Building the Database

Giving in Grace includes written communication to members of the church. Mail merge makes easy work of “spray and pray”: we spray out a load of letters and pray that someone will respond! It is common but based upon the false assumption that the more people we write to the better the response will be. Planning groups must construct a database that is both comprehensive and differentiated. Guidance on creating a differentiated database can be found at Building the Database

Not everyone in the church is at the same place on their own spiritual journey, their relationship with the church, their domestic situations or understanding of church finances. We should neither look for nor ask for the same financial awareness or response from a long time church member in leadership and a woman who has been attending with her new baby for just the past six weeks. It is important to emphasise that Giving in Grace does not differentiate givers on the basis of how much they give to the church. Differentiation is done on a functional basis.

• we send slightly different letters to people asking them to do slightly different things.
• we send different response forms reflecting the varied content of the letters.
• we still send everyone the same Giving in Grace brochure which sets out the financial facts and the challenge to respond because we are all part of the church and on the journey together. But the brochure carries multiple messages.

Experience suggests that those churches which do not differentiate their database tend to have lower response rates and lower percentage rates of income increase. We strongly advise that differentiated letters are sent out in all but the most exceptional cases. However, even if a standard letter is sent to all church members it is very useful to assess the response forms returned against a differentiated database. For example, there might be an 80% response from the Core and only 34% from the Congregation. This can assist in planning future programmes or setting priorities for general communications about money in the parish.

With a completed case statement that has been reviewed by the church leadership and with a differentiated database the planning group can begin to prepare its written communication with confidence and to explore the options for Interaction. This task is addressed in the third agenda. Planning groups should ensure that the vital ingredient of prayer is not lost as planning progresses.