Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

If your parish has an active Facebook page, it is likely the idea of fundraising through Facebook has come up. A vestry member, for instance, pleased by the number of “likes” their parish page has received, imagines a day when a wall post yields thousands of dollars for their annual stewardship campaign or a special fund project.

Well, they’re not the only one who is excited by this prospect. A few years ago nonprofits - religious and secular alike - celebrated the creation of Causes, an easy-to-use Facebook application whereby individuals and organizations promote and raise funds for their mission. A number of Episcopal parishes are already using this app; I recently searched “Episcopal” Causes and note that All Saints Waterloo, Belgium, St. Nicholas in Watertown, Maryland, and St. Paul’s in Lexington, KY have used this app to raise funds in the recent past.

But does it work? Last year the Washington Post basically said “No.” It published a withering review of Causes noting that less than one percent of all who joined a Facebook cause ultimately contributed. So, for instance, many might “support” St. Swithun’s, but chances are they’d never contribute. This article concludes that traditional methods - many of which Laurel Johnston covered here - remain far more effective.

Yet over the past year, the case for Causes has improved and the application appears poised to increase in effectiveness and popularity. So how might parishes use Causes effectively?

The fact of the matter is that I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that question. Many of us who labor on development committees are still figuring this out. Some helpful insights can be gained, however, by the following article by Sandra Gordon, a developer of Causes. There Gordon says what you name your cause is of the utmost importance.

Because Causes are meant to be shared, parishes should choose a name that completes the following sentence well: Bob Smith just contributed $50.00 to ________. This might mean not using the name of your church in favor of something more descriptive, like “St. Swithun’s Fight to End Hunger.” Keep in mind that the app works when the name generates interest and excitement within a congregation’s social network.

As of today, Causes is ranked as the fifth most popular application on Facebook and so it has great potential to change the way we raise funds for mission. For this reason, if you have used Causes to raise money for your parish, and especially if you’ve used this application as part of a stewardship campaign, I’d love to hear from you. Tell your story in the comments section below or send me an email at mescobar@episcopalfoundation.org. I look forward to learning more.