At the core of every church is a team of consistent servants. These are the people who believe in your ministry’s vision and want to help further your cause. Greeters, parking lot attendants, children’s workers, and small group leaders are just a few of the servants that help to make your ministry great.
As with these core servants, so too are your Core Givers. These are the people who faithfully support your ministry through financial gifts of at least $200 or more per year. Without these Core Givers you would not be able to fulfill the vision that God has placed in your heart for ministry.
But, who are your Core Givers? How do you identify and reach these givers? As a MortarStone subscriber, there are several quick and easy ways to identify, track, and analyze these givers. If you are using your ChMS to track Core Givers, you can export their giving into an excel worksheet and sort by dollar amount and consistency to identify these givers.
In MortarStone, we track Core Givers with the following charts and reports:
- Year Over Year Giving
- Acquisitions
- Household Churn Rate
- Retention
- Movements
- Age Distribution
Now that you have identified who your Core Givers are, what do you do with them? Here is one Core Giver strategy that will help you connect and attract more givers.
Look at a segment of your Core Givers and choose a group that has consistently given throughout the year. Take this group and narrow the list to approximately 12 people that consist of men and women of all different ages and demographics. Try to diversify the group as much as possible. Then ask them each to fill out a survey. The survey should ask questions like the following –
- What attracted you to the church?
- Why did you start giving to the church?
- Is there a particular ministry that you most identify with?
- Why do you continue to give to the church?
- Would you like to start serving in a ministry? If so, which ministry do you feel called to serve?
By identifying the reasons that motivate these Core Givers, you can begin to understand how to reach other givers in your church. Encouraging these Core Givers to serve in a ministry will also increase their ‘stickiness’ to your church and ensure a lasting relationship to your ministry.