The are several types of church fundraising ranging from tithing collected during church services to phone solicitations, direct mail campaigns, and specific types of church fundraising events like gala dinner events or bake sales. But regardless of the types of church fundraising chosen, there are a few easy principles that must be followed.

In fundraising, the first principle is that successful fundraising requires careful thought and planning. The second is that no organization should rely so much on a single funding source that the group would not be able to function without it. All types of church fundraising preparation needs to be guided by this second principle because a church that is totally dependent on a large donation from one individual is very vulnerable.

The organizations that make the effort to use diverse types of church fundraising such that the loss of any one source of contributions would not have a significant impact is clearly in a strong position. For example in 1869, the Metropolitan Museum of Art turned solely to the wealth citizens of New York City for contributions. More than a century later, it still gets support from wealthy citizens but it also receives aid from local, state, and federal governments, and from corporations and foundations as well. Sure this is an art museum and not a church but don't lose sight of the bigger lesson here in terms of diversifying the source of donations and not being overly reliable on any single source of funds.

Today, classification of financial support is critical and no organization can generally expect to fund its work repeatedly from any single source. Even if the organization is successful in getting one huge contribution, it cannot and should not be realistically expected that the contribution will be renewed every year, and the future of the organization is far from secure. Furthermore, funding sources prefer seeing that a nonprofit organization's funding is indeed well-diversified because this shows a consensus that the mission is important and worth supporting.

By becoming acquainted with all types of church fundraising supporters, fundraisers can select those most appropriate to their own organization. Remember, it is not very likely that all your sources will show interest in your campaign, and so, with limited fundraising resources, you will need to choose the battles you are most likely to win.

All philanthropy can be traced back to individuals rather than to governments, businesses, or foundations. The founding philanthropists of the United States were people such as Benjamin Franklin whose vision and generosity led to the creation of several of Philadelphia's earliest nonprofit institutions.

During the Middle Ages, Europe's churches were built not only through the largesses of kings, queens, and other nobility but also through the giving of trades people and artisans. Many members of merchant and guild associations, including bakers, carpenters, weavers, shoemakers, butchers, masons, fishmongers, furriers, and other contributed to the building of the famed cathedral in Chartres, France; their funding underwrote the creation of many of its breathtaking stained glass windows. Church fundraising goes way back in time, as you can see.

This article was written by Todd Nelson, Marketing Director for Capital Merchant Solutions, Inc (HolyProcessing.com). CMS has been in the merchant account business for nearly 10 years, and offers free merchant accounts to both online and retail businesses. CMS also offers a unique program called "Refer a Congregation", which allows Churches and their members to earn money. This article may be republished as long as absolutely no changes are made, and the resource box is included. Copyright 2007 - Capital merchant Solutions, Inc. - All rights reserved.