The end-of-year season presents perfect opportunities for churches to launch giving campaigns and practice generosity.

When you think of “giving campaigns,” your Sunday worship service collection might be the first thing that comes to mind. It’s a steady source of church funds, and many of your congregants probably give during this time. 

However, relying on the church’s weekly collection may not be enough to sustain your operations. The end-of-year season presents one particular financial challenge to many churches—they may be running low on funds.

If you choose to wait longer, like during the first fruits offerings, to launch your giving campaign, you might lose the chance to attract potential donors during a period considered to be the most generous season.

This article will outline a few giving campaign ideas sure to inspire breakthroughs in year-end giving at your church.

(To Dive Even Deeper into Year-End Giving, Click Here to Download Tithe.ly’s Free “Year-End Giving Playbook”). 

Practical Tips on Giving Campaigns

Before you launch your end-of-year giving campaigns, consider the following points:

• Set clear goals for your giving campaign.
• Involve the entire church; utilize different church ministries to promote generosity.
• Make giving easy and accessible to everyone.

These tips may appear simple at first, but many church leaders overlook these minute details and lose track of their giving campaign’s primary purpose. 

End-of-Year Giving Campaigns for Your Church

After considering your goals for your end-of-year giving campaign, it’s time to focus on ideas your church can execute. 

Here are eight unconventional and cost-efficient end-of-year ideas.

Value-driven Giving Campaigns

It’s never easy to ask for donations from people directly. Sometimes, it might feel like you’re begging for alms rather than encouraging church members and strangers to give for the church’s benefit.

Why not initiate this campaign by giving something valuable to the giver? 

This is the main idea of value-driven giving campaigns—before you ask other people to share, offer them something valuable and useful. 

When they see what you’ve given to be valuable, they’ll provide something more than just a “Thank you!” 

Here are just a few ideas of something valuable your church can offer.

1. Create and sell helpful digital resources 

Today’s technology allows churches to create helpful resources like e-books, templates, and white papers, which you can sell on many online platforms. 

There are many sources on the web you can take inspiration from, like these ebooks from Tithe.ly. However, make sure that the content you create is valuable and unique. 

Some useful and unique ideas for your digital resource can include:

• The Pastor’s Ultimate 52-Week Guide for Unforgettable Sermons
• XYZ Church Greatest Worship Collection Album
• High-definition Christian Wallpapers for Mobile Phones
• The Believer’s Handbook for Personal Finance

Assign specific people and ministries to create these products. Then, advertise and sell these resources on your church’s website, social media pages, and even during church gatherings.

With this giving campaign idea, you can reach a wider audience outside your church’s usual radar. Once someone purchases your digital product, it’s really a win-win scenario for the giver and the church.

2. Conduct a masterclass or live training

Consider this idea for your end-of-year giving campaign if you’re looking for a high-ticket and high-returns program.

The main idea is that you or another church leader will hold a training on niche issues or topics such as church leadership or meditative prayer.

Don’t use this opportunity to just lecture on other church leaders. Instead, think of hands-on activities, workshops, and product-based ventures.

The key to generating more interest in this training is to be unique. That means you must capitalize on enticing church leaders through a new proposition such as:

• Designing Your Church in the Metaverse
• Digital Workshop: Creating a Strategy for Digital Discipleship
• Advanced Church Marketing Strategies for Church Leaders

The portion of the masterclass fee to be donated to your church will depend on your church’s terms and agreements. You must remember that you’ll need some financial resources to hold these events.

As much as possible, work within your budget to maximize the returns of your efforts for the church.

For more inspiration for your next masterclass on church leadership, check out Modern Church Leader.   

Direct-to-Donors Giving Campaigns

Another effective way to encourage giving at the year-end season is to invite specific donors to pledge particular amounts of money.

With this thought in mind, identify givers who are most likely to pledge higher donations. This will allow you to concentrate on fewer people but gain more for the church.

You can use these direct-to-donor giving ideas:

1. Greet givers with gratitude 

Instead of initiating your campaigns with a donation request, start with generosity. 

This campaign idea focuses on how to say “Thank You” in a way that boosts church giving. 

Warm up potential donors to the idea of pledging by making them feel appreciated (because they are!) Here’s how you can do that:

• Send personalized emails or text messages to loyal church contributors. Thank them for their support throughout the years. Don’t mention anything yet about the next giving opportunity. Just express your appreciation.

• If it’s within your church’s budget, give your donors and potential givers a small gift such as a personalized coffee mug, Bible, or devotional book. 

• Give previous donors a “Thank You!” call. Let them know you appreciate their generosity. 

2. Host a virtual “Thank You!” and networking party for donors

Take advantage of video conferencing software to communicate your gratitude to loyal and potential church donors. 

Use this time to engage your donors and let them know more about your church and connect with like-minded personalities.

To make the party more interesting, you can apply some of these 20 Ways to Infuse Creativity Into Your Services to this virtual event. 

Most importantly, make sure to allot a portion of the event to thank each person who has contributed to the church in one way or another. After that, you can make a light pitch for the year-end season. 

3. Run an online donation campaign

Use your church’s online channels to appeal to potential donors nationwide (or worldwide!) during the end-of-year season. 

If your church has a Facebook page, for instance, you can easily set up an online campaign through On-Facebook Donation Ads. Be clear with your message, identify your target audience, include a creative element like a video, and have a strong call-to-action button. 

You can also ask church members to share your ads for more engagement and possible donations. 

To succeed with your online campaign on this platform, check out Facebook Ads for Churches: A Step-by-Step Guide. Alternatively, you can also put donation banners on your website for this part of the year to raise awareness. 

Direct-to-Churchgoers Giving Campaigns

You’ll also want to involve all church members in your giving campaigns. Aside from openly appealing for their donations this season, why not involve them this time?

Here are some campaign ideas that can help you encourage giving among congregants and visitors: 

1. Just give it up

As part of your build-up towards the Christmas holidays and the year-end season, you can try this simple habit-building activity inspired by lessons from How to Create the Habit of Generosity in Your Church.

Ask church members to “give up” something for this month and donate the equivalent value to the church instead. 

For instance, church members can give up their weekend movie nights, daily macchiato, or expensive dinner dates. You can ask them to sign a pledge for a certain period (e.g., 3 weeks, 2 months). 

The activity may be simple, but you might be surprised by how much the church gains, all because everyone gave up something. 

2. Stuff for cash 

Your church members likely have useful stuff they don’t need anymore. You can appeal to them to donate these goods and put them up for sale. All the proceeds will go to the church as part of the giving campaign. 

This is pretty similar to how summer garage sales work. However, you can maximize this opportunity by focusing on relevant themes like:

• Keep Warm This Winter
• Affordable Christmas Gift Bundles
• New Year; New Shoes; New Hopes

Advertise your church’s event not only among the congregants but also to your local community. You can also post items online and deliver them to the buyer’s residence.

3. Year-end Concert

Celebrate God’s goodness to your church through a year-end concert. This is a perfect time to maximize the different ministries of your church to help you in this production.

For instance, you can take inspiration from this basic setup:

• Music Ministry 

Your worship team can serve as performers and help organize the entire show.

• Preaching Ministry and Events Marketing Committee

Ask your teaching pastors and any staff involved in events to design the theme and message of your year-end concert. They will also work with the church’s marketing team to promote this event.

• Youth Ministry

You can count on the volunteerism of the youth to help you in events like this. They can perform on stage, serve as production team members, and assist visitors.

• Documentations Team

You want to ensure that the highlights of your year-end concert are well-documented. Assign talented camera operators and videographers to capture these special moments. 

Events like this are also good reasons why your church needs to livestream services. That’s because you can also sell virtual passes for people who want to access this event through online experiences. 

Much more work is involved to ensure the success of church events like this. That’s why you need to plan and prepare ahead. 

Finally, you should also remember that the event is intended to raise funds for the church. Aside from promoting your church’s primary purpose for holding this show, never forget to express your gratitude to the people who supported the cause.

Time to Give!

The end-of-year season is a time of giving. It’s a challenge to appeal to the generosity of church members, donors, and strangers. Your church can take advantage of the campaign ideas mentioned with the right strategy and mindset.

If there’s one lesson giving campaigns can teach us, it would be this—you can’t expect to receive those donations without giving your best efforts. You have to plan, execute, and assess your giving campaigns. 

Tithe.ly Giving Campaigns allows you to accept and manage pledges from your donors, so you can better plan your budget or raise funds for building campaigns and other fundraisers. Launch your giving campaign by messaging us today on Tithe.ly.