Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Our parish demographics were changing, as were economic conditions, and our annual giving team realized that our stewardship campaign needed to change with them. In years past, our ‘one size fits all’ approach worked for a homogenous, churched population. With new families that did not have a history of pledging or were from non-churched backgrounds and more established members who were stagnant in their giving, we developed methods to engage these specific groups within the larger framework of our campaign.

As we began to revise the traditional giving campaign, we realized that two questions needed to be answered:

• How could we include and foster those from non-church backgrounds into Christian giving?
• How could we equally emphasize the spiritual aspects of stewardship and the parish financial needs?

In order to answer our first question, we organized our membership into three groups: long-time members, newer members, and those who fell somewhere in between. One team member was assigned to each group, responsible for writing a campaign letter tailored to the specific dynamics of that group, and then making a personal follow-up contact with each person in the group.

Our campaign literature needed to reflect the diversity and energy of our congregation. Using engaging photos highlighting our events and accomplishments was a wonderful way to replace what had been bulky paragraphs of text. We also included questions and answers for those from a non-church background such as Who will see my pledge? What happens if I can’t pay it? We also added questions that were meaningful to old and new members alike: How is giving to my church different from giving to other charities? So what does God have to do with it?

To better emphasize the spiritual aspects of pledging and communicate gratitude for each pledge, we replaced a traditional monetary-focused thermometer with a 'thank you' board that listed the names of all those who pledged, without dollar amounts. This approach was terrific at spurring participation. Members of our team hand wrote thank you notes to each person in their group who made a pledge. Small personal touches of gratitude made a world of difference.

In discerning the needs to revamp our campaign, our team had to be open to vulnerabilities and take a leap of faith to rethink our traditions on stewardship, but I can tell you it worked and was well worth it.