The $99 Plan

Increase giving at your parish by 20%

Thom Hiatt offers the following new tithing concept, based on a specific zip code in San Diego County… with data from a specific Catholic parish:

• 2000 registered families (not all of them attending)
• financially sound with cash in the bank
• average household income is $65,000 per government census data in the zip code
• 20% of registered families make a weekly gift

A parish in your area will have different characteristics and might want to consider massaging some of the following techniques to better fit its own demographics and statistics.

Each week at this church:

• 391 households give a total of $16,137, based on the 3rd week of October 2013
• 80% of weekly gifts are less than $50
• 60% are less than $25
• An extremely common gift is $20
• The average gift is about $40

What if there was an EASY way to increase that $40 gift up to $50… representing a 25% increase in giving… from the majority of households?

There is an easy way… The $99 Plan.

After prayerfully considering their individual financial situation, each family choose one of three options:

1. $99 per week
2. $99 every other week
3. $99 per month

(People love 3 of anything. Three is easy. A-B-C. 1-2-3. Good-Better-Best. Bronze-Silver-Gold. Small-Medium-Large. And, yes, 99 is 3 x 33.)

Their credit or debit card is automatically charged every one, two or four weeks as requested. And the benefits are amazing:

• The smallest option of $99 per month would be attractive to the 62% of people who are giving less than $25 per week. It’s only a tiny bit more than they are already giving. If those 62% are paying an average of $20 per week right now, the $99/mo option would represent a 20% increase from those families. These same folks investing $99/mo instead of their current $80/mo would represent an increase to the church of $55,276 per year… after year… after year… after year.
• I estimate that about 100 families are currently giving just a bit less than $50 per week. These 100 families could easily choose the middle option of $99 every two weeks, and the parish collection from them would go up 10-15%.
• This middle option of $99 every other week is the target plan the parish would seek for MOST families… not only for the folks who are currently giving a bit less than $50 per week, but ALSO for the folks who are giving in the smallest bracket. Ultimately, the goal would be to get some of them to jump from $99/mo up to $99/every-other-week…. which would represent a massive increase in collections.
• The higher option of $99/week is something that about 50-75 families would go for. It’s very close to the amount many of them are already giving, and it would also represent a small but beneficial increase for some of them.
• The folks who are currently giving $150-500 per week (there are a dozen of them) I would recommend calling them on the phone, and getting them on board to stay where they are and not “drop down” to any of the three new options. Some of them may even want to give $999/mo.

You see, in this research area, the average Household Income is only about $65,000… based on 2010 census data. Clearly, these families are not giving 10% which would be $542/mo. And they won’t ever give 10%. So praying for 10% or 9% or 8% or 7% is a lot of fun, but the reality is that 2/3 of donors are giving closer to 1.5%.  ($20 per week X 52 weeks = $1040… then divided by $65,000 equals 1.6%).

This is not about ignoring the Bible. It is about being realistic in an environment where 80% of people give 0%. And most that do give, aren’t anywhere near 10%.

If we can get some folks from 0% to 1% and the other folks from 1% to 2% — we’re talking about big growth — like 200% growth. What’s even better is that when you invest and get involved, your heart is more into your faith, your faith grows, you begin to make a positive impact on others… perhaps even bringing new people into your faith.

And that’s priceless.

Signing up will be very easy online or in the office. Plus each family receives 3 gifts (yep, there’s that 3 again):

1. People who sign up will receive a set of “$99 Plan” slips that are the same size as a paper check. They are gorgeous, double-sided, full-color slips that the family (and kids) sign and feel good putting into the basket at Mass. On the back, it  shows the three options and encourages all parishioners to sign up, or consider jumping up to the next level at some point… Three different versions of slips show what donations are generally used for (lights, maintenance, etc) and why it’s necessary.
2. The head of household who signs up in the office gets a cool T-Shirt that says, “I’m part of the Plan.” (See below).
3. As a bonus… by participating in the $99 Plan at ANY level (weekly, two weeks, or monthly) the family gets free admission to select popular annual events at the church, i.e. Chili Fest, Food Fair, etc. (These events, by the way, should never be promoted as parish “fund raisers” as they too often make a big deal out of earning $2000, which in reality is a drop in the bucket for an annual parish budget. Instead, allow participating parishioners to attend for free, as they are members of the family. Profits simply go in the bank and are not published.)

With The $99 Plan, there are no tiers, and nobody knows which option another person or family is on. We’re all together in the whole Plan…. just at our own private level.

It’s not a capital campaign… yet the big increases provide for capital needs over time. Theoretically, a parish that brings in more than it needs, and is a good steward with those funds, has plenty of funds on hand to purchase and build what it needs in the future, without ever having to conduct a single capital campaign (or bake sale).

We all know that cash and paper checks are declining in use and popularity. We all know that electronic-giving is consistent whether I’m in town, sick, or on vacation. And we know that many parishes have really never marketed electronic-giving other than sideline mentions. It’s a direction parish leadership should be taking in a much bigger way, with a smile on our collective face.

The $99 Plan:

1. is easier for everybody
2. can develop some big financial increases for parishes
3. uses a very marketable $99 number that never goes out of style

Do consider using “The Plan” for your church, and call Faith in Marketing at (858) 877-3733 for supporting materials including strategy, execution, graphic design, printing, t-shirts, video production and more.

Peace be with you,

Thom Hiatt