Expanding Your Church’s Sources of Income
Worksheet 1 — Current Sources of Income Assessment
Step 1 — Identify Your Current Sources of Income
 Examine the sources of income listed on the “Current Sources of Income Worksheet” on page 3.
Look over all the potential income sources listed. If you are unfamiliar with any of the potential
sources, consult the “Descriptions of Sources of Income” on page 4.
 When you are clear about their meaning, put a check mark in the first column next to all the sources
listed from which your church currently receives income.
 For the rest of this exercise, you will work only with those you have checked and ignore the others.
Step 2 — Rate the Current Performance of Your Current Income Sources
 For each of the sources you checked in the first column, evaluate how well your church is performing
with that source of income. Use the second column marked “Current Performance” to give each
source checked a score of 1, 2, 3, or 4 based not just on how much money comes in, but how you
think your church is doing relative to comparable churches. For example, if your church receives
three or four memorial gifts each year amounting to about $200 dollars and you know that some
other comparable churches received memorial gifts very regularly amounting to several thousand
dollars a year, you would probably rate your church as a 1 or 2. However, if your church is more like
the second church, you would rate your church as a 3 or 4. Here is another example. Regarding
bequests, if your church gets modest bequests once every ten years or so, that would be a 1 or 2.
If your church has a long-running emphasis on bequests and usually receives at least one each year,
that would be a 3 or 4. Remember, this is relative performance given the type of giving.
Step 3 — Rate the Potential for Future Growth of Current Income Sources
 Turning your attention to the far right column marked “Future Growth Potential,” give each of your
checked sources a score of 1, 2, 3, or 4 based on how much future growth potential there is for this
source. Using the previous illustrations, if you receive only a few memorial gifts during the year and
you know that other church receive many more for much larger amounts of money, then that may be
a 3 or 4 in terms of potential. On the other hand, the church with a well-established memorial giving
tradition may realize that additional future growth potential may be modest and thus rate it a 1 or 2 for
growth potential.
 Now each of your checked income sources should have two numbers, one in each of the two
columns.
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Step 4 — Identify Highs and Lows
 Go back over the columns where numbers are listed and by every “1” and “2” put an “L” for Low. And
by every “3” and “4” you have listed, put an “H” for High.
 Looking across from left to right, identify items that have an “H” for High in both columns, meaning
that the performance column has either a 3 or 4 and the growth potential column has a 3 or 4. Next,
look for any items for which the two columns read: “L” – “H”, meaning that the performance column
has either a 1 or 2 and the growth potential column has a 3 or 4.
List any H – H sources below:
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
List any L – H sources below:
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
Step 5 – Discussion of Implications and Actions Steps
The current revenue sources listed in Step 4 have the most potential for growth. The “H – H” items are
things you already know how to do, but could generate more income. The “L – H” items are things that
you do not do well now, but have great potential benefits with improved effort.
If you are working with others, discuss the items you and others have most identified in the two
lists above:
•
•
•
•
•
Out of all of these, which one or two should be your focus first?
What would be the logical next steps?
Who will be responsible for those next steps?
By when can they be done?
How will we hold ourselves accountable?
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Current Sources of Income Worksheet
Check those
you do now
1.
Christmas/Christmas Eve
__________
Current
Performance
(1 to 4)
__________
Future Growth
Potential
(1 to 4)
__________
2.
Automatic Bank Withdrawal
__________
__________
__________
3.
Online giving
__________
__________
__________
4.
Debit/credit card giving
__________
__________
__________
5.
Annual pledging
__________
__________
__________
6.
New member pledges
__________
__________
__________
7.
Budget “catch up” offering
__________
__________
__________
8.
Short term challenge
__________
__________
__________
9.
Year-end appeals
__________
__________
__________
10. End of tax year opportunities
__________
__________
__________
11. Memorial gifts
__________
__________
__________
12. Approved Memorial List
__________
__________
__________
13. All Saints Sunday
__________
__________
__________
14. Communion offerings
__________
__________
__________
15. Special holiday offerings
__________
__________
__________
16. Donations for special projects
__________
__________
__________
17. Mission Trip Sponsors/Fees
__________
__________
__________
18. Special need/opportunity offering
__________
__________
__________
19. Underwriters of items
__________
__________
__________
20. Gifts-in-kind
__________
__________
__________
21. Preschool/Day Care income
__________
__________
__________
22. Rental income
__________
__________
__________
23. User fees
__________
__________
__________
24. Fund raisers
__________
__________
__________
25. Special events (net income)
__________
__________
__________
26. Money saving changes
__________
__________
__________
27. Interest on idle funds
__________
__________
__________
28. Grants
__________
__________
__________
29. Capital campaign
__________
__________
__________
30. Bequests
__________
__________
__________
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Descriptions of Sources of Income
Christmas/Christmas Eve offering for mission
1. Christmas/Christmas Eve offering for mission – receive the offering for mission causes and all will appreciate it
Offering more options for giving
2. Automatic Bank Withdrawal giving – any type of electronic funds transfer from an account
3. Online giving – gifts made through church website or other online “bill pay” systems
4. Debit/credit/debit card giving – permitting donations using these cards
Stewardship enhancements
5. Encourage annual pledges or estimates – providing a once a year opportunity for people to make a financial
commitment
6. New member pledges – as part of the new member orientation, ask for a pledge
7. Budget “catch up” offering – occasional special pushes such at the end of the summer or other times as needed
8. Short term challenge – asking members to tithe or increase giving by 10 percent for one to three months
9. Year-end appeals – a special push at the end of the budget year
10. End of tax year opportunities – remind members of tax benefits from year end giving (e.g. appreciated assets)
Special giving opportunities
11. Memorial gifts – donations made in memory of the deceased
12. Approved Memorials List/Wish List - a list of things needed by the church for which there are not yet budgeted
funds
13. All Saints Sunday – as you celebrate those who died in the past year, use the occasion to list those making
memorial gifts in the past year and present a new edition of an Approved Memorials List with things needed by
the church and approved as memorial gifts
14. Communion offerings - the tradition of communion offerings permits gifts to numerous causes over the year
15. Special holiday offerings – Thanksgiving, Easter, etc.
16. Donations for special projects – asking for persons to underwrite certain projects outside the budget
17. Mission Trip Sponsors/Fees – sponsors help underwrite expenses; fees can cover some costs
18. Special need/opportunity offering – giving for an unanticipated need or opportunity arising during the year
19. Underwriters of previously budgeted items – an example is having people sign up to provide flowers rather than
budgeting for flowers
20. Gifts-in-kind – a member or business provides work, supplies, or services without charging
Earned income
21. Preschool/Day Care income – income generated by these programs beyond program costs
22. Rental income – for space, parking, telephone towers in steeples
23. User fees – anything from wedding fees to asking people in a study group to buy their books
24. Fund raisers – efforts through the year to generate extra money through dinners, selling items, etc.
25. Special events (net income) – concerts, plays, etc.
Management increases
26. Money saving changes – money saved by eliminating unessential expenses has the same effect as new income
27. Interest on idle funds – cash flow interest on excess funds or funds being held for a future purpose
28. Grants – occasionally there are conference or foundation grants available; some churches even set up separate
entities to receive grants not available to churches
Capital needs
29. Capital campaign for major needs – usually a multi-year effort to raise significant funds for capital needs
30. Bequests – gifts received from persons remembering the church in the wills and estate plans
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20110922INCOME1 — Copyright © 2004-2011 by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership® of Wesley Theological Seminary
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