{"id":883,"date":"2012-01-31T06:46:14","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T06:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/104.247.72.45\/~evansdavis\/?p=883"},"modified":"2012-01-31T15:37:12","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T15:37:12","slug":"the-lost-art-of-personal-visitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/the-lost-art-of-personal-visitation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lost Art of Personal Visitation for Fundraising"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Fundraising for churches has gone through different variations in the past century, yet\u00a0many of the basic tenets of fundraising remain the same, whether the fundraising is for the\u00a0annual operating budget or a capital campaign. However, one area that has changed is\u00a0that many churches have abandoned the practice of personal visitations when soliciting\u00a0funds. Your church may find it helpful to consider bringing back this approach when\u00a0planning for your annual stewardship campaigns.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through the period from the end of WW II to the late 70’s, most churches in the United\u00a0States that put on a fall pledge or faith commitment solicitations program to determine\u00a0their budget for the next year would do a canvass of their congregation. This canvass was\u00a0usually a system of personal visitations where couples visited couples or individuals visited\u00a0individuals in their homes to discuss with them a financial commitment to the church for\u00a0the coming year. In keeping with stewardship principals of Time, Talent and Treasure,\u00a0families were asked to volunteer to assist their church with a ministry commitment as well.<\/p>\n

Culture Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

But as the 80’s approached with increasingly both spouses having to work and congregations\u00a0growing to larger sizes, the system of visitations gave way to the mailing of a solicitation\u00a0letter. This letter usually states the needs of the church and asks for a percentage increase\u00a0in giving over the previous year. While a church may have legitimate reasons for using the\u00a0more impersonal approach with a general solicitation letter, your ministry may be missing\u00a0out on an important technique that can help you better balance the budget. Personal\u00a0visitations are time intensive, but can provide the necessary marginal increase in donations\u00a0so that Church leaders and clergy aren\u2019t placed in a position of making special appeals\u00a0throughout the year to stay current on expenses.<\/p>\n

The Case for Personal Visitation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Capital<\/a>Of equal importance is the fact that personal visitations help strengthen your ministry. The\u00a0reality is that most couples enjoy personal visitation among each other. Often, it\u2019s the only\u00a0time when many families can visit other families outside of Sunday worship. There is\u00a0a note of camaraderie and friendship with these visits. Also, the gatherings are the\u00a0best vehicle to inform fellow members of the “vision” for ministry and mission of the\u00a0church. If the program is done correctly there is a “coming together” of the congregation\u00a0into a unified spirit of optimism for the future. While raising significant dollars, a well\u00a0managed, personal visitation campaign also develops new leadership and strengthens the\u00a0church’s volunteer base. Additionally as we all know, it is harder to say \u201cno\u201d to a personal\u00a0request from a fellow congregant. Unfortunately, too many churches have abandoned this\u00a0effective method of fundraising and instead rely on impersonal letters from the Senior\u00a0Minister or church treasurer.<\/p>\n

A number of churches have also abandoned the personal visitation program for major\u00a0capital campaigns. Since major capital campaigns are infrequent events, it is necessary\u00a0that financial commitments be personally asked for from fellow members. It is the \u00a0way that the story of the church and its long term “vision” can be told so that a sufficient\u00a0amount of capital dollars can be raised to make this “vision” a reality. Increasingly, well\u00a0intended church leaders have chosen fund-raising counsel that does the solicitation\u00a0themselves through a series of worship services or special events and does not use church\u00a0members. These fundraisers argue that most volunteers “can’t ask for money” or that giving\u00a0is a private affair and that personal solicitation visits can be too heavy handed. We\u00a0caution against that way of thinking, and advise churches that if structured and used\u00a0properly, personal visitations are a very helpful ministry tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fundraising for churches has gone through different variations in the past century, yet\u00a0many of the basic tenets of fundraising remain the same, whether the fundraising is for the\u00a0annual operating budget or a capital campaign. However, one area that has changed is\u00a0that many churches have abandoned the practice of personal visitations when soliciting\u00a0funds. Your church may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evans-davis.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}