Pledge campaigns are a church's secret weapon for planning next year's budget or raising money.

If you are new to such concentrated fundraising efforts, it might help to share three common pledge drives we see churches use to raise money and plan next year's budget.

Why create a Pledge Campaign?

A pledge campaign cuts out all the guesswork for churches when predicting income and planning their budgets

For example: An Annual Campaign prompts members to give a specified amount over the course of a year. Gathering everyone's annual pledge means you can know how much your organization will take in throughout the year, allowing you to build a budget with confidence.

Transparency is Key

When you create a Pledge Campaign, you create a target for your people to hit. This helps give them direction and transparency about what it is your ministry is wanting to accomplish. Be transparent about how much you're shooting for, why you're shooting for it, and what ministry will be accomplished because of it. If we're asking our people to pledge and go above and beyond with their finances, we need to go above and beyond in our transparency.

The 3 Types of Pledge Drives

Annual Campaign

This type of campaign is launched at the end of one year or the beginning of the next. The goal is to tell the congregation how much is needed to keep doing the ministry God has called the church to do, then ask them to pledge an amount they will give weekly or monthly throughout the year to meet that financial goal.

This helps members see what it takes for the church to keep running and helps them be more invested in the future of the organization.

Regular Fundraiser

This type is for an annual event. For instance, I went to a church that had a big heart for missions, so much that they supported lots of missionaries all over the world. One month a year, the pastor would preach a whole series on the Great Commission and launch a fundraising campaign throughout the month.

The result is that the church supported dozens of missionaries at a time and the Gospel was heard in all four corners of the world!

Scholarships

At ChurchTrac, we've seen churches use the Pledge feature to raise funds to raise up the next generation for Jesus. What that typically looks like is raising money for scholarship funds.

You can do scholarships for:

• Academic scholarships
• Money for school supplies
• Summer camp fees so no kids are left out

The idea is to always raise enough money to help younger believers grow and learn.

Start Fundraising!

Give your members something to shoot for and invite them to invest in the future of your ministry with Pledge Campaigns!

For a deeper dive into using pledge drives, read our How a Pledge Drive Can Work for Your Church › post.

Wes Church Engagement