John’s, and encourage members to share their time, talent, and treasure.
Annual Pledge Campaign:
Stewardship Chair – With the assistance of the Rector and Executive Committee the Stewardship Chair is asked to assume primary responsibility for:
- Recruiting, training, and managing members of the committee and volunteers for the stewardship efforts.
- Collating, analyzing, and presenting budget information and stewardship data.
- Making personal asks of donors.
- Sending a personal thank you to all pledgers and/or donors.
Committee Members - With the assistance of the Church Administrator and Rector members of the Stewardship Committee are asked to:
Assume primary responsibility for creating ideas and themes for the campaign, develop a time and action plan for implementing the campaign, create and collate content for the stewardship materials, and recruit and prepare speakers for the campaign.
Assist with the layout and execution of the communication materials, assembling bulk mailings, managing volunteers in stewardship efforts, and making personal asks of donors.
2Listen & Plan
This is the data gathering part of planning your campaign.
Annual Giving is a Conversation
First there is listening…
- As many ways as you can.
- As many people as you can.
- As often as you can.
Then there is reporting back...
- As often as you can.
- In as many various ways as you can.
Data Gathering & Reporting
Inviting your congregation into the conversation
- Wow Cards
- Counting
- Brainstorming
- Even Operating Expenses (Yes!)
3Develop a Theme
Taking the time to ask questions, look around, listen, and pray about who you are as a church community in regards to the giving of your finances to the church is vital to choosing a theme. Creativity without authenticity will create a disconnect for members to your campaign.
Dr. Seuss says, "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you." Your church is unique. It has a personality. Your campaign theme tells the story of your mission and calling in the season of life that you are in; your campaign year. Telling your story through a campaign theme simply clarifies your message, your testimony, and your role in reflecting God's character. Daunting isn't it?
Your church brand should inform your theme. Your theme should support your brand. They should not be disconnected from one another. If your church recently had a fire, that event is a part of your brand; ie, its what's on people's minds and what they think of when they think of your church. So, be careful/intentional when choosing your theme of "Igniting the fire" to make sure that it isn't received poorly or out of context.
Your theme should inspire. A theme of "Wandering the Desert" isn't very inspiring, is it? This communicates being lost, not knowing where you are going, and it communicates that you are operating in a mindset of scarcity, not abundance. Inspiration is vital to your campaign theme.
Lastly, your theme should be simple, clear, and easy to remember. Your theme will only effective if your audience can understand it quickly.
Sample Annual Campaign Themes
- Shining Our Light. Sharing Our Love. Making God's Love Visible.
- ThanksLiving: An Attitude of Gratitude
- Love. Care. Give.
- Made in God's Image
- More Than Enough
- Embracing Joy
- Loving Without Limits
- A Journey of Generosity
- GIFT: Growing in Faith Together
- Living Generously
- Strengthening Our Spiritual Home
- Grateful Giving
- Our Whole Heart
- Expanding Branches and Deepening Roots
- Together....as One
- The Great Invitation
- Inspired to Share
- Growing in Generosity
- Walking the Way - journey together to explore how the practice of intentional giving deepens our walk with Christ and supports life-giving ministries to our community and beyond. Day by day, week by week, people in and around St. John’s experience their life of faith in new and deeper ways through your commitment. Your generosity generates mission and changes lives.
- Tree of Life - http://www.ecfvp.org/tools/217/rector
4Plan a Communications Strategy
Root your annual fundraising calendar in the Why. Henri Nouwen writes in A Spirituality of Fundraising, “When fundraising is done right, the person asking and the person giving come together to participate in a new thing that God is doing.”
With intentional planning, the message of your annual stewardship campaign can be consistent and resonate deeply with members. The goal here is to connect and inspire! Techniques and tools for campaign communications planning include focus groups, discerning a campaign theme, developing a case for support, ministry moments, wow cards, pledge cards and online pledging, and more!
Toolbox
Ministry Moments
Including Children and Youth in Your Campaign
Build Your Annual Fundraising Calendar Worksheet by Classy
Sample Annual Giving Calendar
January
- The end of last year’s annual campaign is marked with careful gift acknowledgement.
- Thank you letters are sent.
- The thank you letters, phone calls, and notes are simultaneously the last event of the last campaign and the first event of the next campaign.
February
- Volunteer recruitment (see Step 1 for a sample Stewardship Committee Member job description).
- Vocation or calling: “that place where the world’s great need and your deep hunger meet.”
- Clear time frame.
- Articulated expectations.
- Inter-generational leadership.
- Skill-based, not need based.
March/April
- Open staff and lay leadership input and creative conversation hosting on design, theme, content, schedule of campaign.
- Design campaign letter system, schedule, goals, and case materials.
- Review campaign prospect lists to determine special asks for major gifts.
- Tell Vestry/Bishop’s Committee that you will be expecting early pledges as an act of leadership and modeling.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
May
- Write an article and publish how the last campaign went and give an introduction to the next campaign. What went well? What was funded? Why was their gift valuable to mission?
- First quarter collections/thank you letter to all donors confirming pledge and confirming amount paid and amount still due (note: all collections letters need to look like thank you letters but include pledge payment status. These letters end when the pledge is fully paid).
- Case materials production.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
- Brainstorming of possible Ministry Moment speaker
- Develop list and then refine for recruitment.
June/July
- Ministry Moment speakers are recruited.
- Phone-a-Thon is designed and planned. Recruitment for October events begins.
- Plan campaign kick-off: menu, volunteers, event plan, budget, and secure leader.
- Plan campaign ending dinner: menu, volunteers, event plan, budget, and secure leader.
- Second quarter collections/thank you letter to all paying donors, confirming pledge and confirming amount paid and pending due. No letter sent to paid pledgers.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
August
- Campaign direct mail warm-up letters to all non-advance campaign prospects.
- Phone-a-Thon callers are recruited.
- Continue campaign kick off plans.
- Second quarter collections/thank you letter to all paying donors, confirming pledge and confirming amount paid and pending due.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
September
- Drafting of communications: collects, bulletin announcements, and celebrant announcements (themed weekly from Ministry Moments: Learn more about Ministry Moments).
- Campaign brochure and pledge cards direct mail sent.
- Phone-a-Thon team coaching.
- Stewardship Campaign kick-off.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
October
- Encouragement Phone-a-Thons.
- Ministry Moments.
- Third quarter collections/thank you letter to all paying donors confirming pledge and confirming amount paid.
- Thank you letters are sent within 24 hours of a pledge arrival.
- Letter notes amount of pledge and payment plan confirmation (Rector).
- Second letter sent from Warden.
- Handwritten note follows in lay handwritten note project in January.
November
- Celebration Event: Mark the end of the campaign!
- Pledge Blessing Sunday.
- Year End letters: end of the year gift opportunities for tax benefits.
- Fourth quarter collections/thank you letter to all paying donors confirming pledge and confirming amount paid.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
December
- Assessment: use measurable goals. What worked? What didn’t?
- Year-end letter and brochure sent to all donors and donor prospects (members).
- Collect all planning information, organize for next year.
- 1 year-round thanking opportunity.
5Launch & Celebrate
Launching a successful annual fall campaign requires a healthy infrastructure. Before launching ask yourself:
- Does our congregation have appropriate procedures for receiving gifts? Gift Acceptance Policy (.doc)(.pdf)
- Does our church office have healthy practices on recording pledges and submissions to financial institutions?
- Do we have updated lists on previous years of giving?
- Have we segmented these lists to see if there are those that require different approaches?
- Has the congregation’s leadership made their early/initial gifts?
If you can answer “yes” to these questions, it’s time to invite the entire congregation to join the congregational leadership in giving.
Kick-offs can take various forms according to context. However, all successful kick off events include the following:
- The “Why” clearly communicated in all communication pieces
- A thank you to the volunteers/donors who have already contributed
- A clear set of goals articulated for the fall campaign
- Mechanisms in place for distributing/receiving pledge cards
- An ethos of connection around a singular purpose. How you gather is important, but why you gather is the priority of focus.
6Thank, Evaluate, & Celebrate
“A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted”
In Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, we read that to everything there is a season.
Living beings were created to respond to changing seasons. A healthy annual pledge campaign requires a transparent beginning and a clear end. It may be tempting to extend the end of a campaign indefinitely. However, this robs your volunteers and donors of both a conclusion and a chance to both evaluate and celebrate.
At the start of every campaign, select an appropriate deadline for the campaign according to your context. Consider in budget creation, liturgical seasons, and cultural factors.
Thank
With the end approaching, keep track of the names of both volunteers and donors. Consider ways to thank both volunteers and donors in meaningful ways that connect with your theology of giving and/or your campaign.
Ways to Thank:
- Assign a vestry member to a ministry
- Short videos of thanks! Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAMKwddGrNY
- Facebook posts with relevant hashtags
- Monthly thanks texts
- Monthly postcards w/faces
- Small reminder gifts (ex: magnets, mugs, dried flowers, small pictures, candy bars (100 Grand (first 100k in for budget), Peppermint Patties (A/C), Red Hots (heat)
- Pictures (when appropriate) from recipients
- Thank you events
- Facebook posts with relevant tags
- Highlight major donor giving in the community as “our members”
Evaluate
You've set S.M.A.R.T goals for this campaign. An end of the campaign is an opportunity to review the goals, measure and evaluate what strategies worked. This is an important component for learning and adaptation. Perhaps a strategy worked with one group of members, but requires some tweaking for the following year. Perhaps a volunteer learned something new about their own relationship to money in this process and could benefit from space for reflection. When fundraising is a ministry, both those that work on behalf of the campaign and both who contribute to a campaign can be transformed in the process. Creating space for evaluation can be a meaningful opportunity for your leadership.
Celebrate
Finally, celebrate! Often, we are tempted to move on to the next important season in a congregation’s life without pausing to reflect and celebrate the previous one. You have engaged in holy and life-giving work. Now, celebrate the work of God in and through others’ generosity!
7Thank, Thank, & Thank
Fundraising as ministry is a radical act of reconciliation. As part of our baptismal covenant, we are called to reconcile ourselves to one another and to God. Within this framework, the act of Stewardship becomes an ongoing practice of removing those things that separate us individually and collectively from God—throughout the year. As we consider Stewardship, we include both the invitation and how it is received. The act of saying “thank you” then becomes a holy one.
Thank you’s are multifunctional and highly efficient as a fundraising practice. The best practice for non-profits is thank donors 7 different times throughout a single year as thank you’s:
- Communicate how a gift was used transparently
- Provide an opportunity to demonstrate impact
- Tangibly translate your faith community’s theology of giving
- Create ongoing space for connecting your congregation’s budget to the flesh and blood people who are part of the ministries
- Foster ongoing relationships between members and congregational leadership
This practice can take various forms according to a faith community’s culture and donor characteristics. Yet, this practice, while highly adaptive, can transform communities.
Impact Statements: The Why in Thank You
On a clear night, when you look up, you can sometimes see large round “spots” on the surface of the moon. Over the course of millions of years asteroids and comets that were traveling through space collided with the moon resulting in these spots, which are called impact craters. The spots are not the asteroids themselves. They are a record of the impact the asteroid had on the moon. The asteroids come and go, but the impact changes the shape of the moon forever.
From now on when you look at the moon, you can thank an asteroid for making the view that much more interesting.
BUILDING A BETTER “THANK YOU”
Arguably the most important part of any annual campaign is the “thank you.” We need to thank our donors as often as we can and we need to do it in a way that clearly articulates why their gift matters. The name for that communication is an impact statement.
WHAT IT IS (AND WHAT IT ISN’T)
An impact statement lets the donor know that their gift made a difference and that we are grateful for it. An impact statement does not communicate how we spent the donor’s money. That is a financial statement. An impact statement reminds the donor of why they gave in the first place.
Here is a quiz: Which one of these is an impact statement:
- “We spent $250 dollars on our feeding ministry last month”
- “Last month we provided lunch to 100 food insecure families in our community”
(Hint, it’s the second one)
An impact statement connects the donor not with the sacrifice that they made when they made the gift, but with the impulse, the “why”, they were responding to when they made the gift. I promise you, the donor above did not write the check thinking, “Great, we can spend $250 more on the feeding ministry.” They were thinking, “I hope this helps someone.” And the impact statement assures them that it does.
HOW TO CONSTRUCT AN IMPACT STATEMENT
We church folks love things that come in threes. Luckily, there are three parts to a good impact statement:
- It communicates the effect of what was done with the money. “James, Tomas and Mika are all on their way to Camp Chicago this summer for two weeks of outdoor fun and formation in the Episcopal Church.” (Not “we spent $1500 sending inner city kids to camp”)
- It connects the dots for the donor between their action and this outcome. “You made that possible with your gift to the benevolence committee.” (Not “the benevolence committee paid for this”)
- It is first and last a thank you: Dear Friends in Christ: As you can see from the photos below, James, Tomas and Mika are having a great time at Camp Chicago this summer. Your gift to the benevolence committee made it possible for these youngsters to get out of the city and enjoy two weeks of outdoor fun and formation in the Episcopal Church. Thank you.
That is really all you need to know to craft good impact statements. Communicate the impact, connect the dots, and say thank you.
WHAT DOES IT PAY FOR?
When we communicate the impact of a donation, it is important to recognize all the good that cascades from the gift. If some of the gift goes to paying a person to drive a delivery truck or wrangle the volunteers to do the work, then that is an additional impact that the donation has made. “Your $350 gift made it possible for us to provide 250 lunches to 180 families last month. A portion of your gift goes to support April Lee, the part time missioner whose work makes the lunches program a reliable and effective ministry for our brothers and sisters in need. For all you do to help everyone in our community to live into their potential… thank you.”
WHICH THINGS MAKE GOOD IMPACT STATEMENTS?
Everything! Big and small, serious and silly, everything about your congregation that communicates its vitality, its personality, its success, all of these things make good impact statements. If you are working on a campaign theme, tying the impact statements to that theme makes them both more powerful.
And because everything you do makes a good impact statement, you should be keeping track of everything you do. How many pets were blessed at your pet blessing? Fourteen?
“Last Sunday, Reverend Alison blessed 56 paws at our pet blessing. Your gifts to the annual appeal make it possible for us to celebrate all of God’s creation in that joyful way. Thank you.” (This presumes you have no three-legged creatures among your pets)
WHO CREATES THE IMPACT STATEMENTS?
It can be a lot of fun to gather impact statements. The head of any ministry can come up with one. Each vestry person charged with an area of mission in your church probably has an impact statement to communicate. How many bushes were trimmed and made ready for winter? How many total mugs were washed after coffee hour last month? How many inches of knitting did the knitting club produce last month? How many anthems did the choir sing? Be creative, be all inclusive. And once you start keeping track of things, you may find that people suggest impact statements you never thought of.
And it doesn’t have to be all writing. An informational graphic communicates in an instant what it might take you a paragraph to relate.
A photograph that tells the story is better than the story in 300 words. Be creative. Have fun. This is the celebration of generosity. It should bring a smile to everyone’s face.
WHEN DO WE COMMUNICATE OR USE IMPACT STATEMENTS?
Every month. Every week if you can. And in every form of communication. Put a note in the service bulletin, in the weekly e-news blast, make a bulletin board, make an announcement. Remember, impact statements are thank you notes. There is no such thing as too many.
WHY IT MATTERS
Earlier I described how the impact craters on the surface of the moon were a lasting record that the asteroids had been there. The asteroids have come and gone, but their impact has changed the moon forever.
There is an opportunity for personal transformation in every part of our lives as Christians. This is as true for giving to the annual campaign as it is for worship or outreach. But it falls to us as fundraisers in our church to make giving transformational, not transactional. Impact statements offer us the opportunity to do that. An impact statement helps a donor remember not what they gave but why. And it tells them that because they did, something important has happened. Because they believed, because they acted, they have had an impact on our world. That is reason enough, isn’t it? But here is one more thing to think about. If we all act out of our beliefs… and if all of our combined actions made an impact… could it be so deep and so wide that it changes the face of our planet? Like craters on the surface of the moon? I don’t know, but I think it is worth a try.
8Plan for Next Year
Best Strategy for Giving: Plan Before Fall!
- Planning should be done with measurable objectives.
- Where possible, list dates for completion and names of those.
- It is both plan and archive so that new plans do not need to be re-invented by new leadership year after year.
- Create a calendar.
New Post-Election Strategy
Pair giving with potential advocacy/social justice organizations that share the congregation’s values.
Middle Collegiate: 10% of an End of the Year Appeal went to the ACLU.
How...
And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”
Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven…
Mark 10:20-21
Toolbox
Sample campaigns from congregations
Three campaigns congregations have shared, with materials you can adapt.
Sample campaignShining Our Light. Sharing Our Love.
Making God's Love Visible.
“Shining Our Light. Sharing Our Love.” is a sample campaign developed for Christ Church. Discerning a theme for your annual giving campaign is a process that can include sermons, faith formation opportunities, and formation at vestry and other leadership team meetings. Starting with the “Why” through the framework of why we give back to our Creator through our tithes and offerings and how giving is a part of an individual's faith is vital to your campaign. Below are some tools and templates from the sample campaign “Shining Our Light. Sharing Our Love.” Please use them as needed to craft your own campaign messaging.
Resources:
- Focus Group Questions
- Prayer Card 1
- Prayer Card 2
- Kickoff Dinner Invite Cards
- Kickoff Dinner Menu Cards
- Morning Prayer Meditation
The Diocese of Fond du Lac utilized this theme and developed their own materials!
Sample campaignThanksLiving: An Attitude of Gratitude
A three-year campaign:
- Year 1: Magnitude. A sense of something greater and how that plays out in grace, gratitude, and generosity. The Why of Gratitude.
- Year 2: Longitude. A journey of where we are going. “The way, the truth, and the life”… we are “on the move” as a church. Being people of “the way”
- Year 3: Multitude. We are a more than enough church. Feeding of the multitudes.
Resources:
- Stewardship Brochure
- Messenger Newsletter Reflection 1
- Messenger Newsletter Reflection 2
- Q1 Giving Statement Letter
- Q3 Giving Statement Letter
- Template Stewardship Brochure (Word)
- ThanksLiving logo
Shared by Christ Church, New Bern, NC
Sample campaignLove. Care. Give.
Love.
Saint John’s is a community of people just like you who are here to love, care, and give. It is a community of smiles, handshakes, and hugs. It is a place to know God, to know others, and to be known. It is a center for community where we offer the best of ourselves. It is a home where meals are prepared and served and where love is shown. Saint John’s is a church for service to God, to one another, and to those in need.
When we open our hands and hearts towards God’s work, we are making new things possible for this Cathedral. We are a place for everyone, no matter where we are on our journey with God. Saint John’s exists to help us each discover who God is. Transformation is hard work and we are committed to supporting and challenging one another as we work “to know Christ and make Christ known.”
Care.
We have all found Saint John’s for one reason or another. We find joy and meaning for our life here. We encounter God here through Christ-centered worship, inspiring music, encouraging sermons, opportunities for spiritual growth and development. We are a place for questions, rediscovery, stillness, and growth.
Saint John’s is a place of care. We find joy and meaning in our work with over 25 partner organizations and ministries to care for the homeless, the hungry, and the sick. We care for and minister to our fellow parishioners, sharing Holy Communion with those who are hospitalized or homebound. We care for children and youth through nourishing programs of spiritual formation, helping the next generation find ways to strengthen their relationship with God throughout their lives.
Give.
We experience life-changing moments here. They happen when we are challenged and grow in our faith and joy as followers of Christ. We give sacrificially as a grateful response to God’s many blessings and we express our profound gratitude for what God has done in our lives.
Made in God’s image, we love. Out of this love, we care for others. Out of our care for others, we give away what we have. We are a community, and we belong to our greater community of Denver. We give of ourselves freely and generously through our time, through our involvement, through our commitments, through our ministries, and through our financial support. This is our calling. This is our life together.
Resources:
Shared by Saint John's Cathedral
Toolbox
ToolboxMinistry Moments
A Ministry Moment is a time in each service during your pledge campaign where a member gives a personal testimony to the impact of mission and ministry of the church.
Ministry Moments are a case-development and pledge encouragement activity. The program takes careful planning, curating, coaching, and editing, but the end result is tremendous for the health of a church.
The job description of a Ministry Moment speaker is to answer the question: What feeds you about coming to Christ Church? What do we do that resembles your idea of what God call us to do? In 60 seconds or less.
The speakers should consider sharing about what moves them about their life at Christ Church. That one compelling element is enough, frequently, to motivate the people in the pew to consider how they would themselves answer that question. They put themselves in the shoes of the speaker. So what the speaker says should be personal, it should be authentic and it absolutely does not need to contain an ask.
How?
- Recruit well and early (before the theme design):
- Who is authentic?
- Who fits with your brand?
- Who does what they say they will do?
- What people represent the mission?
- Have 500-word statements written by recruits.
- “Why I love this church.”
- Meet with recruits individually to review statements.
- Coach brevity, clarity, one message, authenticity.
- Coach fearlessness, prayer, prep, familiarity.
- If they are verbose, too theological, or too spiritual then coach them. Tell them the truth.
- Each statement needs to be under 500 words and needs to be finalized after a few drafts. Get comfortable with drafts and revisions.
- Do not settle until it is perfect!
- Thank the speakers after the campaign.
- Meet with the speaker in the week prior to their scheduled presentation so that they can practice at the podium with your critique.
Guiding Questions for a Ministry Minute Speaker:
What feeds you about coming to Christ Church? What do we do that resembles your idea of what God call us to do?
OR
How do you decide what to pledge to the annual campaign every year? How is it different from other ways that you give? How had it changed your relationship to God or the church?
Example 1:
When Paul invited me to speak to you this morning, he asked me what fed me about coming to Christ Church? I thought it was ironic that he asked in that way because what feed me about Christ Church is feeding other people.
My first memories of church growing up was going to the local food pantry twice a year when my mother cleaned out her pantry. WE were not church goers when I was a child, so almost all I knew about church was that it was a place where people could go if they needed to be fed.
I just didn’t realize that the kind of “feeding” that you got at church was a lot more than just food. That would come later for me.
Now, my kids are 5 and 7 years old. They can’t go to the Just Harvest meals and serve the people there. But they do help me to make the big pans of spaghetti that are on the menu there on Saturday evenings. They help put all the ingredients together, they help to mix and measure. They go with us when we deliver the pans to the ministry on Saturday afternoons.
My kids already know more about church than I did at their ages and I am grateful for that. But if all they take with them into the world is that God wants us to feed those who are hungry, then I am mighty satisfied.
Example 2:
Stan and I agreed to be speakers for these Ministry Minutes because we feel strongly that giving the annual campaign is an expression of our own personal faith.
Over the years, there have been years when we have been able to give more and years when we have had to give less. Life works like that for all of us. But when we had to give less, we prayed on it and prayed that other people would be having a better year and that they could be counted on to give to the best of their ability. And when we have good years, we give a little more, hoping to cover for our Christ Church friends who cannot.
Because we believe – we have experienced – God’s love comes to us unearned. God’s grace is given to us whether or not we are worthy in our own eyes. And thank God, because if God gave us grace and mercy and love only when we were worthy…..
We believe that God made us to do God’s work in the world. And we should do that work the way God does it.
So when we think about giving from our own resources back to God, we never ask “Well, what is it worth?” We pray to a God whose love is unconditional and whose grace is infinite and we ask to be unconditional and infinite in our generosity.
Stan and I have found that letting God into our decisions about giving to the church has made our faith stronger. Which is, after all, the goal of all of our lives.
ToolboxIncluding Children and Youth in Your Campaign
Participating in the Campaign:
Provide each child with a balloon, piece of paper, and pledge card. Perhaps invite them to draw their blessings. Following Sunday, have them included in the offering and consecrated. Perhaps then hung up in the sanctuary during the season. Have children fill out pledge card and ensure they receive notices/ thank you’s as part of their pledge. On Halloween, have them give of their candy as an additional practice of offering.
Play a game called “Why?”:
Its a game where someone keeps asking “why” until the person being asked can’t answer any more. For example. “We ought to give money to the church” Why? “Because the church does important things” Why? “Because Jesus told us to” why? “Because we are supposed to love each other” Why? “because God loves us.” Why? “No reason….”So… We should give money to the church because we should love each other because God loves us. The opening questions and the answers can be displayed as well.
Sample letters, sermons, and forms
Sample Stewardship Letters
Sample Sermons & Teaching Resources
Sample Tracking Form
Campaign materials
- The Joy of GenerosityELCAA free four-week stewardship series with sermon and story helps, social media posts, and slides. The same page has The Generosity Project, an all-ages, household-centered approach, and Stewards of God’s Love for year-round planning.
- Plenty Good Room (2026–27)The Episcopal Network for StewardshipAn annual pledge campaign with themed materials. Requires a TENS membership, often provided through a diocese.
- Stewardship NavigatorPresbyterian Foundation, PC(USA)An online tool for building a year-round stewardship program with customized materials.
- Stewardship & Generosity Resource LibraryUnited Church of ChristMore than 30 free resources and the Extravagant Generosity video series, including year-round planning and the power of asking.
- Generosity Pastor and Leaders KitUnited Methodist ChurchSermon starters, a bulletin insert, and slides, plus the webinar “Making the Annual Campaign Your Own.” The page also lists stewardship studies for purchase.
Articles and guides
Abundance Stewardship - St. Luke's StyleEpiscopal Church Foundation
Afraid to Preach and Teach About Money in Your Congregation? Don’t Be.Faith & Leadership, Duke Divinity School
An Experiment: Practicing Year Round StewardshipEpiscopal Church Foundation
David P. King: Reimagining Giving Traditions (podcast)Alban at Duke Divinity School
Does Your Congregation Talk About Stewardship Year Round?Unitarian Universalist Association
Electronic Giving Card: For Offering PlateEpiscopal Church Foundation
Helping Preachers Articulate Generosity Year-RoundPresbyterian Foundation, PC(USA)
L.E.A.D.E.R - The Mission Driven BudgetEpiscopal Church Foundation
Narrative Budget TemplateEpiscopal Church Foundation
Our "Money Life"Episcopal Church Foundation
Raising Generous DisciplesUnited Methodist Discipleship Ministries
Squash Tithe ResourcesEpiscopal Church Foundation
Stewardship, Tithing, Giving, Annual PledgeEpiscopal Church Foundation
Take a Planned, Methodical Approach to Church StewardshipPresbyterian Foundation, PC(USA)
Tools to Transform Money into MinistryEpiscopal Church Foundation
Collective Foundation
The Collective Foundation was a nonprofit initiative launched by the Vandersall Collective to address the lack of fundraising data and strategies tailored to Christian communities of color. It conducted nationwide gatherings and research, culminating in a report offering insights and tools for more inclusive and effective fundraising practices. Although the Foundation officially concluded its work in 2022, its resources remain available through the Vandersall Collective's website: https://www.vandersallcollective.com/collective-foundation
Training and research
- Lake Institute on Faith & GivingIndiana UniversityResearch on religious giving, a searchable resource library, a free newsletter, and the Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising. Serves all traditions.
- Cultivating Generous CongregationsLake Institute courseAn eight-week course for a team of three to five from one congregation, including the pastor. Offered through denominational and network partners, such as Everence.
- Church Financial Leadership AcademyPresbyterian Foundation, PC(USA)Video-based training on stewardship, planned giving, and year-round efforts.