“Why RSI for Church of Christ, Congregational, Norfolk, CT?”
By Jeff Newlin, RSI Executive Stewardship Consultant
April 23, 2007
www.viscern.com
click: “RSI Church Stewardship”
I. RSI Campaigns emphasize the spiritual over the financial.
§ We are stewardship counselors, not fundraisers.
§ We consistently raise large sums of money in churches, but we do it indirectly, not directly; by inviting church members to embark on the capital campaign as an exciting spiritual journey.
II. RSI has unparalleled experience as a stewardship consulting firm.
§ Oldest Stewardship Consulting Firm – founded in 1972
§ Largest Stewardship Consulting Firm - 6800 RSI church campaigns have raised over $8 billion
§ Individual consultants not only draw upon this vast experience, but are able to get advice from 60 other RSI consultants at any moment.
§ Member of the Giving Institute, formerly known as the American Association of Fund Raising Counsel, and accountable to the high ethical standards of that organization.
§ RSI has never been sued by a church in its 34 year history.
§ We have a long list of happy clients in every Christian denomination.
III. RSI is a Learning Organization.
§ RSI Consultants receive 3 weeks of continuing education every year in which our consultants gather together to share new discoveries and experiences in their work.
§ We never assume that we’ve got capital campaigns all figured out. We’re always fine-tuning our approach and getting better and better at what we do.
IV. RSI builds high ownership through high involvement.
§ We’ve developed a system which involves from 50% to 60% of a church’s members in the mechanics of the campaign, which develops tremendous ownership of the campaign by the congregation.
§ The investment of members’ time is the prelude to the investment of their money.
V. RSI emphasizes Vision over Buildings.
§ Since church members don’t give to buildings as much as they give to visions, we make it a great priority to help pastors and other church leaders clarify the visions that are behind their campaigns and communicate them as powerfully as possible.
§ We help churches take full advantage of the communicative power of video, as well as traditional print materials.
VI. Prayer isn’t just window-dressing; it is the heart of the campaign.
§ Church members are not pressured or manipulated:
a. No one tells anyone what to give to the campaign
b. No one even asks anyone to give to the campaign, at least not directly
c. There is no “every-member canvas”, which feels manipulative to many people today, even when pressure is not intended.
§ RSI campaigns are based on a simple invitation; church members are invited to pray, “Dear Lord, what would you do through me to accomplish your will for our church?”
§ In the process church members grow not only in their financial commitment to the church, but in their prayer life.
VII. A rich banquet of the Bible’s teachings on stewardship is served.
§ Excellent Bible Study materials are provided for children, youth, and adults.
§ Bible study materials are also available for small groups.
§ An inspiring Devotional Guide is provided to church members to deepen their prayer life as they seek God’s guidance for their participation in the campaign
§ The leadership team reflects on the great capital campaigns in the Bible
VIII. We make “sacrifice” a good word.
§ A congregation cannot raise a lot of money without its members sacrificing
§ By focusing on God’s bold vision for the congregation, by emphasizing the joy and privilege of giving, and by creating a climate in which members share powerful testimonies of their individual sacrifices, members experience the deep rewards of “giving up something important for something that is more important.”
IX. Our campaigns include special strategies for every population in the congregation.
§ We’ve learned from our sister company, Ketchum, the leader in non-profit fund-raising for 90 years, how to best approach major gift prospects for the largest gifts in a campaign, yet we do this without compromising RSI’s spiritual emphasis.
§ Nothing great is achieved without leadership. We invite the leaders of a church, defined much more broadly than the major gift prospects cited above, to lead. In the process the leaders are blessed as much as those they lead.
§ Some stewardship companies focus their efforts exclusively on the top 20% of a church membership that gives 80% of the budget. RSI is committed to approach every member of congregation; because every member is an important part of the body of Christ, and because every member can benefit from the spiritual growth possibilities inherent in a well run capital campaign.
§ Although they seldom contribute large sums of money, teenagers can contribute tremendous amounts of idealism and commitment to a stewardship campaign. By developing a mini-campaign for them, RSI is committed to develop good stewardship habits in young people that will last a lifetime.
§ Involving the children in the campaign, normally through a poster festival, blesses the adults in the church more than the children.
X. We customize, but only after we listen.
§ We place great emphasis on seeking to understand the unique strengths and needs of each congregation that we work with, so that our campaigns can have maximum effectiveness.
§ Norfolk, Church of Christ, Congregational, has the blessing and the curse of having a large endowment which generates half of the income for the church’s budget. A large part of the customization of your campaign will involve helping the congregation view the endowment not as welfare relief which excuses them from their own stewardship responsibility, but as the invitation and challenge of earlier generations of church members to the current generation of church members to be as generous in their time as the earlier generations were in theirs.
XI. Our consultants are on-site more than others and available at all times.
§ If I were the Norfolk Church of Christ’s stewardship consultant, I would be on site a minimum of 9 days over the course of 6 visits. During this time I would conduct a minimum of 30 meetings. RSI gives its consultants no maximum limit of visits. If you would need me, I’d be there.
§ A minimum of 6 visits means that I would be at your church roughly every two-three weeks over the course of a standard 4 month campaign. From RSI’s experience, this spacing offers all the on-site support that a church needs and builds excellent campaign momentum, without unnecessary expense.
§ A minimum of 30 meetings means that I would have the time to directly train everybody who volunteers in your campaign, as opposed to training certain volunteers in your church to train other volunteers in your church. The presence of an outside “expert” validates important campaign principals for many members. Personal attention from the consultant also makes all volunteers feel valued, not just the members of the campaign leadership team.
§ In addition to on-site support, I would be continually available by cell-phone and email. Your messages would be responded to within 24 hours, and in most cases, they’ll be responded to within several hours.
XII. We are serious about Follow-Up.
§ Our BRIDGE follow-up program turns pledges into dollars.
§ We don’t leave a church until a solid plan for campaign follow up is written and approved.
§ In particular, we help a church develop a plan to effectively integrate new members into the campaign. Failure to do this is the Achilles’ heel of many campaigns.
§ We checkup on a church’s follow-up process at least two times a year.
XIII. We raise more money.
§ Every stewardship company and consultant has its homeruns to brag about, but no one has a higher batting average than RSI: Over the last 5 years, we have raised an average of 2.66 times annual income, and 20% of the churches used to calculate this average had debt retirement campaigns! Our campaigns in UCC churches over the past 5 years have averaged over 3 times annual giving.
XIV. We offer the best value.
§ Norfolk Church of Christ, Congregational will never have a greater opportunity for raising a large sum of money than it has right now, as it undertakes major renovations of its facilities under the leadership of a new pastor after a long period without a major capital campaign. This opportunity only comes once. Follow-up three-year campaigns never have the same opportunities for sacrificial enthusiasm that an initial three-year campaign has. You should not squander the great opportunity that stands before you. This is not a time to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
§ Many churches have found that the legacy of joyful, committed giving that their members discover through RSI’s congregation-wide, full-service approach to capital campaigns, is even more valuable then the large amount of money that they raised.
§ The greatest cost that many churches encounter in their capital campaigns is the interest that they pay on the money that they could have raised but didn’t raise. If you take this great cost into consideration, our consulting fees are a bargain.
