If someone has $40 in their wallet, they may give $20 - saving that second $20 for lunch the next day. Online gifts were $160. Lots of great examples and statistics here from Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Literally the stack of church and money books Lori brought to a class of ministry students.

Generosity starts with a grateful heart.

How can churches say thank you? Sending a thank you card is an easy starting point. Here are eleven ways to use thank you cards.

If you give a wedding gift, you expect to receive a thank-you note.  It’s common courtesy.  If you don’t give a gift, you generally don’t get a thank-you note.  Obvious, right? However, in church giving often nobody gets a thank-you note.  Nobody gets thanked.  Really.  In many churches, donors get an annual receipt with no thank-you letter. But I’m proposing here that everybody gets a thank-you note. Here’s why: gratitude generally and thank-you letters in particular make a good springboard into generosity.

If you are Christian who fundraises, this books is for you. If you are working for an organization that regards fundraising as a necessary evil, you might need to buy more than one copy!

I help congregations with generosity assessments - looking at giving trends and congregational values. It's joyful, challenging and sometimes vulnerable work (for both me and the congregation!)

One of the big questions I ask churches is: "Are you two or three funerals away from disaster?"

This is a great article on ending well for congregations. Denial seldom helps congregations move forward; facing these questions guides future direction.

"Young families can't give." Twice in a week I heard exactly the same statement from church leaders. I believe what they meant was "young families with housing costs, daycare fees and mouths to feed can't afford to give to the church." I surely hope it wasn't a theological statement excluding young families! Let me start with a story:

The woman beside me at yoga had 'no regrets' tattooed on her foot. I assume she means - live life to the fullest. Being literal-minded though, I wondered - what would it mean to have no regrets? For a ministerial screening program, I was asked "Is there anything about you, that if people found out, would be damaging to your ministry?" My reply - Absolutely! How could I be a good leader if I didn't have any regrets? This applies to all sorts of people - fundraisers, pastors, parents.

“We had so much fun giving that money away” What if a bequest policy at church was a joyful discussion of one final act of kindness?

The wisdom from Beatles' lyrics to Hey Jude “take a sad song and make it better” apply to charity finances. 

I’ve heard a couple of sad songs about charities running deficits in their operating budgets. Let's start with an organization I'm intimately involved with - my family. No matter what else is going on--university, saving for a big trip, fixing the roof--we put money aside each and every month to pay the bills. You probably do too. Paying the electricity bill is not glamourous but everyone benefits from attention to that little detail.