Successful Fundraising

You may have read the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It was to be made into a movie, until a financial backer pulled out. Fortunately, 2 guys started Save Blue Like Jazz and raised $125,000 in 10 days and the project was back on.


CMS draws 5 lessons out of this fundraising success, including:

* they crowd-sourced
* they had a clear goal
* they used technology

By contrast we have the church. Instead of crowd-sourcing we ask more and more from fewer and fewer people. The clearest our goals get is 'to balance the budget' or 'to carry out restoration on the the church roof' (hardly awe-inspiring).

And technology we also struggle with. Often the only donating option is to bring physical cash, to the church building, on a Sunday. To people who are accustomed to doing financial transactions by phone, online or by card, it's another instance of the church painting itself as something that belongs in the 1950s.

I'm not sure whether it's the method or the inspiration that's holding us back, but it's worth comparing the effectiveness.