"Can You See Yourself Being this Church's Lead Donor?"

Thinking Out Loud with Jana about Fundraising

Photo by kai Kyle on Unsplash

The following is the second installment of my ongoing conversation with my friend Jana Swenson. We chatted on January 11.

Paul Hanson: Okay, Jana and I are back! It’s halftime of the Sunday football game and, like the rest of America, we are ready to talk about fundraising in congregations!

Jana Swenson: Yes!

Paul: Go team! This is our second dialogue together. Our theme today is marrying non-profit best practices in fundraising with congregational campaigns. We’re going to talk about wealth screening and gift charts. But first, Jana, let me ask you, what’s your number one value when leading a congregation through a capital campaign?

Jana: Wow, it’s tough to narrow it down to one value, but I’d have to say integrity.

Paul: Integrity. That’s big! Do you mean the integrity of the campaign? Your integrity as a consultant…?

Jana: The campaign’s integrity, mostly. Fundraising gets such a bad rap, and most congregational leaders go into a campaign with reluctance, to say the least. Helping a congregation not only succeed at raising money, but also have a positive experience with the process, is one of my goals.

Paul: To me, the word “integrity” means “doing what we said we would do.” That means it’s vital to be clear about what we are going to do, in the campaign.

Which brings us to today’s specific topic: the use of wealth screening tools in a congregational campaign. Wealth screening is a huge part of developing pre-campaign expectations! Jana, can you please tell everyone what wealth screening is, and what it isn’t?

Jana: Sure. Wealth screening is a way to determine a congregation’s capacity — it helps them set a reasonable goal. Wealth screening tools are sophisticated programs that search the internet for all publicly-known data about an individual’s wealth and philanthropy. Emphasis on publicly-known. It does not have access to people’s bank accounts, taxes or privately held assets. But, if you make a gift to your alma mater and they publish your name in their annual report under a giving category, it will find that information and include it in the report.

Paul: Real estate ownership is public too. That’s included?

Jana: Yes, it is along with airplanes! LOL!

Paul: But it does NOT tell you what someone has given to their church.

Jana: That’s right. It is important for us to include congregational giving in our assessment of donors’ capacity. Giving to the church is an indicator of how likely a couple or individual is to make a commitment to a 3-year campaign. That info has to come from the congregation.

Paul: So congregations must agree to confidentially share that info with you, as the consultant. And you agree to keep it confidential.

Jana: Yes. This can be a challenge for congregational leaders. While it’s commonplace in the non-profit world to discover a donor’s giving capacity, it isn’t so much when dealing with congregations.

Paul: Jana, what do pastors and congregational leaders need to hear from you, so they can get comfortable enough to share this data?

Jana: Every congregation is different, and some end up declining to work with me on their campaign because they feel it’s an invasion of privacy. But, typically, I can remind them that what comes back in the report is information they could find themselves online. And, of course, I promise to keep that donor information confidential.

Paul: I’ve seen how careful you are to keep that promise — integrity!

Last week we discussed using church members — volunteers, not fundraising pros — to solicit gifts and pledges. We don’t tell volunteers to ask for a specific amount. Instead, they show the gift chart to the donor, and say something like, “Can you see yourself making one of these top pledges?” Share how you use wealth screening data to make a custom gift chart for a particular congregation.

Jana: The wealth screening report gives an estimated capacity range for each person/couple. That is a starting point, but a person’s giving to the church also gives us an idea of their willingness or readiness to make a commitment. Looking at the largest gift made, percentage of increase over time, etc. all get factored into curating a gift chart that is appropriate for that particular congregation. We also interview the top givers to get an idea of what they might consider. It’s a combination of objective and subjective data that gets us there.

Paul: Now you’re talking about my favorite part of a campaign — interviews! I love listening to prospective donors, learning from them. Let’s say someone shows up in the wealth screening as very high capacity, but they have made only average-sized gifts to the church. Does this show a lack of interest? Or, on the other hand, perhaps they are waiting for the congregation to take on a challenge, which they would get behind in a big way. Data doesn’t tell you, but interviews can.

So what else do you do besides interviews, once you’ve learned which members have high capacity?

Jana: If we have the opportunity to interview them, and they are engaged and invested, we plant a seed about being on the campaign team. If they have the capacity and propensity to be the top donor, we begin thinking about who and how to invite their commitment before all the others.

Paul: Church leaders need to remember that their wealthy members are not surprised by this. They’ve been solicited for large gifts by non-profits and charities that they care about. I don’t think I have ever received push-back from wealthy donors about these campaign steps.

Let’s shift to talking about campaign goal-setting. Creating a gift chart might sometimes mean you counsel a congregation that their initial goal is unrealistically high. But I have a hunch that many pastors and church leaders have no idea how much wealth their members have! Do you ever find yourself raising their sights, to set an even larger campaign goal?

Jana: I often see congregations set goals either too high or too low. That’s why the assessment process is so important.

Paul: So far, we’ve been talking about discovering “capacity.” A few minutes ago, you touched on determining how much someone cares about the congregation’s ministry. In fundraising terms, that’s their “propensity.”

When I was a pastor, we would talk about “active members” and “inactive members.” But we didn’t actually have two lists…

Jana: It can be challenging to determine how invested someone is in their church and in the purpose of the campaign, but how involved and connected they are can be a helpful indicator. My experience is that most churches have “members” who are not at all connected or involved, some that casually connected, and others that are very involved. This has to be factored into our capacity prediction.

Paul: So what I’m hearing is that before the campaign starts, you need giving data from the church, but also membership data — and data that goes beyond their age, phone number and email address. Is that hard to get from churches? Are they able and willing to identify who is active and who is not?

Jana: Yes, but it can be a tedious process for them. Typically I give them three to four defined categories of “involved” and ask them to identify the category for each person. That way, if there is someone with a high capacity who hasn’t worshipped in two years, we don’t identify them as likely to make a top gift.

Paul: Campaigns in congregations are so much more sophisticated than setting a goal and sending out a letter or two. You really have brought to bear high-level fundraising practices into your congregational campaign work.

Jana: Thank you, Paul. When the goal is to meet or exceed a congregation’s campaign goal, we have to invite larger gifts from the right people. That takes time, energy, a transparent process, and above all, integrity!

Paul: What a privilege it is to work with your team, Jana. And to have you as a presenter in this column.

Jana: I am grateful to have your experience both as a pastor and as an expert in the area of major gifts on my team!

Paul: Thank you, Jana. I’m looking forward to our next conversation: how you teach people about giving from assets, and thinking about their wealth instead of just their money.

Jana Swenson is principal of Jana Swenson Consulting Services. With over two decades of experience, Jana equips and empowers congregations to fulfill their mission by strengthening their ability to fund both annual and capital needs. Drawing on her background as a pastor and development director, she brings a unique and invaluable perspective to her work as a fundraising consultant.

Have you used wealth screening and/or gift charts in a church setting?