Campaigns are more complex today than ever. At Ministry & Money International, we work with you to develop a comprehensive fund-raising plan. The Campaign Plan deals with the critical issues of campaigning in the church and provides a critical path to success. The Campaign Plan deals specifically with the parishioners, the case, communication and campaign leadership. We dedicate ourselves to providing specific services needed to complete your campaign on time and within budget. M & M International helps you with all aspects of your campaign. Here's what we do.
While each campaign is designed to fit the needs, environment and goals of the parish, the following are elements found in most campaigns.
Pre-Campaign Services
M & M International will work with a small steering committee to start the campaign process with particular reference to leadership enlistment and the preparation of operative materials.
Personal Contact
The fund development campaign uses the medium of personal face to face visits for soliciting contributions. It begins with a period of time set aside for the solicitation of pace-setting gifts, and concludes with a focused effort to generate broad-based membership participation regardless of the size of gifts received. The middle portion of the program is the period of time during which the regular attendees of average financial means are approached.
Personal face to face visits are the best and most effective way of soliciting contributions, as well as developing an enhanced sense of parishioner ownership and involvement in the work to be accomplished. However, M & M International has been involved in other approaches, such as group meetings, telephone contact and so on. How contact should be made in your campaign for St. Michael and All Angels will be considered within the planning process and in discussions with the Campaign Committee.
General Awareness
The financial development program is supported by extensive educational activities. Members must be alerted to the fact that parish leaders have identified extraordinary capital needs that cannot be met through the regular weekly collections. At the same time, emphasis must be placed on over-and-above “new money” giving. In other words, all the funds contributed by members to the capital campaign are in addition to the funds they give to support the operational budget.
Stewardship Education
Stewardship education is a continuing process, but a Capital Campaign such as this provides a good opportunity to build on what is currently being done or introduce the principles of stewardship. We normally work with the parish clergy and the people they appoint to prepare the educational materials.
Regular pulpit announcements are normally made by a lay person but there are also other opportunities for teaching stewardship lifestyle. When people are asked to make pulpit announcements, or to speak to parish members in other ways, M & M International can prepare an outline for the talk and assist the presenter in whatever way is most welcome.
Other types and opportunities for education and general awareness include bulletin inserts, web site pages articles in the church and community papers.
Volunteer Training
As the various phases of the program unfold, volunteers will be invited to attend training meetings designed to prepare them for their responsibilities. The sessions will include general familiarization with the process, an explanation of the steps involved in a successful visit and materials to raise the comfort level of all involved.
Volunteers will receive a manual of promotional materials that will be used during their discussions with each parishioner. They will be trained in the most effective use of these materials and their role in a personal presentation.
We wish to emphasize that everyone involved in the campaign will be trained to do what is being asked of them. Training sessions are available to groups of people, but we also conduct individual sessions as required.
Our group training session normally lasts 60 to 90 minutes and includes:
- preparation for visits
- methodology
- role plays
- explanation of materials
- reporting procedures
- follow-up
The training sessions are scheduled so that most people can attend and are timed so the techniques will be fresh in their minds as they carry out the work. All sessions are conducted by Martha or Murray.
Support Materials
Promotional materials are needed to educate members of the parish with respect to the details of the program. They also provide a level of comfort to the visitors and help everyone to feel that the project is “real”. While your materials do not need to be elaborate (you will help us decide what style is appropriate for you), at the very least you will require a promotional brochure, pledge cards and pledge envelopes (for confidentiality).
Often, parishes choose to incorporate their logo or other symbol with a phrase which conveys what the program is designed to accomplish. It would also be helpful to have letterhead, with accompanying envelopes for specific requests, acknowledgements and general campaign correspondence.
Campaign Planning
Any campaign, regardless of size, requires a sound plan. This plan must be customized to the needs of the parish, its parishioners, its goals and ultimately its vision. We develop campaign plans and timelines that suit each individual parish. There are no “off the shelf” plans.
A plan must be developed in co-operation with the Pastor and the campaign steering committee. Campaigns should be planned in accordance with the liturgical calendar, the season within which the campaign will be conducted and the available volunteer resources.
A campaign plan is an outcome of a successful Feasibility Study and will only be developed once the Study results have been submitted to the Study Committee and other parish leaders.
Planning is perhaps the least understood element of successful campaigning. But we know how to plan for success.
Reports
For a campaign to be successful, the campaign leadership team must know the status of every phase and the work that has both been undertaken and yet to be undertaken. Campaign Counsel must be sensitive to these needs and must therefore provide ongoing tracking reports and gift distribution analysis.
We provide unequalled reports. Our sensitive approach and understanding of the confidentiality of individual pledges is taken into consideration. However, the reports provided are insightful and actionable. That is one reason why we are successful at church fundraising.
Campaign Software
When it comes to pledge recording, most parishes ask volunteers, or even their parish secretary, to develop an excel spreadsheet or access database to record pledges. Unfortunately, there is more to pledge recording than that. Thank you letters, year-end tax receipts and reminder notices are all-important tasks that require data management.
We will work with you to download proprietary campaign software and train your volunteer. This software has all of the utilities needed to sort and manage pledge data while at the same time enabling you to send mail merges to your campaign participants.
M & M International, as part of our commitment to the parish, will support the installation, download and configuration for “Donation” software by Software 4 Non Profits Corporation should the parish wish to use an alternate to your regular collection and parish management software.
Ministry and Money International