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There May be Professional Help in Your Congregation

© Wayne E. Groner

Volunteer help for your church fundraising programs may be found among persons in your congregation who make their living in fundraising. Consider the case of a remarkable turnaround of an Episcopal parish in Alexandria, Virginia.

When Steve and Mary Wade came to Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill in 1995 for Steve to become the Rector, the parish was tapped out. A failed capital campaign had left the parish nearly one million dollars in debt and with $250,000 in bad pledges. Shrinking contributions from among the parish’s 250 regular attendees produced desperate pleas for mid-year gifts to pay bills and meet payroll. The year before they came a generous gift of stock had to be returned because systems were not in place to deal with such a gift.

The volunteer in this case was Mary, who is vice president of Barnes & Roche, Inc., a full-service institutional advancement and resource management firm.

“A vision and a plan to achieve it are basic to successful fund raising,” she says. “This involves developing volunteer leadership, understanding and managing your prospect pool, and putting a system into place to appropriately handle gifts. The challenge is to use the basics to create an organization that is inviting to givers as investors.”

Here is what Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill did:

1. Started with a planning process that involved key leaders of various circles.

2. Changed the language of stewardship campaigns from “we need money desperately” to “we plan to do great things.”

3. Developed stewardship volunteers beyond a tiny handful.

4. Got to know the resources of segments of the parish.

5. Implemented a creative challenge-grant program to reduce the debt.

6. Upgraded administrative systems and training.

As a result, the debt was eliminated, giving rose dramatically, the average pledge nearly doubled, the budget rose 30% with basically the same size membership base, and a planned giving program was launched with 40 founding members.

Thanks to Mary Wade for sharing her story. It's true that the volunteer fund raiser in your congregation may not have the inside track of a pastor’s wife, or be a senior executive with a top consulting firm. There may be a professional, though, who would help if you asked.

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