Prepare Your Church Giving for the End of Summer Rush

Fall is on its way, which means vacation season is drawing to an end and church members who have been away will be back in regular attendance soon. If your place of worship has experienced the traditional summer giving slump, here are four ways to prepare your church giving for when your members return home.

1. Provide a quarterly church giving update.

You may already be doing this, but if not, consider adding it to your schedule at summer’s end. Reminding the congregation about church giving habits and yearly trends — as well as bringing people up-to-date on existing needs — is a good idea.

Churches often see good, direct financial results from giving quarterly financial updates. It is seen as a less direct way of discussing money than sharing a sermon on the topic (although that can be effective, too!) It also provides leadership with an opportunity to thank the congregation for giving faithfully.

2. Be strategic.

The weeks between Labor Day and Christmas Eve are seen as a critical season for most churches. Members are back in town. There is a renewed spirit of excitement leading up to the holidays. Leveraging this season — whether for a specific campaign or challenge — can result in big giving and growth.

If you’ve considered doing a faith promise challenge or introducing plans to raise money for a specific building or ministry project, now is a great time to give it a try.

3. Remind people about the mission.

Being really transparent about where the money is going and reminding people why they are giving — by directly tying it to the mission of the church — can be very beneficial. Connecting the vision to the gifts is incredibly powerful.

People want to know that their giving makes a difference, and taking two minutes before the offering to tell them that their gifts are impactful can encourage members of your congregation to start or continue giving.

4. Keep it simple.

Putting pressure on yourself to “fix the summer giving slump” could create unnecessary stress or frustration. Keep it simple. The best thing to do to prepare for a church giving slump and the end-of-summer rush is to put a plan in place that meets the congregation’s needs in every season. One remarkable way to make this happen is to provide your church members with a mobile giving platform like Givelify.

Mobile giving enables your members to give quickly and easily any time of year, whether they’re physically present in church or away on vacation. Givelify member organizations can also add a convenient giving button to their websites and share giving links on social media that take worshipers directly to the church’s giving page.

Setting up your church family with Givelify — and its additional user-friendly features like recurring offerings — can diminish the effect of the summer giving slump by making giving from afar easier than ever. It will also prepare your church for success when your membership returns en masse in the fall.