A New Pitch for God’s Resources – Church Finance Series | Center for Religion and Civic Culture

This post originally appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel.

Church Stewardship is raising, expending, and managing God’s funds and property. This is the fundamental principle of biblical stewardship. Too many church leaders use the same pitch for money every week, but expect better results. Church leaders must keep up with the times by perfecting a new pitch for raising resources:

The Pitch

The pitch is the primary method of connecting with a donor. The pitch is informational and emotional. Donors must connect with person making the pitch. If a pitch is just informational, it lacks passion. If a pitch is just emotional, it lacks content. The pitch must have a combination of strong content and charisma. A pitch requires these six steps:

Know Your Donors – Members want to give to help people, change the world, and remain obedient to God. This requires researching donor’s interest. Church leaders are wise to take a survey to determine donors’ desires.

Practice the Pitch – Practice your pitch. Learn by listening to yourself on tape or watching a video of your pitch. Welcome honest feedback. A pitch should last no more than one to three minutes.

Solve a Problem – Every pitch must include solving some problem. People give to solve problems not pay the pastor’s salary or the building fund. It is best to show pictures of data, programs, or projects via PowerPoint or video. The objective is to create a story for donors to see, feel and experience. Ask for more than you expect to raise.

Passion Produces Success – People are moved by the passion of the presenter. The presenter must demonstrate passion for the purpose or cause.

Talk, Don’t Preach – Donors are not looking to be preach to, sold, sweet talked, but donors seek a data driven sincere presentation. Church leaders must be themselves, authentic, accountable and transparent and use a talking voice to achieve the best results.

Keep it Short, Sweet and Simple – Donors don’t need a long drawn out pitch. Keep the pitch short, sweet and simple. Less is more. Make sure your pitch is succinct and thorough at the same time. KISSS…..

God has given the church power to identify resources to serve God’s people. It’s time for the church to keep up with God.