I was a pastor for twenty years before I entered the stewardship field. For most of those twenty years we lived in a parsonage. While I did not have a house payment I did not own a house. In time the church I pastored agreed to provide me with a housing allowance so that we could purchase our own home. We decided to build our own home in order to save money. You can buy plans and books to do that sort of thing. Quickly we learned that there is a reason you hire professionals to build your house. We ultimately abandoned our dream of building and bought a home already constructed.
Home Depot and other stores like it make a fortune off of people who want to fix up their own homes. This do it yourself or DIY approach works well for many tasks. Still there are some things and sometimes that the job is better left to a professional. You can almost always spot DIY work. Do you want a house built by preacher or one built by an experienced builder? I want my preacher to explain Sundays passage and I want my builder to build my house. As one of my friends use to say, “Skill to task.”
When it comes to capital campaigns for the purpose of raising funds for buildings or to pay off debt there is a rise of do it yourselfers. The major reason churches opt to run their own capital campaign is that they think they will save money. Many who have engaged firms in the past feel like they know enough to do it themselves the next time around. Typically these campaigns fail to reach their full potential. Why is it that DIY campaigns fail? Here are some reasons for thought.
Raising funds is not as easy as it seems. It sounds simple to do it yourself. I always think that when it comes to repair around the house. Often however when I tear into something I find out it is more complex than I thought. The same is true for raising funds for a capital campaign. There are so many factors to think of and be prepared for. Too often a church doing their own campaign will make fundamental mistakes that ultimately cost them thousands of dollars. If raising funds were easy there never would have been stewardship firms in the first place.
As we struggle through this last recession the dynamics of raising funds have once again changed. Your donors view things much more differently than they did a couple of years ago. While it is not impossible to raise funds now it is more challenging. Attempting to raise funds in the same old way will set you up for failure.
Pastors are not trained in stewardship. Never in all my theological education do I ever remember a class on stewardship. What I learned I learned from books and experience. Ninety nine percent of pastors in America are under educated in the area of stewardship. While well meaning those that attempt to raise funds on their own often shoot themselves in the foot. They simply do not have the training or experience that a stewardship firm brings to the table. That lack of training and experience can and will cost you thousands of dollars raised.
Pastors and church leaders don’t have the time to commit to run a campaign. Doing a capital campaign right takes time. Too often pastors, staff and church leaders do not have the time to commit to the process. When you do it yourself you tend to rush through key elements of a campaign. The result is a less than successful campaign. Engaging a stewardship firm does not mean you will never have to spend time on the process. That is a mistake that many pastors make. Engaging a firm does mean that the time you spend on a campaign is spent wisely. Having a partner frees you to work in other areas of ministry while your stewardship consultant tends to the details for you.
Doing it yourself provides no accountability. One thing we do is keep our clients focused upon the task. Through regular check ups we help keep the campaign on the front burner of the church. My experience is that left alone most churches and pastors forget all about the campaign. Campaigns need attention throughout the giving period. Most make the mistake of thinking that after the pledging is over the campaign is over. In reality it is just beginning. A stewardship firm can help keep you accountable so that the campaign does not get forgotten.
A programmatic approach to campaigns brings disaster. The majority of churches that attempt to do their own campaign typically re-use materials from their last campaign. I once used a pastor friend to lead a campaign. He simply copied the materials from a firm that he used years ago and kept doing the same thing over and over again and again. Once I had a church ask if at the end of the campaign process they could keep the manuals. I laughed and said, “You are planning on using me this time and not using me next time aren’t you?” That was exactly what they were planning on doing. Their thought was that all they needed was a program inserted into the church calendar to help them raise funds.
Programs don’t raise funds. The program side of a campaign is the easiest part of the campaign process. We even give the manual away to those that are bound and determined to do their own campaign. If all you want is a campaign manual that is available for free from us and for a few hundred dollars from Rick Warren. Again, due to the complexity of our times it takes more thought, effort and time than ever before. You don’t do church the same way you did it in 1970. Why would you attempt to raise funds with a program that was designed in the 1970′s? Yet I find many churches that are attempting to do it themselves with outdated and out of touch programs that fail to raise the dollars they need. Worse yet the process so turns off their members that it makes any future fund raising all the more difficult. You don’t need a program you need a strategic partner!
About a year ago I was at a Sunday School social when one of the members of our class asked what I did. When I told him he told me he was on the stewardship committee of our church. He remarked that for the churches first campaign they had used a professional stewardship firm but had decided on the last campaign to save money and do it themselves. They pledged a million dollars less doing it themselves than when they used a professional. I have heard that story time and again. While you might not like to pay our fee we can and will in the end save you money. There are just some things that you don’t do yourself. Raising funds is one of those things.
There are some things in life that you can DIY. Raising funds is not one of those things. We are experts called by God to partner with you in this crucial time. We would love to help you build the best financial house possible. Call us today to see how we can help.
Mark Brooks
Founder and President
The Charis Group
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