Waterfront Church has a unique model of marketing themselves as a generous church. They are giving away 100% of what they receive in their offerings to local charities.
…members do the unthinkable after passing the plate on Sunday: They give it all away to charity. Rev. Jim Semradek, founder of the new Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, hopes the novel concept will draw people turned off by constant appeals for money and concerned about how it’s spent … few churches are taking as radical an approach as Waterfront. Using a missionary model, eight sponsors cover Waterfront’s expenses, including salaries and rent, so all of the weekly offerings go straight to the community.
(link via Generous News)
Ben Stroup
November 25, 2008
This church has a compelling story to tell. It also has positioned itself to respond creatively to many who object to established churches because they believe too much money goes to overhead. (Note: This criticism can be applied to almost any NPO.)
For me, the appeal of this approach is that it highlights a principle I write about on Do More Ministry (www.lifewaystores.com/domoreministry).
The principle is this: people give money to those organizations who do the best job demonstrating the impact their dollar will have on the work of the organization or cause.
For the most part, churches pale in comparison in doing this when compared to para-church and other religious NPOs.
Too long the church has used the argument: you should give to us “just because” that’s what you’re supposed to do. (That argument doesn’t work with children; why do we think it will work with adults?)
Churches and church leaders need to begin quantifying the impact of their ministry. Doing so will sharpen their decision making and will lead to fully-funded budgets and long-term, sustainable ministry.