At Killer Church this week we are taking time out to take a look back at Liquid‘s 2010 Christmas Offering.
We launched our Christmas Campaign with a special two part series on November 21st and 28th called Jesus Loves Jersey. This series was similar to what other churches do on a “Vision Night” or annual review of where things are at with the church.
Want to see a sample of the messages? [Part One] [Part Two]
The direction for this series and the Christmas offering was hatched at a Lead Team meeting in late September. We were reflecting on the fact that we need “own” the state we are in more in our culture. I love the positioning that Tim ended up coming up with for this series! Jesus has a special place in his heart for the Garden State- Snooki, Tony Soprano and all!
This kicked off a public communication frenzy where we attempted to use of best skills to communicate as clearly as possible about the needs for the Christmas Offering.
Snooki Brochure | A three fold brochure that we had in the program every Sunday through the end of the year that fully described the Christmas offering. Also a great tool for the Campus Pastors to hold up during offering.
Offering Envelope | A special offering envelope that shows clearly that the Christmas offering is “above and beyond” people’s regular giving to Liquid. (Over the last two years we’ve seen an increase in the regular giving during this season.)
Highlight Videos | A series of “reminder videos” that we showed each week in December to flesh out the story a little bit more. Also provided great jumping off points for our Campus Pastors to cast vision again for the Christmas Offering. [Video 1] [Video 2] [Video 3]
Direct Mail | Immediately before the series we also sent a fourth quarter donor mailing to people that updated where their giving was at year to date. This letter hinted to the fact that we were going to be talking about a special Christmas offering in just a few weeks.
There is a balance with all of this communication . . . we want to make sure that people are well informed and motivated to give to the cause but not overwhelm (or over sell) them. Donor fatigue is a real danger during a campaign like this. I think we could have used one more mailing in December – we had a bunch of brochures left over. But I don’t think we overwhelmed people at all.
Did you do a Christmas offering this year? What are your learnings?
Come back on Friday and I’m going to talk about our largest learning in these campaigns over the last few years. Subscribe to the blog through email and you’ll get exclusive bonus content.
