Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

Recovering Christian Stewardship from Secular Fundraising 133
fundraising, the Church is frequently and uncritically subjected to the
same secular assumptions and methods when it invites such
fundraisers to work with it. It is thus important to ensure that any
consultant retained to assist the Church be a person of faith, and
knowledgeably adept with respect to confessional dynamics, pastoral
issues, and interpersonal relationships.
The selection of a consultant need not be a source of anxiety if
proper scrutiny is exercised. Many Churches, for example, have
mistakenly focused their attention on the reputation and track record
of the firm being considered, rather than on the consultant that firm
would assign. A firm can offer little more than clerical support and
general procedures for their fundraisers to employ. In the end, it is the
individual with whom you will work that matters. It is thus critical to
meet, interview, and scrutinize the individual on-site consultant(s)
before entering any contractual agreement. It is this person’s
experience, track record, pastoral sensitivity, and personal rapport
with parish leadership that will truly make the difference for the
parish. An unseasoned and/or inexperienced consultant from even the
best of firms must rely upon superiors to help unravel problems that
their inexperience keeps them from anticipating and preventing, or
identifying and solving. Even more than their knowledge base, it is
the ability to foresee and avoid conflict and problems that makes a
consultant beneficial to the Church.
Planning the Campaign
Christian book stores and libraries are full of books which set
forth various methods of administering campaigns. Parish leaders
can learn much from most of these books. However, the assumption
that any given campaign plan will serve all parishes equally well
defies reason. Parish communities are as unique as the people who
comprise them: each community presents a different constellation
of socio-economic backgrounds, confessional development, prior
congregational experiences, and individual understandings not only