The Intersection of Faith and Philanthropy
Faith and philanthropy have gone hand in hand for decades. Religious organisations play a vital role in their local communities. Often, they’re a place for sanctuary and can help give people a new, spiritual outlook on life. Aside from their religious teachings, in many cases they will go out into the community and help those less fortunate. Or, they will look at causes, such as disaster relief, from across the world and play their part to raise funds and help those in need.
But they also rely on the philanthropy of the people in their communities and congregations to help them survive. Without fundraising initiatives, religious organisations wouldn’t be able to continue their mission. Faith and fundraising need to coexist. Here, we look at the importance of faith-based fundraising and how to successfully implement it.
The Importance of Faith-Based Fundraising
First let’s look at why fundraising is so important for your religious organisation.
Fostering Community Involvement and Giving
Whether you’re a church, a mosque, a synagogue or any other religious organisation, your faith will likely promote kindness and giving, as well as stewardship of worldly gifts. As people of faith, your supporters will want to use the worldly gifts they have earned to provide for themselves and their families, but also to give to people in need.
Faith and giving therefore complement each other. Your supporters will likely want to donate out of a sense of gratitude for what they have themselves, out of generosity, and a belief in redistributing what they have to help those less fortunate than themselves.
By fundraising for your organisation and asking your congregation and community to give, you’re fostering a sense of giving. And your supporters are playing an active role in the good your organisation is doing in the community, simply by donating whatever funds they can afford.
Advancing Mission and Ministry
When your donors give financial donations, as well as donating their time to your organisation, it goes a long way to helping your mission progress in the community.
If your organisation has a strong mission to help those in need in your local area or perhaps to give funds to disaster relief, talk about this mission during your services. Tie it in with teachings about good stewardship of the gifts your congregation has and the importance of giving. If they can see the impact of what you’re doing and where their funds are going, it becomes a powerful message.
Successful Faith-Based Fundraising Strategies
Here are a few strategies to help you raise funds:
Building on Shared Values
We’ve already mentioned the idea of your supporters having shared values around kindness and giving, as well as stewardship of worldly gifts.
This should lay the foundation for your fundraising efforts. Your congregation want your organisation to be able to keep on going. It’s a place for them to connect with the spiritual and to enhance their lives. If they understand that funds are essential to keep your organisation running, they will likely donate regularly due to the benefit that it gives them and the wider community.
If you’re fundraising for a specific cause, outside the day-to-day running of your organisation, explain clearly in your services what the cause is, why it’s so important, how this aligns with your faith and how even the smallest of donations can make a big difference. Place posters up around your building highlighting the core messages of your fundraising initiative and promote it to your congregation in your regular email updates.
Creating a Sense of Ownership and Participation
Asking your supporters to dip their hands in their pockets to donate cash is of course important. But you’ll also want as many of them involved as possible to create a sense of ownership and participation around your fundraising initiatives.
If you’re going out into the community to provide meals and clothing for homeless people, you’ll need a number of people involved. A planning committee of key people will help you effectively strategize your fundraising efforts and drive support from across your congregation. You’ll want people to donate their time to help cook the food and secure clothing donations etc. Those are just two ways you can ask people to participate.
You may also be running simple fundraising initiatives to raise money directly for your organisation, whether coffee mornings or bake sales. With events like this, you’ll need people to be involved with baking, attending the event and even hosting one of their own.
And are you planning any bigger fundraising efforts? A fundraising committee of leaders and senior people in your community will be essential for an effective community fair for example.
Leveraging Social Media and Online Platforms
Digital fundraising continues to grow and is something you shouldn’t ignore. Crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and JustGiving offer a way to collect funds for specific fundraising goals. And at easyfundraising, we provide you with a means to secure ongoing funds from your supporters (more on that in a second).
Effective digital fundraising comes down to choosing the right platform, then promoting it successfully. Your social media accounts are crucial for this. If you’re already active on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, use these to your advantage. Tell stories about your fundraising activities, use emotive imagery to showcase your cause and highlight your fundraising goals.
If you’re running community events to boost your fundraising, social media should play a central role in your promotional activities. Remember, it’s free and it enables you to reach a wider audience. If you engage with other religious groups and influential people online, it also gives you a chance to spread your message even further.
And if you’re looking for corporate donations or to collaborate with local businesses and groups in your area, LinkedIn is a great tool for prospecting and engaging with potential partners.
Getting Started with easyfundraising for your Faith-Based Fundraising
At easyfundraising, we give you a simple way to raise money for your church or religious organisation.
Why Choose easyfundraising?
Sometimes it can be hard to ask people to donate to your organisation. Often, they don’t have the spare cash or they may be happier to donate their time rather than money.
At easyfundraising, your supporters can provide you with donations as they go about their usual day-to-day shopping. All you need to do is sign up your organisation as one of our good causes. Then, when your supporters shop with any of our 7,500+ partner retailers, the retailer will make a donation out of the money your supporters spend. It doesn’t cost anything extra on top of their spend with the retailer. And the only thing they need to do first is to sign up to an easyfundraising account and start their shopping journey with us.
By making your fundraising part of the everyday shopping of your congregation and supporters, you increase your opportunity to raise funds on a consistent basis. You’re not asking your supporters to find extra cash from their pockets, just to shop online as normal. And as a digital fundraising initiative, it increases the potential reach of your fundraising efforts.
Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started
First, you need to register your organisation as one of our good causes. It’s a super simple process and takes minutes.
Once you’ve registered, you can create your dedicated cause page for your organisation. You’ll need to highlight the great work you do in the community, use emotive language, detail why fundraising is so important for your organisation and explain your fundraising goal.
Next, you’ll need to promote easyfundraising as your chosen means of digital fundraising. You can explain to your congregation in person how it works at the end of your services, put posters up around your church and hand flyers out to remind people. You’ll also want to explain how to use it in detail in your regular emails to your congregation, in your WhatsApp messages and on your social media channels. When you register with us, you can access our ToolKit which provides email, WhatsApp and social media templates to help you explain everything clearly and succinctly.
Faith-Based Fundraising and the Power of Community
Faith-based fundraising can help advance the mission of your religious organisation. With effective fundraising, you can continue to give spiritual guidance to your community and congregation. And you can do fantastic work helping those in need in your local area and across the world.
By using some of the above strategies and tapping into digital fundraising methods like easyfundraising, you can make a success of your fundraising initiatives and further your mission.