Offering Plate Secrets

By Christopher White

[Reprinted with permission from “Question Box,” The United Church Observer, September 2013, page 40.]

Q.  Do you think a minister should know the full financial details of a congregation, including information on donors and what they give?

A. Let us start with the first section of the question. The answer to that is easy: absolutely yes. In fact, it is absolutely critical that the minister understands giving patterns, cash flow, bank balances and the complete financial picture of his or her congregation. To be unaware of those details is to not understand your church. Finances are a symbol of the spiritual health of the congregation and are as much the clergy’s job as Sunday worship, pastoral care, funerals and weddings. I also believe that all ministers need training in fundraising and volunteer management. Other non-profits who are appealing to our members for donations employ first-rate marketing techniques. Whether or not we like to admit it, we are in competition for those dollars, and we need to make our case compelling to succeed.

Historically, there has been a tendency to name finances as a “temporal” and not a “spiritual” matter, and thus not part of the minister’s job. This is utter nonsense and creates a false dichotomy between what is spiritual and what is not. We are part of an organization that relies on money to operate. Who on earth could think that this was not part of our work?

As to the question on donor information, a decade ago I would have answered no, but I would have been wrong. What changed my mind was personal experience, conversations with colleagues and the book Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate by J. Clif Christopher. He argues convincingly that a person’s giving is a spiritual issue, and for a minister not to know is essentially ministerial malpractice. Further, if someone’s giving drops dramatically, it is usually a sign that something else has changed, such as job loss, illness or unhappiness with the church. If the minister was unaware of a changed circumstance, the altered giving patterns would alert him or her.

Here is the truth: all ministers know who their major donors are. They may not know to the penny, but trust me, they know. I realize there are issues of confidentiality, but clergy are repositories of endless confidential information, and they hold it as a sacred trust. Why is this any different? By knowing the giving information, clergy are also in a position to see trouble ahead and can help solve it. If, for example, the vast majority of their top givers are in their 70s, then they know a demographic financial time bomb is ticking and they need to address it.

Is there a downside for clergy? Absolutely: the occasional sleepless night. I have worried about my congregation’s finances every single year of my ministry. But that’s the job. The treasurer shouldn’t be the only one not sleeping.