Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect Mark.

10: 133-136 (2005)

Published online in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/nvsm.22

Editorial
Church and parachurch fundraising in
the United States: What can we learn?
In the United States $86.39 billion dollars was donated to religious
causes in 2003. While much of this sum was donated to the various
denominations of the Christian church, an increasingly significant
sum is now being offered to so-called 'parachurch' organizations. Such
organizations are typically grounded in religious values and draw upon
church-based constituencies for support, to have an impact on society
through social service provision, political mobilization, and raising
consciousness. They include organizations as diverse as Bread for the
World, the St Vincent DePaul Society, and Habitat for Humanity.
Parachurch organizations are founded to solve the problems of
the secular world in a very particular way. These organizations allow
not only their reiigious values to permeate the essence of their
existence and to drive the manner of their service provision, but also
the manner of their fundraising practice. In the case of Habitat for
Humanity, for example, although home building is a highly rational
task, the w^ork of the organization is never portrayed as simply the
raising of structures of bricks and mortar. According to Fuller and
Fuller (1990, p. 40) 'Habitat houses are sermons—sermons of pure
love' because they reflect God's will that people will love and co-
operate with one another. The increasing popularity of parachurch
organizations and their blending of religion with secular fundraising
practice is worthy of note. The faith based approach of organiza-
tions like Habitat, seems to inculcate religious giving, yet not to
alienate a plethora of individual secular donors who continue to
support it's work, while expressing no faith of their own.
There has been a clear trend in recent years for successful
Christian nonprofits in the United States to reflect the nature of their
Christian values in the manner and style of the fund-raising they
adopt. What these examples have in common is a 'recognition' that
if Christian fund-raisers can create opportunities for giving, which
are at the same time expressions and celebrations of faith, donors are
likely to grow spiritually and increase their emotional commitment
to the cause. Religious fund-raisers, it has been argued, can achieve
this through the ways in which they ask for support, the ways in
^vhich their organizations account for that support, and the ^vays in
which they follo^v-up with individuals who do and do not give.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. f. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect Mark., August 2005
134 Editorial

So on a practical level, what is different about this emergent

approach to fund-raising? Jeavons and Basinger (2000) identify that
successful religious organizations and fund-raising programs are
operated with an assumption of the 'abundance of resources
available under God's grace.' They do not operate out of an
assumption of scarcity. They argue that this empowers organiza-
tions to remain positive in their communications, avoid crisis
appeals, and eschew guilt or pity as a motivation for giving. Instead,
fund-raising programs convey a quiet assurance that God will supply
what is needed. The authors cite the example of Rwanda
Compassion Intemational which in the aftermath of the civil war
did not ask donors to cover the organization's emergency needs, but
rather for the resources that would allow^ Compassion workers to
reach out to displaced children. Compassion invited donors to
partner with it in extending 'God's abundance' to children for
whom life held little hope or opportunity. The authors argue that
appeals w^hich focus exclusively on crises, whether internal or
extemal to the organization, simply reinforce donor perceptions of
scarcity and work against 'joyful giving.' In short, such fund-raising
practice neglects key Christian principles.
There has also been a trend amongst church and parachurch
organizations to allow donors to view, giving as an expression of
faith. Traditional secular fundraising practice tends to frame the
nature of the fund-raising 'ask' in terms of the change that will be
affected in the lives of other individuals. A spiritual approach to
fund-raising, by contrast, encourages donors to reflect on how the
act of giving might change their own lives.
Many churches have now recognized this wider trend, and are now
employing leaders known as 'pastors of ste^vardship.' They work
alongside the minister to offer bible-based workshops on matters such
as debt elimination, tax and estate planning, and many other subjects.
These workshops also explore the relevance of scripture to the every-
day lives of participants, and indicate how these matters (including
giving) can be handled from a Christian theological perspective.
Similarly, churches of all sizes are increasingly starting small
group 'study circles' run by trained volunteers who foster discussion
on money management. Crown Ministries, for example, offers a
popular 12-week curriculum to such church groups. The curricu-
lum is based on the assumption that most Christians have only been
taught God's principles for handling 10% of their income—the area
of giving. Although this is regarded as crucial, the aim of these
programs is to address the other 90%, i.e. other aspects of their
financial planning. A by-product of these discussions is a considera-
tion of estate planning issues which, if appropriate, may also include
a charitable dimension.
Scholars who have scoured the Bible searching for passages that
deal ^ t h fund-raising, personal money management and other such
topics estimate that 2350 such verses are contained in the New^ and
Old Testaments. Many Catholic and Protestant churches are

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt Sect. Mark., August 2005
Editorial 735

including those passages in courses and textbooks designed to teach

the clergy and congregation members aboutfinancialmatters. As an
example, while donations to Protestant churches have been
stagnant or declining, to Willow Creek Community Church have
increased by 40% over the last five years. The church attributes this
success in large part to its 'Good Sense Ministry'—a program to help
church members manage their personal finances according to
biblical tenets. Church members can attend workshops on the
lessons that the scriptures hold for budgeting, retirement planning,
and other financial topics.
The Alban Institute, a nonprofit organization in Bethesda, has
started holding a series of 'faith and money' conversations with
church leaders in five cities to talk about how churches can deal
with declining gifts and rising costs. The conversations cover the
pressures of living in a consumer economy, and how people find it
hard to see the connection between their working lives and spiritual
beliefs. Their goal is to help congregations become places where
people can make connections between how they handle their
money and religion.
Indeed, across the U.S. a growing number of churches and other
Christian institutions are taking the same approach—and reaping
significant dividends in giving. The bible-based approach also
appeals to clergy members. Many ministers are uncomfortable with
secular fund-raising techniques. They also welcome the opportunity
to assist people instead of simply asking for donations.
A number of U.S. nonprofits also appear to be making greater use
of fund-raising 'products,' where bundles of need are packaged and
presented to donors in such a way that makes tangible the benefits
that will accrue from their support. This has manifested itself in a
variety of different sponsorship programs. Christian Aid Ministries,
for example, which collect and distribute food, medicines, and
other supplies to needy people overseas attract continuing support
by offering donors a wide variety of giving programs. Donors can
choose from among 18 different sponsorship opportunities.
In addition, religious organizations have continued to achieve
success in what is widely regarded as the saturated DRTV (Direct
Response Television) market. Faith based fund-raising through the
medium of DRTV continues to perform well and is still experiencing
growth. As an example, in 1993, The International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews was raising less than half a million dollars
annually. Now it is among the 400 most successful fund-raising
organizations in the U.S., ranking 351 in the Chronicle of
Philanthropy's 400 list of the charities that generate the most
income from private sources. The charity has achieved is success by
the use of television infomercials. These are broadcast 30 to 40 times
a day across the United States, and account for 70% of the charity's
donations. The televised commercials highlight the plight ofJews in
Ethiopia, Russia, and other countries where Jews struggle to
practice their religion, and show the tearful arrival of immigrants

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2005
136 Editorial

to Israel for thefirsttime. There are numerous other examples of the

highly successful use of DRTV including the Denver Rescue Mission
and the Christian Children's Fund.
The need for greater personalization in communications has also
been recognized by religious nonprofits in the U.S. The International
Fellowship of Christians and Jews, mentioned above, provides a
good illustration of the kinds of practices now being adopted. Fvery
person who donates $ 1000 or more to the Fellowship receives a call
of thanks from a fellowship staff member. Should a natural disaster
strike, fellowship employees also call donors who give significant
sums to check whether they have been affected. For example, five
people worked for close to a week to call people who had donated
$500 or more and lived in cities and tow^ns affected by the California
wildfires. Donations are never solicited during these call times.
Once a year the fellowship also sends a mail to the donors asking if
they have special prayer requests that the founder can take to the
Westem Wall (which is considered the holiest site in Judaism) in his
annual pilgrimage. Thousand of people are reported to respond.
It is interesting to note that the majority of the literature cites faith-
linked examples of such personalization. In other words, persona-
lization appears to be more effective in this context if it is linked in
some way to the religious practices of the individuals concemed, or
reflects or supports their faith in some w^ay.
Finally, there is evidence from the Chronicle on Philanthropy's
annual survey of internet giving that a large number of faith-based
organizations, both church and parachurch, have achieved con-
siderable success in fund-raising over the Internet; the proportion of
charities in the top listings that one might describe as faith-based
being higher than in the nonprofit community at large.
In this brief review of successful faith-based fund-raising, I have
highlighted a number of key trends currently evidenced in the
United States. While there are evident cultural differences between
the U.S. and each of the countries served by this joumal, their
experience is worthy of note and faith-based nonprofits, wherever
they are based, may find it useful to refiect upon whether any of
these strands of innovations can be employed to inform their o^vn
professional practice while, furthering the spiritual mission of the
organization at the same time.

Adrian Sargeant
Fditor

References
Fuller M, Fuller L. 1990. The Excitement Is Building. Word Publishing: Dallas.
Jeavons TH, Basinger RB. 2000. Growing Givers' Hearts. Jossey Bass: San
Francisco.
Pudelek SM. 2002. The dance of giving and receiving spirituality and the
development officer, volunteer and donor. New Directions For
Philanthropic Fundraising 35: 119-129.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2005