Recruiting Leaders for Stewardship and the Annual Drive

We are hearing from you that recruiting stewardship leaders is a real challenge. Here are some tips! Although some people have extra responsibilities or are worn out from their daily lives, others are impatient to engage again and are looking for new or different things to do. If you are doubtful that you will find anyone, you probably won’t, so be hopeful and optimistic!

An upside of recruiting leaders now is that they can do most tasks and have meetings electronically, at times of day that work with their other activities. And when much of the country is having wintry weather, they don’t need to take into account travel time, road conditions, and other safety factors. Unless things change radically and soon, this also holds true for this year’s pledge drive. Although the pledge drive may have some opportunities for in-person connections, there will certainly be elements that are virtual to take advantage of.

When to Recruit

● Early! Asking someone to lead a pledge drive late just adds extra stress and provides less flexibility to try different things
● The end of the previous pledge drive cycle is often the best time to recruit
● If you can’t recruit early this year, plan for it in the next cycle and do the best you can

Co-chairs are Best

● So they have each other
● No one person is required to have all of the capacities you need
● One co chair can cover if the other is tied up with something else
● Usually overlapping terms of service, so one person is learning and the other is turning over knowledge

Identify the People to Recruit

● Identify someone(s) who you think would be ideal!
● A good candidate works well with others on a team: not someone who works best independently, is set on doing things their own way, or has trouble communicating
● Is organized and can keep track of different threads happening at the same time (or has a co-chair who is)
● Can speak publicly and be inspiring (or has a co-chair who can)
● Is not a “usual suspect” and perhaps provides some diversity in age, giving level, gender, culture, etc.
● Has the time/energy to commit: ideally for more than one year
● You can ask someone who is already engaged in different service to the congregation; ask them to switch for just a defined period of time
● A “seasoned person” paired with a young or new person is a great combination and can be motivating for both of them

Make it Do-able for Them [not “easy” but do-able for adults with lives]

● Define the role: give a good description of the duties
● Give the approximate start and end of the Drive, as well as the usual start of communications and final wrap up
● Approximate how much time/effort it will take. For example, “this will take five hours a month with one of those hours being a meeting, for a three-month period”
● Does what you are presenting seem like way too much for anyone to do? Rethink how you are structuring the task (may need more volunteers, a reallocation of duties, consider staff involvement, etc.)
● Ask for a specific term of service: Two years in leadership is good. One year is too little to really feel competent in the role. More than three years may lead to burnout, staleness, and cynicism. After leadership, it is great to have people stay on the committee as a resource to the new leaders
● Catalog the background intelligence you can provide (written manual, past years’ materials, previous leaders’ notes/reports, database outputs, etc.)
● List the human support that comes with the position, as in people to help them lead the effort (stewardship consultant, board members, staff time, new or returning volunteers, etc.)
● And offer assistance with recruiting people to do implementation tasks; like keeping timelines, writing communications, hosting events, gathering pledges, creating videos, etc.

Make it Appealing for Them

● Offer them a good reason/motivation; what it will mean if it is successful
● Some people don’t want to let other leaders down
● Give them creative license: and the ability to try new things. (That also means not nay-saying later to their creative ideas)
● Availability of plenty of guidance, on demand
● Access to the minister and board can be a draw for some volunteers
● This is time constrained and not a forever commitment
● Assure them that they will have a partner to work with (find them a partner!)
● Allow them to choose their own partner or team members

The How of Recruitment

● General broadcast communications (cattle calls) are rarely effective; don’t rely on them
● However, for the purpose of informing everyone that the annual pledge drive is a whole congregation project, and in case someone you don’t know/would not have expected shows interest, general announcements are good to do
● A person asking another person in a 1-on-1 conversation works best
● The recruiter should be someone they know, someone who is widely respected, or a leader like a board member or a minister
● Or the recruiter could be a mentor who will be there to support them. Essentially a “let’s do this together” or an “I gotcha” message of community support
● Expecting that the person will say “yes” to this request will improve the flow of the conversation

Thanks to my fellow S4Us colleagues, for contributing their ideas to this post! Do you have other practices or ideas to add? Let us know with a comment on this posting or send us an email. and we will pass your ideas on.