The Art of Asking For Leadership Gifts

Leadership Gifts are crucial to the success of most church capital campaigns. That’s because 60-70% of your gifts will come from 20% of the people. Leadership Gifts are typically considered gifts that are $10,000 or above and pledged over three years.

What’s the best way to approach the members of your congregation who have been identified as giving at this level?

An in-person visit is something special. With all the hustle and bustle in our lives, it means something to sit down face-to face and chat with someone about the hopes and dreams for ministry at your church.

A Leadership Gifts Steward visits each of the members who will be asked to give at these levels. There are several reasons for doing home visits:

Positive Feelings
When someone from the church visits, people tend to feel more positive toward the church, more connected. They feel valued by the visitor and by the church.

Face-to-Face Interaction
Something happens with these visits. People act differently in a face-to-face conversation than they do on a phone call or when reading a letter. There are opportunities for people to gain new insights and understandings, to change, and to change their minds – most often in positive ways. Many people decide to raise the level of their commitment to the campaign as the result of a visit.

Open Discussion
People have a chance to discuss what’s on their minds. Once the Leadership Gifts Steward has settled on their couch and established a bit of a rapport, people are more willing to ask questions that they perhaps thought there wasn’t time for, or that they might have been embarrassed to ask in other settings.

Express Concerns
They might also have concerns they need to share, either about the church or personal matters. The stewards can convey concerns to the Pastor, and thereby help to strengthen the connection between the member and the church. Frequently, it has been the case that if someone from the church hadn’t visited a member, that member’s concerns would never have been known.

To talk more about the importance of reaching out in-person to your Leadership Gifts members, please email or call Church Campaign Services at 888.558.6873.