A Guide to Year-End Giving

By Josh Roberie

How high do you want to go? When I was a kid, we built ramps for our toy cars to jump. As we did, one thing quickly became apparent. We needed a long roadway to build momentum if we wanted our cars to fly high. The longer the ramp, the higher the car would go.

The same rules apply when it comes to a successful year-end giving campaign. The more you put into building up momentum for your campaign, the better your results will be. 

Here are seven strategies you can use to create a high-impact giving campaign.

#1 Plan Ahead

Asking people to plan ahead is one of the easiest ways to increase year-end giving without putting pressure on people. Before you ask them to prepare, you and your team need to do the same. Meet with your team months in advance to review last year’s giving, set goals, and consider what it will take to go ahead with this year’s plan.

#2 Pick a Giving Day

Selecting a day for sacrificial giving helps you build a longer ramp to launch the vision for your year-end giving campaign. It also provides a clear target for your donors to hit. When you select a day to join together in giving as a church, it helps people pray and decide in advance what they will donate.

One key element of picking a giving day is deciding on a theme. Give the day a name that communicates the importance and the impact of your church’s giving. Use this theme in your messaging to inspire people to go above and beyond in their giving. Include elements of vision and lasting legacy.

#3 Prepare People with Communication

60% of nonprofits make between 1-3 donor “touches” for their year-end campaign. You will have to communicate, re-communicate, and community again your plan to unite as a church in generosity. The primary way you will be able to do this is by announcing each week during your Sunday service that you will have a day to give coming up and that you want people to begin preparing for that moment.

#4 Present Stories of Lives Changed

You should share stories of lives changed through your church’s generosity during your giving campaign. You can begin telling these stories before your day of giving by capturing some videos and images from the ministries your year-end giving will support. If part of the donations is going towards your church, then use a testimony from someone ministered to by your church. You can also use stories from the previous year’s giving campaign.

#5 Promote Through Multiple Avenues

Making an announcement the week before you want people to give is not enough. Studies show that most church members do not attend every week. To reach your entire congregation, you will need to communicate the same thing repeatedly through multiple avenues. 

There are various ways you can reach your church with the vision of your year-end giving campaign beyond making announcement videos. You can hand out print pieces after church or include them in your church worship guide. Consider promotion on social media with multiple posts that vary slightly in their message. Mention financial donations as an application in some of your messages leading up to your day of giving. Sending emails to different segments of your church will help you tailor your message to each group’s involvement in your church. And finally, do not forget to mail a letter to those who have given to your church in the past. 

#6 Pitch the Vision and Make the Ask

The big day is finally here. Now it is time to make the ask! Before you do, make sure you share the vision and not just the need. Let people know where the church is going because of your members giving. After making the vision clear, you want to make it easy for people to give.

More people than ever are giving online and prefer digital giving. Deka has many solutions to help you in this area. We make giving easy and accessible for your members. Deka also works with you to personalize the giving experience for your church, so it flows with the branding of your other digital platforms.

#7 Pursue Givers with Appreciation

Your giving campaign is not over once your day of giving happens. You now need to follow up with your givers and show appreciation. You can do this with emails communicating the results of giving and sharing wins from that day on the following Sundays.

Keep in mind that 12% of giving happens in the last three days of the year. Some organizations report that the last day of the year is the biggest day of giving all year long. You should continue pursuing givers until the last day of the year, celebrating all that God has done through your ministry.

We hope this guide to year-end giving helps your ministry reach its goals to impact lives for the better. Please let us know if you are interested in finding out more about what your church can do to improve your ministry’s giving, marketing, and budgeting. You can schedule a free coaching session by clicking here!

Josh is a ministry leader, communicator, and creative who helps train and coach church planters at the Association of Related Churches (ARC). He has written Believe Again: Finding Faith After Losing Religion and has contributed to many ministry publications, including Relevant Magazine. You can stay connected to Josh through his blog JoshRoberie.com and Social Media at @JoshRoberie.