Follow these six steps to make your end of year appeal more effective. 22% of charities yearly gifts come the last two days of the year! How could your church capitalize upon that? Let me share six steps you can take.
My life’s mission is to work to reverse the decline in giving one church at a time! I get the joy of working with churches across America doing just that. One way we reverse the decline in giving is with great end of year appeals. Below are three samples of opening lines of appeals I have written for clients for end of year appeals. The first two are going out in snail mail letters. The final one is an email blast.
“Babies Still at Risk in Typhoon Recovery,” was the headline that got my attention on Saturday morning.”
“I cannot let that woman die.”…These were the recent words of Zambian medical missionary Sal Marini to his wife after receiving a call at 3:00 a.m. from a woman who had just given birth to a baby, but was unable to deliver the afterbirth.”
Subject line: What does 83% mean for the destiny of children?
83%. That is the percentage of all Christians that make their commitment to Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14 according to a study by the International Bible Society.
While the above clients pay me to write their personalized messages let me give you a few thoughts for free about how to make your end of year appeal more effective. Follow these steps to success…
Be simple and direct. I think single “asks,” are better. Decide what is the most important thing you want funded with the year end appeal and focus on that. Even if the “ask” is about making budget show why that is important and what difference that will make for the missions and ministries of your church. The more simple and direct the ask, the more effective the results.
Don’t make it about you. Instead of talking about your need, talk about what your church does and accomplishes. Make giving about funding missions and ministry not making budget!
Make it impactful. Show what the difference their gift will make and people will give you more. Use stories and pictures to tell the story of what the need is and how their gift will impact that mission and ministry.
Use all your platforms and channels. Great end of year campaigns use direct mail, email, Social Media, platform communications, print communications, websites, etc. Successful end of year campaigns use every platform and channel to tell the story and make the appeal.
Ask more than once. Most churches IF they make an end of year appeal make the mistake of not asking frequently enough. There is a fine line here but I find that most churches don’t ask often enough. Build a plan of action that sequences out your appeals and you will find you raise more money.
My final step is, Just do it! One reason why most churches don’t see better end of year giving is they don’t do anything. Take these steps and you will see an increase in giving. That increase might just be enough to help you make budget. So, get up and get moving towards finishing the year strong!
Mark Brooks
Founder and President
The Charis Group and Charis Giving Solutions
To get your year started right, on January 8th, we are hosting a free live webinar that will show you exactly what your church must do to be fully funded in 2014. If there is still space available, you can register by clicking the yellow “Reserve Your Spot” button.
