Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

Recovering Christian Stewardship from Secular Fundraising 145
inquisitive parishioners, than to deluge parishioners with far too much
information in the misguided attempt to keep everyone fully informed.
Being cognizant of time, attention spans, and perception is
also essential in the management of expectations. Parishioners who
feel that the campaign is dragging on are bound to have unnecessary
anxiety about why it is taking so long to reach the financial goal.
They may also become concerned that the campaign is
overshadowing other important aspects of parish life, such as
liturgy, prayer, outreach, or other critical ministries and programs.
The more that leadership communicates with parishioners, the
better. One way of doing this is to prepare the parish and its
committees for the coming campaign at least a year in advance.
This kind of long-term planning will help committees avoid the
conflicts that inevitably occur when “suddenly” a major initiative
must be pared back or put aside in order to accommodate the
integration of a campaign into their work and ministry.
Follow-Up
A common failing of many campaigns, secular and faith-based,
is inattention to follow-up once the campaign pledge phase is finished.
Too often, we expend disproportionate energy in preparation for the
pledge phase, only to fall short on the reception and administration of
pledges throughout the collection period. Every parish can expect some
“fall off” in pledge redemption, but such circumstances should be
limited to death, and departure, not dissatisfaction, or lack of diligence
on the part of the parish. The hallmark of a good campaign is not just
the amount of money raised—although this is the easiest objective
measure of a campaign’s success—but, more importantly, the
satisfaction parishioners have first in making their pledge, and
subsequently (absent any unforeseen personal difficulties) in fulfilling it.
Campaigns that are not rooted in an appeal to parishioners’sense
of stewardship become mere financial undertakings to support the
institution. This dynamic can have dire consequences for pledge