Fundraisers and Fundraising Gimmicks
I just finished reading Skipping Christmas, the John Grisham novel on which the movie Christmas With The Kranks was based. In this book there are a couple amusing scenes where Luther Krank is subjected to some in-your-face fundraising tactics by the police, the Boy Scouts, and the fire department, who are raising money by selling calendars, Christmas trees, and fruitcakes. The scenes made me laugh, but they also reminded me that I was going to write a little more about fundraisers.Please remember, as I said before, I'm not opposed to fundraisers, in the sense that I don't think there is anything morally wrong with them. But right/wrong and wise/unwise are two completely different issues, and I tend to think that - as they are generally done - fundraisers are often on the 'unwise' end of the spectrum.
At its heart, I don't think a fundraiser teaches the people raising money to "contribute to the needs of the saints", but rather, to pass off that responsibility to others, thus sidestepping their own responsibilities. Laura points out (quite correctly) that a fundraiser requires the sacrifice of time, which is just as important as the sacrifice of money. I agree with this, but also see it as something not entirely related to the point I was making.
So let me see if I can approach it from a different angle and make a little better sense. Let's say, for example, that I want to teach my teens the importance of sacrificing their time in order to "contribute to the needs of the saints". There are many methods I might use to do this. One is to ask my teens if they would volunteer to shovel snow from an elderly lady's porch, driveway, or roof. Another would be to ask them to take a monthly trip to the local nursing home in order to provide a Sunday morning church service for the residents (something new we'll be starting this year, which I'm very excited about!). There are many other possibilities. The thing they all have in common is that they are directly contributing to the needs of the saints.
A fund raiser is much more ambiguous than that. When you go out door-to-door selling calendars, or invite people to come to a bake sale, although you are sacrificing your time, the purpose of the giving is much less clear-cut, much muddier. Because what you are really doing is sacrificing your time for the purpose of bribing, cajoling, or coercing others into contributing to the needs of the saints.
I realize those probably seem like strong words - bribing, cajoling, coercing, maybe they're too strong, but I kind of like them, so I'm leaving them.
The success and value of the fundraiser is dependent not on your own generosity, but on the generosity of those to whom you are selling your product/service. Your act of service and sacrifice is valueless unless it is accompanied by acts of generosity by others. And the "others" realize this, which contributes to the feeling of "coercion" in giving.I got one of those calendar fund raiser brochures last week. I looked at it briefly before I chucked it in the trash. How does this work? You get your calendars, you go around asking people if they want to buy them, and collect a rather remarkable sum of money for the calendar. Then half that money goes back to the company who provides them, and the other half can go to your fund. I don't know what other people's experience is with these kinds of fund raisers, but my experience is this: I would rather go to Wal Mart, buy the calendar I want, at the price I want, and then, when I find a charity/ministry I want to contibute to, I have more money to donate.
The principle is the same no matter what the fundraiser; we try to sell a product at far over its reasonable market value, so we'll have plenty of money to give to the project. Why would a person buy a calendar for twenty dollars, or a cake for fifteen, when they could get a product of equal value for much less elsewhere? It seems like there are three likely reasons why people would do this.
1. They don't know the going price/value of products for sale.
2. They feel uncomfortable saying no to the person who is asking them for money.
3. They really believe in, and want to support the project/ministry in question.
If the reason is #1, doesn't that mean we are, in a sense, cheating them by offering them a product with an absurdly elevated price? (I think this is rarely the case)
If the reason is #2, doesn't that mean that, rather than abiding by the principle that "God loves a cheerful giver", we are trying to force money out of people who don't want to give? Are we not encouraging giving out of a sense of guilt?
And finally, if the reason is #3, wouldn't it be much better to simply forgo the product, and let them give as they choose to a project they believe in, and actually be able to give more because they haven't spent money on a product they didn't really want/need in the first place?
I had an idea for a fundraiser that would avoid these concerns. It's really very simple. Set aside a day, and agree that for that day, anyone who wants to can donate all or part of their income from that day to the project. Thus, if a person works at McDonalds, or Hannaford, or some other place of business, they calculate how much they earned that day and contribute it. Those who don't have jobs go out offering to do yard work, or other odd jobs - never mentioning that it's for a fundraiser, so their pay doesn't get unfairly inflated because people feel a sense of obligation. Then they can donate that money to the fund raiser. The advantage is, in this particular kind of fund raiser, nobody's sacrifice is dependent on the generosity of another; each one gives (as the scriptures say) "as he has purposed in his heart."
I mentioned in my previous post that I think fundraisers can teach wrong lessons to the givers, and I'll give just one example of this. I was telling one of my teens last week about the offering we collected at the VBS in Stow for our Moldova missions project. She responded by telling me about a VBS she had seen where the kids were divided into teams and had a competition, a race, to see who could bring in the most pennies, nickels, dimes, etc.
This is another kind of fundraiser altogether, and I realize that many churches do this (perhaps my own church as well!), so I'll try to be careful not to step on any toes. I will simply say that we chose not to go that route down at Stow. Yes, we probably could have raised more than $286 (although I'm very happy with what was given) by turning the offering into a game, but I believe that by so doing, we would shoot ourselves in the foot in the long term. Why? Because if we "play the game" we have taught the children that we don't give simply for the purpose of being generous toward the work of God, we teach them that we give if and when it is fun to do so. And, quite frankly, giving is not often "fun" in the sense that a competition is fun. So while the children in Stow might have given more if we presented this as a competition, in the long term, we have trained them instead to become the kinds of givers that God wants, and that will bear fruit which will last long after the VBS is over.
God loves a cheerful giver, the Bible says. It doesn't say that God loves an entertained giver.
Well, I guess that's it. Please remember, if you or your church are involved in fundraisers, I am not saying you're wrong (goodness knows, I occasionally contribute to fundraisers myself!) I am merely pointing out some concerns so that if/when you get involved, you are aware of some of the potential pitfalls, and hopefully find ways to avoid them.
Posted On Aug 23, 2005 at 12:30 AM
On Aug 23, 2005 Mr. T. wrote: I think I find myself in total agreement with you (now THAT'S scary!). The particular point I find myself thinking about is the one about offering a product with "an absurdly elevated price". Scripture is quite clear about not charging "usury" to a brother. Now, a dictionary definition of usury says it is "excessive or illegally high" interest charged on a loan. There is also another definition that simply says it is an archaic term referring to interest in general (not neccessarily excessive). I realize that with the fundraiser idea we are not charging interest, but it still seems as if we are violating this principle in scripture, by charging far more than what it is worth.
I had to check - in our VBS this year we raised money to send to our missionaries in the Philippines - Gene and Carol Trudeau. My wife tells me we did NOT raise it as a competition between teams - rather, we had a goal that the kids all worked together to meet, rather than compete against each other (Whew! - we got that one right!!)
Finally, I was particularly intrigued by the various advertisements on this page for fundraisers. I appreciate your making them available, so that if anyone DISAGREES with you, it is easy for them to find a fundraiser for their church to offer.
Doug Replied: ha ha...well, you know I don't control the content of the ads.
On Aug 24, 2005 Laura wrote: Well, you're right about certain kinds of fundraisers being the wrong way to raise money. Perhaps my idea of a fundraiser is just a bit different. I know my brother always used to sell candy bars and such for his T-ball fundraiser, but I've never heard of churches raising money that way - selling things when part of the proceeds go back to the company they bought the things from. I think that if teens were to give their time making something (rather than buying it for a fundraiser and only giving the profits), and selling it, and then giving all the money they earn to missions, then it really isn't much different from earning money at McDonald's and giving it to missions, is it? The way I see fundraisers is just as a different job. The money has to come from somewhere, but if the teens really earn it rather than ask for it (whether at a regular job or a "fundraiser" job), then it seems like the same thing to me. I do agree that competition isn't the best way to raise money though, because it does teach the wrong reason to give. I think if God wants more money, He'll impress it on the hearts of more people to give, or make the money that is raised stretch further - we don't have to "help him out" with competition ;-)
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