In a group discussion, I was bragging. "I know why people give money!" I said. Angel called my bluff with a friendly smile. "So, why do people give money?" he asked. I tried to give him the bullet points, but I am better at writing than talking...

Angel, this is for you and everyone else at my new church. It is based on my years of experience asking for money (and giving money). I am only sorry I waited a year to post it.

In my experience, people give money because they have money, their relationship with their money is healthy, we ask for the money for projects that express their values, and they trust us to use it responsibly. If there are shortfalls in any of these areas, the money does not flow. Fixes are not quick, but they are worth making, because they bring results. I'd be very interested in any reader's thoughts and reactions below. And now for the long version.

People give money because:

(1) We are in contact with them, and (2) they have money. Our church doesn't have quite enough members of working age who have jobs. Too many of us are almost flat broke; some of us are worse than that (in debt or homeless or both). [Actually I think it's wonderful that so many of our regular attendees are exactly who Jesus would be spending time with, if He were present on earth right now. Some of us also have lots in common with the people he spent the most time with back then.]

Where was I? We are living during a societal shift (let's not get into the causes right now); most of the old-style jobs will never come back, many of us are living on back yard produce, and more of us will have to start doing that. I love the members we have now, but one crucial step towards financial health would be recruiting more members, including some who have sources of income.

And of course, if we look at the new members solely as money-bringers, they will sense this and rightly turn their backs. We have to open ourselves as a community for all the real reasons that a church recruits new people: we are trying to be the body of Christ in the world and (a) that is great fun, and (b) we welcome more hands, feet, internal organs...brains...and all the rest. 

If the church as a whole is healthy, financial health usually follows. In other words, focusing on overall health is the patience-requiring but effective way to address this. (In saying this I am not disrespecting short term measures for getting the electric bill paid.)

(3) Their relationship with money is healthy, or in the process of healing. Money is a tool: for tracking, for expressing our values. A person who is (mentally) financially healthy will have grappled with both its technical aspects and the related emotions enough to have control over his or her money, instead of (through lack of effort or ignorance) giving over control to money. 

And health involves not worshipping money or those who have it. (Yes, our society worships money: we lower our voice reverently when we speak of it, and we believe those who have a lot are somehow blessed and worthy of special respect, just for that reason. I ranted at length about this in Veritas Reconsidered [Sept 1986, not online] but that's the gist.) In fact the money madness of Western culture is an opportunity for mission: Jesus' teachings about money offer a radical and transformative antidote to money madness, and we can use them to support each other in healing. They can help us find the balance: taking money seriously, but not too seriously, and using it to be salt and light to the world.

Another way to tackle these tricky issues would be to work through this book (thank you Mary Caulfield for the rec) using its study guide; it looks as if it's got good material on spiritual poverty, actual poverty and what suffering communities can learn from each other.

People raised in gratitude-focused and/or tithing traditions may already be "cheerful givers" who enjoy giving money as the creative act that it can be. For people who are still in pain around this issue, we've recently offered several small groups related to healing individuals' relationship with money, and I'm surprised there wasn't more interest in them. Perhaps a group for job seekers would draw more people...in other words we'd be starting with #2... 

(4) The things we are going to do with the money express their values. The church has to be visibly doing good things that people want to support, or in my favourite language, projects that they want to participate in or be partners with. [Our church is doing many things that I believe in; with more money we could do many more of them.]

(5) They trust us to be responsible with the money. Transparency and good stewardship are most effective when they're practiced year-round.

Our church has easy-to-understand budget and income graphs right in the bulletin every week, and the leadership makes it clear that each penny is prayerfully spent, and Board meetings are open to all.

In a sad counter-example, I once lived in a town (with Town Meeting governance) where the voters absolutely did not trust the school board. After several public examples of mis-management and waste, the voters were unwilling to vote much-needed funds even when the schools were really hurting; the town had all the pieces working except this #5. Also, public leadership quarrels and "scandals" cut way down on pledges...

(6) We ask them (in effective ways). It's surprising how often people (or institutions) in need of money fail to ask, or fail to be clear and specific when they do ask. When you hire a professional fundraiser this is the first thing s/he will check: do people know what you need?

Again, here I think my church is doing a superb job...almost all the time. Every now and then an individual introducing the offering plate will use language ("should" etc) that sounds like a guilt trip, or a demand, and I know from both professional and personal experience that attempting to call upon guilt has the opposite effect (at least in the American context). There's an art to asking rather than demanding...and the results are worth the effort.

My two favourite sets of tools for making specific requests are those from the schools of movements launched by Cialdini and Rosenberg, and I could go on about both of them at length, but this is already pretty long. I am proud of my direct mail appeals, but there are many useful gurus who can take you farther than I can; this week I've enjoyed the advice of Susan Rich and Dean Rieck.

Summing up. A year has gone by since Angel asked me this question. What I wanted to tell him at the time is, people give money because:

(1) We are in contact with them.

(2) They have money.

(3) Their relationship with money is healthy, or in the process of healing.

(4) The things we are going to do with the money express their values. 

(5) They trust us to be responsible with the money.

(6) We ask them (in effective ways).

It is time for me to start saying "we" (of my new church), so I think "we" are doing a terrific job of #4, #5, and #6. Areas where "we" have room for improvement are #1 and #2 - it would be great to have more members with some regular income - and #3 - we could be even more of an oasis of sanity for our members in a culture of money madness. The stewardship leaders are asking people to pitch in and I will try to volunteer in those areas. If any readers have suggestions from their own churchs or other nonprofits, or suggestions of issues I've overlooked, if they would be willing to share them below, I would be grateful.

Your sister in you-know-who,

Julianne

And now for the booklist (just in case you didn't follow all of the Powells' links above). As tools most of these books are constantly being updated, so you have a choice between very low cost (anyone-can-afford-them) used older copies that will still blow your mind, or the most recent updated paperback versions translated into many different languages.

Brezsny, Rob. Pronoia Is The Antidote For Paranoia: How The Whole World Is Conspiring To Shower You With Blessings. [For those of you old enough to remember "realastrology": this is even better.]

Cialdini, Robert. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. [Valuable because he not only explains the tools but also explains how to counter their unethical use. If you only read one section, try the one where he calls on the findings of "bystander studies" after he and his wife have a fairly serious car accident.]

Corbett, Steve, and Fikkert, Brian. When Helping Hurts: How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting The Poor...and Yourself. [The latest info is at whenhelpinghurts.org. Introduction by John Perkins.]

Ellul, Jacques. Money and Power. [I am partial to the Inter-Varsity paperback with David Gill's introduction and LaVonne Neff's lively translation from the original French. Lots of great stuff about "money" as a "power" - and how to profane it.]

Henderson, Hazel. [Too many books to list just one; see HazelHenderson.com]

Leu, Lucy.  Nonviolent Communication Companion Workbook: A Practical Guide for Individual, Group, or Classroom Study. [Latest edition available from CNVC.org. These modules were tested in prisons and they are terrific for leaderless groups.]

Robin, Vicki, Dominguez, Joe, and Tilford, Monique. Your Money Or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationships With Money and Achieving Financial Independence

Rosenberg, Marshall. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. [Latest edition available from CNVC.org. This is the book that Lucy Leu (above) is taking people through, so buy them together.]