Top Tips for Increasing Church Donations

Church fundraising can be a difficult task. Whether you’re raising funds for your:

• Sunday school,
• youth group,
• mission trips,
• a new church building,
• church events…

… or just generally trying to raise money for your church community, people want to know what the best church fundraising ideas are and how to get church donations that will help support your church community.

Meanwhile, many pastors and elders feel uncomfortable talking about money with their congregation.

They’re afraid that if they talk to their people too often about church finances, that people will complain, or worse, leave the church.

In this blog post, we’re going to look at how to talk to your congregation effectively about money and how to create a fundraising strategy for your church that will help you raise the money you need to do the work that God has called you to do.

This post will give you plenty of fundraising ideas to help support your church’s mission by seeing more funds raised in order to help your church family do the work that God has called you to do.

You’ll learn how to raise money through opportunities like online giving, how to raise money for your church through the use of a fundraising communications calendar. You’ll also discover how you can raise more money for your church without having to host difficult and expensive fundraising events.

Raising money for your church doesn’t have to be this big, scary thing that causes you to worry.

So, let’s talk about how to start raising money for your church and see some of the best fundraising ideas you can use immediately.

#1 Keep your message on mission

Whether you’re looking for small church fundraising ideas or strategies for church youth groups, the first thing you need to do is make sure that all your communications are tied back to your church’s mission.

Too often, religious groups and religious organizations fall into the trap of talking about themselves, rather than focusing on outcomes.

Your church’s fundraising communications should focus on outcomes.

Let your church members know what their generous support is achieving.

Let them see how lives being transformed as a result of your church members’ donations!

By focussing on the impact your church members are making through their giving, you will encourage folks to give with greater frequency and at more generous levels of giving.

And don’t forget it is not enough to tell your people how much money you raised.

You want to make sure that you are also telling them what the money will be used for.

The goal of your fundraising campaign should be to inspire generosity in your people. The more they know about the mission, the more likely they are to support it generously.

#2 Give donors a seamless online giving experience

What does your church website giving experience look like? Are church members able to give a gift through your church website?

It’s incredible how many churches still aren’t able to receive gifts online.

Yet if you think about it, online giving is the perfect way to reach more people with your mission. You can provide a giving experience that is convenient for your donors and easy to use.

Make sure that you are providing an online giving experience that allows donors to give quickly and easily.

Choose your donation platform wisely

Your donation button should appear prominently on your home page. Make sure that you are using a reputable donation processor so that donors can feel secure about giving online.

If you’re just starting out and don’t know which donation platform to use, I highly recommend Donorbox.

Consider using Donorbox

Donorbox provides a super simple way for your religious group to raise money online in a way that is secure and easy for your donors.

You can create a Donorbox account and be up and running in as little as 15 minutes. It’s completely free to try and you’ll be ready to raise money online in no time.

Church fundraising doesn’t need to be difficult, and your fundraising efforts shouldn’t be so difficult that they are a distraction from your main goal.

So start raising money online now by creating a Donorbox account and you’ll see just how easy it is to raise money through your website.

Make the most of mobile giving

One of the best features about Donorbox is the way it opens up the world of mobile giving for your church.

Donorbox allows you to raise funds through your website even if people are browsing the site on a mobile device.

The online giving forms are all mobile responsive, so your church members won’t have to ‘pinch to zoom’ to be able to read the forms and give a gift.

#3 Allow people to set up automated recurring payments

The power of recurring donations

Another way to increase the revenue you’re bringing in is by allowing people to set up automated recurring giving.

Recurring donations are a powerful tool for mission work because they allow your mission efforts to become more sustainable and less stressful on your church budget.

Automated recurring donations also help to build donor relationships by establishing a sense of trust and commitment.

Make sure that you are providing an easy way for people to set up automated recurring payments on your website.

Setup recurring online donations today

You can easily do this using the Donorbox donation platform.

Simply log into your dashboard, and edit one of your existing campaigns by allowing donors to give at regular intervals.

Once they’ve entered their details into the form, Donorbox will process their recurring gift at the interval they have selected.

It’s a super simple process that harnesses the power of both online giving and recurring gifts.

#4 Report back on progress

Don’t leave your donors in the dark

How often have you made a donation to charity only to never hear again from that organization?

There’s nothing worse than giving a gift and not knowing whether or not the money was truly needed and how it was put to use.

So make sure you are reporting back to your donors on a regular basis about how their donations are making an impact.

Be intentional about progress reports

Make sure you’re setting aside time in your church’s communications calendar to update your community members about the impact that their generosity is having.

You can even send out short video updates or pictures to show the people how their donations are being used.

When your donors know that their money is going towards a good cause and that they are being kept in the loop about the progress of that cause, they are much more likely to give again in the future.

Make the most of your Sunday service

Here’s an example for your next mission trip.

Lots of churches are looking for mission trip fundraising ideas, but one of the best fundraising ideas that you need to implement whenever you start fundraising is thinking about the gifts you’ve already received from your existing donors.

You can do this really easily in your Sunday service when you report back on your latest mission trip. As you’re talking about the mission trip, make sure that people can see that the mission trip was only able to happen because of people’s generous giving.

By linking church giving back to a clear outcome, you are providing an important feedback loop for donors and helping them to see the tangible impact of their charitable gifts.

Many churches already include updates in their regular church service and if you’re already doing that, then that is terrific.

The next step then is to make sure that when you are providing updates in your church service or other communications, that you are linking those outcomes back to your donors’ generosity.

Remind your community members that these outcomes could not have been possible if it weren’t for their generous giving.

#5 Thank your church members for their generosity

The importance of saying ‘thank you’

Don’t stop at progress reports. Make sure you thank your donors for their giving.

Donations are always appreciated, but you can make sure that your donors feel truly valued for their generosity by sending out regular thank you letters or emails.

You’d be amazed how many churches never thank their members for their donations.

We tend to think that just because the Bible calls on us to give generously that our church’s don’t need to say ‘thank you’.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

If you want to see your church fundraising grow then make sure you are thanking your donors.

With online fundraising, this has never been easier.

Automate your donor care

If you’re using a platform like Donorbox, you can set up your donation form so that your donors will receive a thank you message when they make a donation.

Now that’s something to be thankful for!

Thanking your donors will encourage them to give again and it will also help build loyalty with your members.

#6 Use email marketing to drive traffic to your donation page

Email is not just for newsletters!

Just having a donation form on your website isn’t enough to ensure that your church fundraising will grow.

You also need to have traffic heading towards your online fundraising pages if you want to hit your fundraising goals.

Put email in your marketing plan upfront

Whenever you begin your fundraising appeals, be sure to include email marketing in your campaigns.

Don’t just mention your appeals from the front on a Sunday, but follow that communication up with dedicated fundraising emails that reinforce your message and provide people with a single, clear and compelling call to action that will take donors to your fundraising page, giving them an opportunity to give online.

Repetition, repetition repetition!

And don’t stop at one email.

Your fundraising campaigns should last for at least 4-8 weeks.

During that time, make sure you’re sending fundraising emails at least every 2 weeks.

You can increase the frequency as you get closer to the end of your campaign as you push towards a deadline.

Make use of Calls To Action

Each of those emails though should have a big, impossible-to-miss button that directs people to the fundraising page on your website.

The more people you have visiting your fundraising page, the more money you will raise.

#7 Reinforce your message with your church’s social media accounts

Why multichannel communication is so important

Similar to the point about using email marketing to reinforce what’s said in your Sunday service, you should also bolster your church fundraising campaign by using social media to direct people to your website’s fundraising page.

Make sure you’re including a few posts each week that remind people about your church fundraiser and give updates as the campaign progresses.

A note about link shares

Now, many social media platforms like Facebook prefer it if don’t post links because it drives traffic away from their website.

So you can’t make every social post about your church fundraiser, but a couple of posts each week will encourage people to give a few dollars more than perhaps what they otherwise would have given.

#8 Use your church calendar as the basis for your fundraising calendar

Plan to have a plan

Having great fundraising ideas is one thing, but making sure they work their way into your church’s annual calendar is another thing entirely.

So to make sure all your other church fundraising ideas are delivered successfully, it’s a good idea to use your church calendar as the basis for your annual fundraising campaign.

Leverage your existing church calendar

If you already have set dates and times that you send out updates in Sunday services or include other communications then why not apply those same principles when planning out your church fundraisers.

Here are some really simple church events that ought to be included in your annual church fundraising calendar.

Doing this will help you be more intentional about when and how you speak to your religious community about church fundraising and will help you solicit more donations.

Christmas & End-Of-Year

Many countries operate on a fiscal year that runs from Jan-Dec.

That means your Christmas season and year-end giving will overlap.

Christmas is a perfect opportunity to highlight the great work that God has been doing in your church community over the past year.

And December is a fantastic time to cast a vision for the year ahead and give your people a message about finishing the year strong and getting the New Year off on the front foot.

Easter & Local Missions

This is typically the holiest time in your church calendar. Many churches will have visitors attending services.

While translating Christmas & Easter attendance into lasting momentum is often a struggle, Easter represents a perfect time for churches to spring into local missions.

This can provide a compelling case for support for your local church members to give generously.

Annual Mission Trips

If your church has an annual mission trip then you’ll want to make sure that it is included in your fundraising calendar.

Lots of churches are looking for the latest and greatest mission trip fundraising ideas but in reality, what you really want to do is simply assign a portion of your annual fundraising calendar where you purposefully talk about your upcoming mission trips.

Depending on your church’s circumstances, you don’t have to allocate 100% of the funds raised from the appeal to your mission trip – it can still go towards the week-in-week-out work of your local church – but you can use the missions appeal to highlight your annual mission trips as just another way in which your members’ generous support is making a difference in people’s lives.

Youth Group Events

Lots of churches are looking for youth group fundraising ideas as a way to raise funds from within the youth group.

While there is something to be said for teaching the kids in your youth group about the importance of giving generously, it’s worth keeping in mind that these kids aren’t likely going to be at a stage of life where they have significant disposable income they can donate.

So whether you’re holding events like a themed youth group party, it’s worth keeping in mind that whatever you raise from within your youth group is most likely going to be less than you could raise from older members of your congregation who would have a higher capacity to give.

They simply don’t earn enough money to save money and give as generously as other members of your church.

Instead, look for opportunities to highlight upcoming youth group events and present them to your congregation as an opportunity to support the youth group by helping to subsidise your annual youth camp or other events.

This is another way that members of your congregation can help support life-transforming ministries within your church.

So if you’re looking for fundraising ideas for churches, consider giving your people the chance to support your youth ministry as a way of helping your congregation support the other members of your community.

It may not be the most obvious or popular fundraising idea, but it is a fantastic way to give people a chance to sew generously into the lives of other church members.

Capital raising for your church building etc.

Does your church have an upcoming capital works program you need to raise money for? Do you need to raise more donations above and beyond your regular weekly expenses in order to raise money for your building program?

if you need more money for your building program then this is where a capital works appeal could be just the church fundraising idea you’ve been looking for.

Capital works programs can provide an engaging fundraiser that gives members of your congregation, people who are at a stage of life where they have a greater capacity to give, the opportunity to invest in a longer-term vision for your church.

Capital works programs are a great way for religious organizations to raise money for their church and provide a more secure future for their religious community.

Conclusion

If you’re trying to raise money for your church, or just looking for church fundraising ideas to help raise funds online then hopefully some of these tips have been helpful.

Just remember that it’s not about how much money you can raise, but rather, it’s about the eternal impact that your fundraising will have on people’s lives.

And by using a few of these tried and true methods, you’ll be well on your way to reaching your church fundraising goals!