Posted on 08/26/2009Establishing an official church fund raising policy will eliminate any doubt from anyone's minds, how the church expects its fundraising team members to behave on behalf of the church, and a church fund raising policy will also outline the procedures for how the church handles the money it receives.
A Church Fundraiser policy does not have to be a lengthy or complicated document; in fact, the simpler you can keep things, the more likely that everyone will understand (especially if you have children that help with the fund raising efforts). Your church fund raising policy should state simple rules that govern the behavior of fund raising teams - for example, fund raising teams should never conceal the nature of their fund raising, or mislead supporters in an attempt to get more money. That may seem obvious, but it doesn't hurt to say it just in case. You may also want to add clauses to your church fund raising policy to cover issues like politeness, appropriate dress, and how to handle transport of the funds raised.
The church fund raising policy doesn't stop there, though - the church administration itself needs rules of ethics and disclosure, so that the supporters can check in at any time and see exactly what their generosity is paying for. The main keys with a church fund raising policy are to keep things straightforward and ethical, so that everything is out in the open, and no one is in doubt of whether they are operating within the church fund raising policy. The policy should apply to all fundraising ideas.
