{"id":44697,"date":"2023-09-29T12:16:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T16:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=44697"},"modified":"2023-10-13T16:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:11:40","slug":"getting-to-the-why-of-stewardship-motivates-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/resources\/news\/getting-to-the-why-of-stewardship-motivates-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"\uccad\uc9c0\uae30 \uc815\uc2e0\uc758 '\uc774\uc720'\ub97c \uc774\ud574\ud558\uba74 \uae30\ubd80\uc5d0 \ub300\ud55c \ub3d9\uae30\uac00 \ubd80\uc5ec\ub429\ub2c8\ub2e4."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not about the money \u2013 it\u2019s about the mission.\u201d That was the theme of Rev. Peter Reuss\u2019s session, \u201cYou want me to donate? Why? Building blocks for an impactful appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reuss, a Partner at <a href=\"https:\/\/gsbfundraising.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GSB Fundraising<\/a>, presented at <a href=\"https:\/\/stewardshipkaleidoscope.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\uc2a4\ud29c\uc5b4\ub4dc\uc2ed \ub9cc\ud654\uacbd<\/a>, an annual conference held Sept. 25 to 27 in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn church, we are very good at talking about what we need, but we are not so good at talking about why it matters to our mission,\u201d Reuss said. \u201cPeople want to know that their gift is making a difference in the lives of people through the grace of God at work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After asking attendees to discuss with each other why they thought people give to their churches \u2013 and why they give themselves \u2013 Reuss shared that the most common reasons that people give to their churches are shame and obligation. \u201cStewardship has for too long been out in the realm of The Law,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what you <em>should<\/em> do.\u201d And while that may prompt giving initially, it does not inspire people to give over the long term.<\/p>\n<p>Reuss shared a five-step approach to successful fundraising programs for churches and religious organizations, pointing out that the ask is not the first step: Identify, Inform, Motivate, Ask, and Thank.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Identify<\/strong> \u2013 Churches have an advantage that other non-profit organizations do not \u2013 they know who their donors are. Within that known pool of donors, churches can access public records to conduct wealth screening and identify congregants with the potential for making significant gifts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Inform<\/strong> \u2013 This is the \u201cWhat?\u201d What will be done with the money that will serve the mission and have a positive impact on the lives of people both in the church and outside its walls. This step can be informed by data \u2013 Sunday school attendance, youth group participation, mission\/outreach budget \u2013 but that is not the way to motivate people to give.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Motivate<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cPeople don\u2019t care about your budget,\u201d Reuss said. \u201cThey want to be inspired by the outcome.\u201d How can you create excitement about what will be done with the money and how people\u2019s lives, inside the church and outside it, will be made better in the name of God.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask<\/strong> \u2013 Many churches move from the need (our budget, the roof is leaking) to the ask without creating motivation. The key here is to make the request as personal as possible. Know your givers and what inspires them in their faith. Blanket requests are not generally successful. \u201cIf you are asking everybody the same thing, you\u2019re not really asking anybody\u201d in an effective way.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thank<\/strong> \u2013 People don\u2019t have to give, and when they do, they should be thanked. And there are many ways to thank people: handwritten notes, letters from pastoral staff, phone calls. Showing them the impact of their gifts is another way to thank them, and also loops back into motivation. One church dedicates a worship service to youth sharing their mission trip experiences, so that members can see what their gifts have done.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Making the Case for Support<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we are going to help people take the next step on this journey of generosity, we have to give them the \u2018Why?\u2019\u201d Reuss explained. \u201cEveryone in your congregation is on a journey of generosity, and we have to meet them where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is important, he said, to understand the difference between Goals and Tactics. Goals are spiritual (for example, \u201cWe want to support our youth and help them grow in their faith.\u201d). Tactics are practical (for example, hiring a youth minister). Too often, Reuss pointed out, churches lead with the tactic \u2013 hiring another staff person \u2013 instead of the spiritual goal. It is easier to motivate people to support a spiritual goal than a practical one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople can be motivated to support a spiritual goal even if it doesn\u2019t affect them personally,\u201d he said. Contemporary worship services aren\u2019t for everyone, but members who prefer a traditional worship service for themselves might support the creation of a contemporary service as a means to achieve a spiritual goal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf people don\u2019t understand the \u2018Why?\u2019, we are not going to be successful in our fundraising program,\u201d Reuss said in conclusion. \u201cNo one in the history of the church has been moved to give by a budget deficit presentation. This is about God\u2019s kingdom and the powerful ways that God is working in our church. Are people\u2019s lives different because we exist? That is what excites people.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not about the money \u2013 it\u2019s about the mission.\u201d That was the theme of Rev. Peter Reuss\u2019s session, \u201cYou want me to donate? Why? Building blocks for an impactful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}