Why and How to Do a Year End Giving Drive?

Many congregations send a single letter to all congregants for a year end effort. This year consider doing more – and you will get a different response!

It can be as simple and easy as fits your capacity. Just be aware that if it is easy for you to do (efficient) it may be easy for your congregants to miss or ignore it (ineffective).

NOTE: We will have a live Open Forum this Friday (November 13th) on this topic, as a follow up. Watch for the Zoom invitation in your email or sign up for our emails using the blue box on the right side of this page. 

Why Do a Year End Drive?

It is a time of year when many people are oriented toward generosity and giving.

30% of US charitable gifts for the year are made in December
10% of US charitable gifts for the year are made on the last 3 days of the year*

At the end of the year, many people wrap up their own finances and review their charitable giving.
People may receive a year-end bonus or profit sharing (yes, even this year).
They may be looking for places to give.

Don’t assume your congregants will automatically consider your congregation in their year-end plans. In fact, they may assume there is no need unless you communicate with them about it.

Although the CARES Act has suspended the IRA Required Distribution (for those that qualify) this year, giving from an IRA is still a potential tax deduction.
The CARES Act also states that taxpayers who claim the standard deduction will be able to take a special “above-the-line” $300 deduction for cash gifts to qualified charities. That may help reduce adjusted gross income.

Setting a monetary goal is a good idea, and this informs you of the scale of the effort, the activities, and the volunteers needed to make it happen. Finding a household to provide a challenge gift is also a good idea. People respond to the idea that their giving goes farther when combined with others’.

Timing

Is it too late for this year? Certainly not! If you haven’t gotten started, now is the time to make it happen.

Determine the timing of other holiday season church messages so that your year-end request for giving has good visibility. You can send out a message in mid-November and a reminder during the last 7 days of the year. Be clear with your congregants that all gifts must be received in a verifiable way (like postmark or timestamp on electronic gifts) by December 31st to qualify as a 2020 charitable gift. This becomes most important with stock transfers or other non-cash gifts.

Make sure to include a launch and closing date – as people respond well to time limits and calendar items.

Staffing the Effort

Hopefully, you have a few stewardship volunteers in place who, along with staff, can make this happen. If not, it is helpful for recruiting to give a clear picture of the job and what it entails. Gratefully, these are all short-term tasks that are easily learned. This list can be expanded for more ambitious projects or larger congregations, or in small congregations one person can take on a couple of these roles: 

1. A chairperson (or cochairs) to keep track of all aspects of the end-of-year appeal, and to communicate with the board. They also ensure that volunteers are recruited for any needed positions. They are also a back-stop who can step in if something needs extra hands. 
2. A project champion to be the inspiring voice and create the connections to the larger congregational mission. This is usually a minister or a board chair.
3. A communications person, to coordinate any of the written materials (eblasts, newsletters, website, postal letters, Sunday materials, etc.), videos, and testimonial givers. They will recruit people to help with these various aspects as well as generate the copy. Videos are perhaps the most potent now, and are quite easy to do using Zoom, or by finding someone in the congregation who has become video-savvy (hint: could be a youth!).
4. An operations person to work with the database, maintain a timeline, monitor a congregant list, and track the donations.

Giving Options

Make sure to offer a full set or options for ways to give – and clarity on how to do each one.
» Drop off at building
» Check sent in the mail
» Mobile giving
» Giving on the web
» Stock transfer
» Giving from a Donor Advised Fund or IRA

Messaging

This is an opportunity to ask for and receive one-time gifts. Be specific about what the givers are helping to fuel. Some options might be:

• The annual operating budget. Make the case for that by communicating the mission and ministries of the congregation using real, human stories
• For a special project – like consulting and equipment to improve online worship or online religious education
• Retiring some debt or finishing up a project
• Be as specific and concrete as you can. Few people will give generously to you “just because”

We are celebrating how we have made it through this year. We pivoted to online worship and ministries, did election work in a safe way, agitated for racial justice, supported each other and those who are most in need of support in our congregation, etc.

This is the place where people turn when the chips are down, when their other resources are reduced or cut off, where we can share our challenges.

Some people cannot give now, or not as much as they would like, so with our contributions we are compensating for those who can’t give in supporting the congregation. In that way, it is there for all of us.

Have a direct request to donate, and call to action. This seems simple, yet these two elements are the ones most often missing in the materials we see.

Plan to Say Thank You!

• Everyone – in general communications. Consider a written and a video thank you
• First time givers – how can you reach out to them in a special way?
• Larger gifts – who can call them personally to thank?
• Kids and Youth – consider a fun video just for them

* https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/

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Liz Coit, Kay Crider, Mark Ewert, Barry Finkelstein and Rachel Maxwell are part of the Stewardship for Us team. Please send your questions and topic suggestions for our blog or online Friday Forum discussions to team@stewardshipforus.com