Guest blog post by: Tracy S. Ebarb, CCS Consultant
Does the incredible success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge have a lesson for those of us in the more traditional (and maybe even boring) work of church stewardship and fundraising?
Consider this…
According to The ALS Association: As of Monday, August 25, the Ice Bucket Challenge has received $79.7 million in donations compared to $2.5 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 25). These donations have come from existing donors and 1.7 million new donors to The Association.
Wow!! Isn’t that incredible?! Kudos to the ALS brain trust for creating an opportunity for people to show their generosity, have fun, and maybe the best part – challenge others to be generous too!
I daresay there is not a Pastor, Finance Chair/Stewardship Director or any other church leader that would not welcome the kind of excitement and fun around giving that has been generated with a little ice cold H2O!
If you’re like me, your first thought when this “ice bucket” thing started was “Ok, just another opportunity for folks to NOT GIVE! “After all, if I can stand the cold, I’m exempt from giving, right?” But that’s not how this thing has turned out at all. People WANT to do this! They WANT to be challenged! They WANT someone to capture it on video and post it to social media! And, get this…They WANT to give away their own hard earned money after they’ve been shocked by 32 degrees of liquid motivation! And then they want to challenge others!
Quick questions – Did anyone video you writing out your check for Sunday’s offering? Did you or anyone around you “yell” as they put their offering in the basket as it was passed? Have you gone on social media recently and challenged anyone to give?
Maybe it’s time for our conversations around stewardship and generosity to be the kind that will not be held by the old wineskins of the past! If you want to start a whole new kind of conversation about money in your church, please email or call Church Campaign Services at 888.558.6873 today.
Let’s begin looking for bigger buckets, colder water, greater challenges!