Strengthening Your Campaign with “Conditioning Exercises”
Winning athletes know that their success on game day begins with their early training and conditioning. Church capital campaigns are no different. Following are some “conditioning exercises” that could help your congregation in the early preparation for a major capital campaign.
- Prior to your campaign kickoff, offer a financial literacy class. Many families genuinely want to give but just don’t have the financial understanding to make it happen. This could be as extensive as offering Dave Ramsey’s 9-week Financial Peace University or as simple as doing a book study on one of a variety of Christian books about finances. Christian organizations such as Crown Financial or Dave Ramsey provide many resources for offering such a class or study.
- Prior to or during your campaign, recruit a church member who has financial training (perhaps an accountant, financial advisor or banker) to provide counseling sessions (small group or one-on-one) for anyone who may want additional guidance.
- Finally, don’t overlook providing resources to strengthen those who may have significant giving capacity. Due to their financial success, it is often assumed that this audience doesn’t need guidance. However, you can provide them with useful information in forums such as Tax-Wise Giving seminars, to help them give in the most tax efficient manner. Planting these seeds early allows high capacity givers the time needed for advance planning. They will thank you and your capital campaign will also benefit.
These are just a few steps you can take to help your congregation be prepared for the “big game” and ready to give financially. Most importantly though, we encourage you to remind your congregation to seek and trust God. Start practicing this early in the “training” and remind them again when they are considering their financial gifts towards your capital campaign. It’s when we step out in faith and are obedient to what God is calling us to that the Lord does more than we can understand or imagine.