Acts 29

In the last article I talked about the opportunities available for receiving funding for your church plant needs, as well the general thinking of the successful businessman. In this article I want to give some steps that will be helpful in getting money from the people who have it. The difficulty in any methods-based approach is the tendency to follow the procedure while avoiding the principle behind the procedure. Since church planters are at various stages in their church, this process will obviously have to be adjusted based on your particular situation. My goal is to give lots of ideas to stimulate your own creativity in getting the funds you need.

Before we discuss “methods” let’s first talk about general fund raising principles.

Principle #1 – The resources you are willing to put into fund raising usually correlates to the amount of money you will raise.  Some of you are already saying to yourself, “Great, I have no time, and I’m running out of money.” Don’t get discouraged. The general rule is that you have to spend money and resources to make money. If you are limited in what you can do, that is fine. There are still ways to get some money without time and resources. However, don’t have high expectations for the funds you will receive unless you are willing to invest. If you expect quick cash based on faith, then buy some lottery tickets and sprinkle them will some of your communion wine. 

Pastors are often some of the tightest wads around. We print our weekly song sheets from the home computer that still runs on Windows 95 willing to wait the hour it takes to print to save Kinko’s costs. We put the print settings on “fast draft” to save ink, and print on both sides to save paper. Sometimes this is necessary with the budget we have. However, when we are approaching individuals for money, “cheap” can communicate “poor quality”, “no plan”, “disorganized” and “needy”. There are economic ways to do things, and I don’t advocate wasting money, but whatever you decide to do to raise money, it needs to be as professional as possible. If you decide to print brochures make sure they are done professionally, the graphics are crisp with good resolution, the color schemes are current and the overall layout is done by a graphic designer. If you decide to include a video, don’t use your home camcorder to throw something together. Ultimately it would be better to do a few things well, than many things poorly.   

Principle #2 – A well-developed business plan is not only essential to raising money, but is also helpful in developing your own church vision. The business plan is simply the written document that best defines you and your vision. In the corporate world, companies who want venture capitalists to invest in them create a business plan. The business plan includes your vision and mission.  It answers questions such as: Who are we? Where are we now? Where do we want to go? Most planters have some type of mission, which is a one-line statement of purpose. Fewer planters have a basic vision in their heads, and still less have gone so far as to write it down. The vision, however, is just a small part of a business plan. The business plan includes your objectives. How do you plan to accomplish your vision? What do you foresee happening in year one, year three and year five? Obviously, much of this will change over time. God often takes our churches wherever He wants, but the objectives put some legs to your plans. The business plan also includes a break-even analysis. This begins with a list of all your fixed expenses broken down. Then it shows what money you specifically need, and where you plan to spend the money. For more information on business plans you can find multiple books written at your local book store. There is also some great software available such as Business Plan Pro which will take you step by step through creating a business plan. 

Practically, a business plan will often require a shift in thinking for many church planters. The data that fills our websites is usually the very data your investor cares little about. The investor doesn’t care as much about your theology, your children’s program, your membership requirements or what style of worship you have. The investor is interested in the mechanics of the plant. Statistics show that church plants in this country are more likely to fail than succeed. Although it takes the work of God for any plant to succeed, planters often fail to do their part in planning. We wouldn’t build a tower or go to war without preparation and thinking it through (Luke 14:27-31), but often we build churches without a plan. With the statistics for failed church plants hanging over our efforts, we need to show to potential givers how with God’s help we plan to go against the odds. 

So now that I have covered some basic principles, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of raising money.

Step #1 – Create a business plan.
 Get with your team (or your wife if you are alone) and open up the creative juices. Talk through every detail you can think of. What would you want to do with your church if money were not an option? Think big. Write down as many ideas as possible. Then begin putting on paper as thorough a plan and projection as you can, making sure to include the elements listed in principle #2. This is not the specific document you will present to business people, so just get information on paper. Even if you decide not to raise money, putting together a business plan is still a good idea for detailing your church plant vision and unifying your team. You may find you build a renewed excitement in what is going on by talking through your dreams as a group. 

Step #2 – Make a list of all potential givers. 
When my team and I first began this process, the Cigarette Man told us to come up with 100 names a piece. My last article elucidated our scant list of potentials, so we balked at this. However, we were surprised by how many people we could come up with. There is no limit to this original list. If someone can give as little as $10 a month, they need to be included. Basically, if they can breathe and write their name on the bottom of a check they are in.

Here are some of the many sources of givers.

1) Successful businessmen. You may be surprised as you brainstorm that someone in the group knows of a person or two who have money they may be willing to give.

2) Family and friends. This is the group in sales often called “gravy”.  Gravy are those contacts who are ready and willing to give right now, with little effort on your part. A phone call or a nicely printed letter will usually be able to pull anywhere from $10 to $500 from these individuals. I’ll show you in the next section how this can really add up.

3) Churches. If you are connected to one or more churches there is great potential for funds. Churches already have budgets and love to give to new mission projects. Often through a video or presentation venue, you may be able to get a sizeable check or at least monthly funds to help with your plant.

4) Church plant organizations. Acts 29 is just one of many church planting groups that may be willing to give you some funds to help with your plant. This can be a big source of funds for a planter. Do some research, and ask around to find any potential church plant organizations that would be willing to give funds to the right prospect. A word of caution for this group, though: make sure you are not signing away your soul simply for money. There is a great temptation here to connect with anyone who will fund you, but if you aren’t careful your short-term solution will bring long-term problems for your plant.  Be sure you agree with the theology and philosophy of the organization you are connecting to. In our case we turned down more than one opportunity to receive big funds from organizations. One organization offered $100k over two years as long as we signed a personal standards agreement, which of course listed Christian liberty standards my team disagreed with. We chose not to connect with that organization, though we agreed with much of what they were doing.

5) Your own team. If you are in the situation of team development, and you aren’t going to plant for a while, you should discuss with your team the option of tithing ahead of time to your future church. Some may have issues with this, but it is an option. You may begin now opening up a bank account and begin collecting funds. My team created a non-profit organization under our church’s umbrella called Seed Ministries and opened up an account for that ministry to begin collecting funds.    

After looking at your contacts and analyzing your current situation, you are now ready to put together a fund raising plan.

How will you know what is best for your situation? Here are a couple clues. If you are just beginning your core development then you and your group probably have day jobs. You don’t have a fixed expense clock ticking down, so you can invest more time and money into really putting together a fund raising process. If you are currently doing church as a group, you need money right now so you may choose to invest less, but still get some needed cash. Here is a quick look at two options.   

Option #1 – Gravy Approach
If you have no time or money to put into fundraising, you can still get some quick funds if you are willing to put in a little brain sweat and creativity. Your best option is to focus on your “gravy” group. Take a look at your business plan and create a full color giving letter. This is a letter sent to your family and friends that gives your vision and need for funds. It includes quotes from media articles about the need for churches in your area, or pictures of the building you want to purchase or quotes from people whose lives have been changed by your ministry. Here are two very important things that will make or break this option. 1) Include a pre-stamped return envelope. Make it as easy as possible for people to give. Netflix doesn’t make its money on the quality of its videos, but the simplicity and convenience of the return process. 2) Include a perforated portion at the end of the letter with specific giving options to be checked. Include options for one-time giving and monthly giving. The giver can check the box they want, then put their money and the perforated section in the return envelope. When you receive their funds, send them a prompt thank you note and receipt, and put them on a monthly or quarterly newsletter mailing list informing them of the progress of your plant.

Now let’s look at the potential numbers for this option. Let’s say you need $24,000 to supplement your salary for the first year. This would be 24 people giving you about $100 per month, 48 people giving you about $50 per month, or 96 people giving you about $25 dollars per month. When you break it down this way, you can see that almost anyone can give. If you have enough family and friends on a list, you may be able to get basic funds in a very short period of time.     

Option #2 – Big-Dog Approach
If you realize you have quite a few contacts with churches, organizations and successful businessmen, you may want to put in the time to see if you can get bigger sums of money. You know enough big dogs to be able to get large funds efficiently and effectively. This method involves two things: a business plan summary document and planned presentations.

First, let’s look at the business plan summary document. This is a 10 to 20 page document that summarizes your business plan which you will hand out to prospective givers. This is sometimes called your prospectus or presentation manual. This document needs to cover the main points of your business plan, but maintain brevity and simplicity. If the businessman has questions he may ask for more details, but don’t include all details in this document. This is the face of your plan, so it needs to be done well. You may drop anywhere from $300 to $1000 just to get multiple copies of this document designed and printed. Because of the expense you will only hand out a limited number of these documents, usually at your particular presentations.

Second, let’s talk about the planned presentations. These include church presentations, small home presentations, or banquets. My team never did the banquets because frankly we ran out of time, but we found some success in the church and home presentations. A church presentation is simply the classic missionary model. Get up in front of the church, present your vision and need tell them how they can give. It may be nice to have a video of some kind made for this. 

The home presentations are relatively unique and specific to bigger givers. Make a list of all the individuals in your area that you know could give $1000 or more. These are people that at least one person in your group has a relationship with at some capacity.  The prospect may have an entrepreneurial friend or two that would be interested in attending a home presentation with them. Preferably they are individuals who have already heard about your ministry. A month ahead of time, invite a group of 6-12 prospects to a private home meeting. Make it clear in the invitation letter that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss your ministry and its needs. Ask for an RSVP, and send a reminder by e-mail or phone two other times. This meeting is ideal in the evening including either a meal, or nice dessert. At the meeting you make it clear that you are not going to ask for any money that evening. All you want to do is present your vision. What you ask of the prospect is that by the end of the meeting each individual decides whether or not they would be willing to meet with you one-on-one to discuss in more detail how much they feel they could give to support the plant. 

Banquets are just like the home presentations, but on a larger scale. They require more resources and planning, but can often produce huge results. If you have enough prospects and resources to make a banquet fly, go for it. Pick 40 or so key prospects, and have them each commit to filling a 6-person table for the banquet.

Option #3 – Mixed Approach
If you have a few businessmen contacts and some gravy contacts, you may just want to do a little for both. This is the approach my team took. This means you need to do personal meetings, home presentations, church presentations and mailers. This approach will not have as big a return as option 2, but will usually produce a greater return than option one by itself. My team had very few resources and contacts, but through fundraising we were able to raise over $75,000 not including our own personal donations.  This allowed us to have some padding in the beginning to supplement our needs until we were able to support ourselves through internal giving. It has also given us a contacts list for the future. We have many partners with us from across the country who have given to our ministry. When we decide it is time to plant again, we may call on these partners a second time to help a new plant.   

If you are willing to be wise with your current resources and use some creativity, then I believe anyone can raise the money they need for their church plant. Of course, money is not the key to a successful church plant, and fundraising is not the key to getting money. God can and often does provide success without money and money without fundraising.  But if a planter is honest, he would have to admit that one of the biggest pressures you face starting off is the pressure to pay the bills. If you could relieve that pressure enough so you could focus on the other one hundred difficult tasks for this hardest calling in the world, wouldn’t you do that?