A church is best known as the place for fellowship, finding comfort in worship and company of fellow church members. However, like any other organization, a church runs on funds and these funds mainly come from donations, tithes and offerings. Charitable giving at church has seen much growth with more millennials and Gen Z donors giving more to the church in 2021. Saving up for rainy days is equally important for churches as there can be times when donations and tithes are low in number. Here are a few tips to help you save your church money this year.
Bank On Volunteers
Staffing can be a huge part of church expenses. It takes up a part of your budget that you can invest in some other area of management. The solution is not to let some of your staff go but think twice before you make new hires. Turn to your volunteers and figure out how you can put their skills to use. Ask for help in activities such as Sunday school management and teaching, taking care of the church as a property and so on. The church is majorly about helping each other out, let your church carry that essence forward.
Make Use Of Online Platforms
If you haven’t done it already, create a website for your church and make regular updates on the same.
- Instead of printing notifications and reminders for tithes and donations, you can simply provide links for money transfer on your website. This will save you printing cost and the time that goes in distributing paper notification.
- Provide links to your donation page on your social media pages too.
- In case of pew cards, go for digital ones. You can even list those cards on your website instead of going for actual cards.
Cut Down On Lunch Meetings
Lunch meetings can very well get expensive sometimes. You can instead have your meetings and fellowship over breakfast or coffee and snacks. When the church is paying for these meetings, make it as pocket friendly as possible. As an activity, you can even organize a potluck for a few of your church gatherings, more like a love feast.
Get Rid Of “Miscellaneous” From The Budget
It is ideal to avoid any kind of void in your budget for which no department wants to take the claim. “Miscellaneous” is one such empty and unending line that can hamper your budget and expense.
- Identify all the areas where the church money is going. Define your categories with precision.
- Create another plan for how the funds from charitable giving will be going.
- Note that you cannot create an account for a section that you cannot track.
Take Better Care Of Your Resources
It’s many little efforts that come together to create a big change. Therefore, look at the tiniest areas of your resources where you can save church money. Start from putting a timer on your water dispenser/cooler and fountains in such a way that those are switched off when the church is empty. Switch to LED bulbs to decrease the weight on your electricity bill in the long run. If you have any document to print, consider printing it in black and white instead of coloured ones.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, sit back and differentiate between the church expenses that are worth it and the ones that aren’t. For example, having an online donor management software to bring in more charitable giving is a worthy investment. You just have to make sure that you’re getting back more than what you are paying, thus contributing to saving your church money. Do the best you can and keep the faith!
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