Giving During December - Even Christians Follow Trends

12/3/2014

Giving During December – Even Christians Follow Trends

I am in withdrawal. No more new episodes of “The Good Wife,” “Parenthood,” “’black-ish,” or “Nashville” til mid-January? What am I supposed to do in the meantime? Read? Geeze - next you’ll tell me that I’m supposed to exercise and get a good night’s sleep too.

Well – in lieu of any of those boring alternatives, I have taken to the internet! And of course, it’s all in my desire to find out the latest end-of-year giving information for you – my brothers and sisters in the faith (and I rarely, well sort of rarely, peek at Facebook).

I present the latest mind-blowing statistics:

33.6% of all giving happens in the last three months of the year
17.5% of all giving happens in the month of December
30% of all on-line giving occurs during the month of December
10% of all on-line giving occurs in the last three days of December
December 31^st on-line giving is concentrated between 12pm-7pm*

Here’s the thing: people expect to be asked to give in December. People want to give in December. And here’s why people want to give -- they want to:

Be happier by helping others
Feel important by making a difference
Be connected with something good
Take advantage of tax deductions

It’s no surprise – people of faith want to give too. And a lot of them want to give on line. If you have on-line giving capability, make sure you’ve made it easy. Send an email on December 31 with a link to your donation/offering page. For some great tips on year-end giving, here’s an excellent eight-minute video from Better Fundraising for All.

Your congregation, for the most part, reflects the statistics cited above. Don’t count them out or do a half-hearted year-end giving effort. And, I bet a few folk in the pews can also hardly wait for the return of their favorite TV shows in January.

Don’t forget! I am happy to review your year-end letter. Send it to me at inspiringgnerosity@gmail.com. I promise not to use red pen.

* Sources for statistics and interesting websites to boot:
https://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/2014/2013.CharitableGivingReport.pdf
http://www1.networkforgood.org/digitalgivingindex
https://www.mobilecause.com/year-end-fundraising/

Cesie Delve Scheuermann is a consultant in stewardship, development, and grant writing. Over the past decade, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she helped raise over $2 million dollars for numerous non-profit organizations. She served as the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference Lay Leader from 2008-2012. She is resorting to watching reruns of "Property Brothers" until January. Her position with the Conference is funded through a generous grant from the Collins Foundation. You can reach her at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com.

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Cesie Delve Scheuermann

Cesie Delve Scheuermann is consultant in grant writing and stewardship/development working with the Conference. From 2008-12 she was the Conference Lay Leader for the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference.