April and May are the pre-summer giving months, and the steps you take during these months will help you beat the summer giving slump in your church. How do you do it? With this four-part plan!

1. How to Skyrocket
Summer Giving

2. Question Of The Day
What should Casey’s
DJ name be?

3. Why does giving
slump?

4. Seasons
•New Year
•Pre-Summer
•Summer
•Fall
•Holiday

5. Seasons
•New Year
•Pre-Summer
•Summer
•Fall
•Holiday

6. Reasons
They forgot

7. Reasons
“They’re not going to
miss my gift…”

8. Reasons
“I’ll catch up”

9. Reasons
“I don’t carry cash”

10. The Solution
Recurring Giving

11. What will happen in
your church
• You will have more
consistent givers this
summer

12. What will happen in
your church
• People become more
generous

13. What will happen in
your church
• Giving will increase

14. What will happen in you
• Peace about payroll

15. What will happen in you
• Confidence to take risk

16. What will happen in you
• Freedom to accomplish
vision

17. Automation trumps
determination

18. RocketDonations.com

20. Only 25% of
churches prompted
recurring giving

21. $600$50 ____

24. Automate The Important

25. Do a four-week digital
giving campaign

26. Set a goal

27. What’s the benefit for
the donor?

28. What’s the benefit for
your church?

29. Say It
Send It

30. Week One
Sunday: Say It

31. This is a sample announcement that can be used in your services. It introduces the initiative to your
congregation and explains the interest card.
A few years ago, my wife and I decided that we needed to do a better job of saving money for
retirement. So we made the decision to save a little bit more each and every month. We were
excited, passionate and even determined to do better. But you know what? A funny thing
happened. We got to the end of the month, and somehow, we were out of money. Crazy how
that works. Even though we wanted to save – even though we were determined to save – it just
didn’t happen.
So we decided to make it automatic. At the first of the month, right after we get paid, we set up
an automatic payment from our checking account to our savings account. The deposit went in
regardless of whatever else was happening. Saving was important to us so we decided to make
it automatic. Along the way, another funny thing happened. We managed to still break even at
the beginning of the month.
I think this is Biblical because the Bible talks a lot about something called “first fruits.” If
something is important, we should do it first. For us savings needed to be important, so we
needed to do it first and we needed to make it automatic, removing feelings from the process.
Here are XYZ Church, we’re so grateful for the generosity of so many people who financially
support the mission and vision of the church. This idea of making the important automatic
applies to giving as well. I want to be generous as well as be wise, so in addition to saving
automatically, I also give automatically. Every time I get paid, I automatically give a percentage
to this church. It’s automatic.
As we get ready to head into the summer months, I want to talk about how you can automate
the important as well. We’ve set up our website in such a way that you can create a profile and
set up regular, recurring contributions. Online giving is safe, secure and 100% free. It’s a great
way to be intentional about honoring God and being generous. Many of you give when we pass
the offering plates and that’s great – you can keep doing that. But I want to challenge you to
automate it because it’s important.
So here’s the deal. In your handout, you’ll see an interest card. Go ahead and take that out now.
It says, “I want to try digital giving…send me the link.” If you fill out this card and give us your
email address – you don’t need to write amounts or anything like that – I’ll send you the link
tomorrow. I’ll include all the information and the instructions and you can set it all up from your
computer. Think about taking this step, and later on the service, when the offering buckets are
passed, drop in the card.
If it’s important, then consider making it automatic. We’re so grateful for your generosity.
Sunday
Script

34. Week One
Sunday: Say It
Monday: Send It

35. Send this email to everyone who turned in a commitment card. Be sure to send it as soon
as possible after receiving their card.
Jimmy,
At church yesterday, you asked us to send you a link that would help you automate
what’s important. Well…here’s the link.
When you visit the giving page on our website, you can set up a recurring donation
tied to your bank account or credit card. You can change the amount, frequency of
the donation, or use a different account at any time. It’s safe, secure and easy to use.
It’s a great way to automate what’s important and help our church maintain ministries
for your family throughout the entire year. If you’ve got any questions, or need any
help, feel free to call 668-544-3089.
God bless,
Brian
PS – Here’s the link.
Follow-up
Email

36. Week One
Sunday: Say It
Monday: Send It
Thursday: Send It

37. Blog Post
Pastor’s Blog
Don’t blog this word for word…let it serve as a guide. Add your own reasons and personality.
Title: Why I Give Online to First Church
In addition to being the founding pastor of Oak Leaf Church, I’m also a financially
contributing member. I give at least 10% of my pre-tax income to my church, and I wanted to
share some of the reasons why.
First, I believe in the mission of this church. I’m proud to be a part of a church that cares about
reaching people far from God. I’m proud to be a part of a place where the mission is to reach
people for Christ and help them follow one day at a time. Every time I hear a story about a
family put back together or a teenager who decides to follow Christ or a man who finally gets
back in church, I know that my contributions played a small part in that. People’s lives are
being changed and this church is a part of that. Jesus said that our treasure would follow our
heart, so because my heart is with this church, I want to financially support it.
Secondly, I want to be an example to my children. I’m so tired of hearing people complain
about the younger generation…they are just following our example! I don’t want selfish
children, caring only about their iPods, clothes, cars, and friends. I want my kids to care about
other people. That’s not gonna happen by accident…I have to be intentional about modeling
that. I cannot tell them to care about others and then spend 100% of my paycheck on our
own needs and wants. Parents, we’ve got to be responsible for teaching our kids to be
generous, and we can’t do that if we are not generous ourselves.
Thirdly, I give because God commands me to give. In the Old Testament, God commanded his
people to tithe, and obedience wasn’t an option. In the New Testament, Jesus talks a lot
about giving and money. Paul writes about money. He tells Christians this: “The point is this:
whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Every month, we automatically give to our church
because that honors God. We want to honor God, even when it’s difficult, even when things
are tight. There have been times that we’ve gone without something, but we never cancel the
contribution to the church. I’d rob the mortgage company before I robbed God.
I do all of this online. I set up a profile on our website and chose to make my monthly
contribution automatic. It’s convenient, and it keeps me from forgetting to do what’s really
important to me.
I want to encourage you to automate the important by setting up your online giving profile
today.

38. Systems > Silver bullets

40. What’s included?
1. Audio coaching
2. Written coaching
3. Letter to database
4. Four emails
5. Blog post

41. What’s included?
6. Announcement script
7. Commitment card
8. Logos
9. Screen graphics
10. Bumper video

43. “When we first started with online giving, we were receiving
10% of our offering online. If we had to take a Sunday off for
weather purposes, we would sweat it. We weren’t putting
anything back into the future.
From our first Automate The Important campaign to now, our
online giving has grown to 70-75% of our total offering. Today
we feel confident.
If you want to fund the vision and see the mission God has
called you to accomplished, it takes money.
You can’t afford not to implement
Automate The Important.”
Bobby Williams, Lead Pastor - Ridge Church

44. TheRocketCompany.com/Offer

45. TheRocketCompany.com/Offer