Fundraising training as you need it, when you need it

Financial sustainability classes now available on 1001 New Worshiping Communities online training platform

by Paul Seebeck | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Jon Moore says his financial sustainability class, now online for new worshiping community leaders, focuses on getting participants comfortable talking about money and seeing fundraising as a part of their ministry. (Screenshot)

LOUISVILLE — When the Rev. Jon Moore saw the online classes on financial sustainability for  new worshiping community leaders, he was stirred emotionally.

Before the pandemic, Moore, a mission engagement advisor for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, had been teaching financial sustainability at worshiping community gatherings around the country. The focus was primarily to get leaders comfortable talking about money by helping them see how Jesus talked about money.

“When it comes to asking for money, many ministry leaders have an attitude problem,” he said. “They proclaim, ‘I didn’t enter ministry to be a fundraiser.’  But what we need them to understand is fundraising is ministry.”

When COVID-19 hit, Moore and the 1001 team recognized they had to find another way to teach financial sustainability. So along with their many resources, they moved the sustainability class online. It’s broken into these four 20-25 minutes sessions:

• Introduction to Fundraising
• Introducing Your Community to Stewardship
• Raising Money from Outside Your Community
• Receiving and Accounting for Money

“When new worshiping community leaders begin to see fundraising as part of their ministry, it frees them to fully engage it,” Moore said. “Much of what they need as they wrestle with being sustainable is now available to them — as they need it, when they need it.”

Moore also said it’s been remarkable to see the 1001 team move so many of its resources to an online format.

One of the resources rewritten for online use is the Starting New Worshiping Communities guide. And coming soon is a Spanish language contextual resource written from a Hispanic cultural perspective. The Rev. Sean Chow, 1001 associate for training and leadership cohorts, calls the contextual resource “a game changer.”

“For the first time we’re not just translating from English to Spanish but making sure that what we provide will actually work and be useful in a Hispanic setting,” he said.

In addition to Financial Sustainability, other online classes on the training platform are:

• NWC Accelerator, which is requirement for communities to receive a NWC Investment Grant through the PC(USA)  Mission Program Grants.
• Core Leadership Training Program helps develop a holistic mission and vision for a new worshiping community.

The Rev. Nikki Collins, 1001 national coordinator, said that one of the gifts of months without travel has been the gift of time.

“It allowed us to focus on the creation of new resources for the leaders and communities in this movement,” she said. “This allows us to serve in a much broader way and on a whole new scale. It is our hope that this online resource will allow more people to access and share what we are learning.”

The Rev. Jon Moore (back row fourth from left) at a financial sustainability retreat with new worshiping community leaders in 2019. (Contributed photo)

What Moore has been reminded of is how people rise to the occasion during a crisis. He saw that in the 1001 team as team members responded to the pandemic by moving their resources online — and in how gifts keep coming in, he said.

“We’re seeing firsthand that people want to help, they want to respond,” he said. “And because COVID has affected everybody, we don’t even have to tell them what the problem is. Everyone knows there’s a need. It’s been gratifying to see people step up. Seeing people become more generous — and understand the significant impact of generosity on the world — seeing someone experience those things is the greatest reward a fundraiser can receive.”

The Rev. Rosemary C. Mitchell, senior director for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of Mission Engagement and Support, describes  Moore as a person of deep faith with experience as a pastor — and in the financial world.

“He brings that combination of skills to his ministry with leaders of new worshiping communities,” she said, “providing advice and counsel on the technical aspects of managing funds as well as the lens of stewardship for those called to  this challenging ministry.”

 For more information about online training for NWC leaders, contact Sean Chow at sean.chow@pcusa.org or Jon Moore at jon.moore@pcusa.org. 

 To make a gift to support 1001 New Worshiping Communities, click here.