Winter is upon us. Unless you live in Arizona or Florida you are likely to experience inclement weather that will unfortunately fall on a weekend. What will happen is that your attendance will be much lower or you will be unable to even hold services. Here in the South all it takes to keep people at home is the mere threat of snow and we get bunker mentality. If you cannot hold your services or if attendance is greatly reduced it stands to reason that your offering will take a major hit. Unfortunately the majority of your attendees will not make that lost offering up in the next week.
Several years ago one of my pastor clients called me on a Monday to tell me that they had snow in his region over the weekend. His attendance was minimal that Sunday. Typically his church brought in $35K a week in offerings. As a result of the snow their offering was only a few thousand dollars. What to do? I wrote a direct appeal letter for him and we sent it out immediately. In that letter we provided an envelope with the postage paid. That week $35K came into the church through that one letter.
So, what strategy do you have? Here are some easy steps of action that you need to have in place for WHEN the snow flies and your services are cancelled our curtailed.
Have a written plan of action in place NOW! Don’t wait for the inevitable to happen. Plan now for when it does happen. What will be your strategy?
Make sure you have online giving in place. Churches with giving portals can more quickly direct members to give in times of inclement weather. This has to be in place well before the snow flies.
Write out a one page appeal letter that you can easily pull up and use. If you can’t think of what to say email me and I will send you a sample.
Have an email data base so that you can email your appeal AND include in the email a direct link to your giving page.
Send out both and email appeal and a snail mail appeal as soon as possible. The snail mail appeal should have an offering envelope in the letter making it easy for your members to respond.
Have an App designed for your church that includes a giving option. Using your app I would push information to all those on the list about the service cancellation AND direct them to your giving portal.
These simple steps can help you avoid the offering loss due to inclement weather. The further above the Mason Dixon line you live the more likely you are of having a snowy weekend. Planning now to head the decline in giving could save you from cancelling some ministry this summer. What is your plan of action for when the snow flies?
Don’t have an App for your church? We have a plan for that! Join us January 17th at 2 PM EST for a free webinar discussing the amazing potential that your church could have by utilizing apps. For more information see the link below.
Mark Brooks
Founder and President
The Charis Group
To sign up go to:
| Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/788450742 |
Find out how you can Turbo Charge Your Church's Giving!