Home Visits by Church Officials to Solicit Contributions; Is this unusual?

[Anonymous]

I recently received an email informing me that I and all parishioners would need to schedule a visit from a church official to my home to solicit funds for capital investment at my church. This is a fairly large and well heeled Episcopal church. I have been a member for over 10 years now, had my kids baptized there, and go there about once a month. I always give what I can when the tray is passed down. I can't help feeling that this is almost like an audit or an assessment of where I live and intense pressure to give while a person is inside my home. Like letting Jehovah's witnesses into your living room. Am I being unreasonable, or is this a common practice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently received an email informing me that I and all parishioners would need to schedule a visit from a church official to my home to solicit funds for capital investment at my church. This is a fairly large and well heeled Episcopal church. I have been a member for over 10 years now, had my kids baptized there, and go there about once a month. I always give what I can when the tray is passed down. I can't help feeling that this is almost like an audit or an assessment of where I live and intense pressure to give while a person is inside my home. Like letting Jehovah's witnesses into your living room. Am I being unreasonable, or is this a common practice?

I'm not Episcopalian, but it's definitely not normal for the Baptist/nondenominational churches I have attended

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not Episcopalian, but it's definitely not normal for the Baptist/nondenominational churches I have attended

PP here. That should read "...attended as a member." I have moved around a little and that never happened in any if my "church homes."

[Anonymous]

Is this St Mary's in Arlington? I was interested in joining, and almost immediately the shake down started.

[Anonymous]

I think it's actually fairly common in Protestant churches, although usually a little more veiled than this outreach. In the Presbyterian church that I grew up in, we had a "visit" once a year from someone on a committee of some sort, in case we had any "questions" about our gift to the church.

No need to be offended, OP. Just pass on it if you don't want to do it, or use it an an opportunity to get to know someone at your church that you may not regularly come in contact with. Yes, they will probably ask you about a contribution, but you certainly don't have to make a commitment then and there. Thank then for coming and tell them you'll think about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently received an email informing me that I and all parishioners would need to schedule a visit from a church official to my home to solicit funds for capital investment at my church. This is a fairly large and well heeled Episcopal church. I have been a member for over 10 years now, had my kids baptized there, and go there about once a month. I always give what I can when the tray is passed down. I can't help feeling that this is almost like an audit or an assessment of where I live and intense pressure to give while a person is inside my home. Like letting Jehovah's witnesses into your living room. Am I being unreasonable, or is this a common practice?

OUr UU congregtion did this this year. Although, everyone has the option to refuse the visit.

[Anonymous]

This sort of home visit is becoming more common in Episcopal churches, and it's absolutely NOT about checking out your house to look for signs you can give more. Here are some reasons I know off the top of my head:

* educating you about the church's finances. I hope that the church already provides a printed summary of its budget, but this is your chance to ask questions. It's also a chance for a church representative to explain why it's such a help to the church for you to actually pledge instead of just putting $ in the plate when you're there. If you formally pledge the amount you'll give in a year, it makes a big difference in the church's ability to plan. (If the church is looking to take out a loan, the# of pledge units can also help it negotiate with the bank.)
* finding out how you're doing. It's a chance for someone in leadership to learn if there are places where the church can help you. Maybe you'd attend more often if the babysitting were better. Maybe you worry about how your non-religious spouse or unbaptized children are seen by the church leadership. (My parish started an interfaith couples group in response to such a need.) If you have talents that the church might need, this is also a chance for you to learn more about volunteer opportunities.

Basically, it's about integrating you into the church community more fully. And you can always choose to say no. The church has bills it needs to pay, but its job is to spread Christ's love, including to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this St Mary's in Arlington? I was interested in joining, and almost immediately the shake down started.

I had the same experience at St. Mary's. Before any outreach at all, we got a pledge card. It was a huge turnoff. We never went again.

[Anonymous]

Our church does this, although the visit is optional, and the discussion does include asking about things that church does well/could improve in as PP stated above. You also mentioned "capital investment" as a reason for the visit. If this is about raising funds for a large project at the church (addition or renovations of the building?), those fundraising efforts are usually separate from day-to-day fundraising needs. Perhaps the church would like to have the opportunity to discuss the new project and/or get input from members as well as raising money for it. An individual meeting gives both sides more opportunities to ask and answer questions than a large group meeting does. I don't think they are visiting your home to see how much money you have, rather that it is probably more convenient for most parishioners to have someone come to them than to make the effort to meet somewhere else. If you would rather meet at another location, I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem.

[Anonymous]

I did this for my church. I was kind of shocked that we were trained by professional fundraisers to solicit funding. I contacted a list of parishioners and I think we only made home visits to regular donors that we knew ad money. You should be flattered you must be rich.

[Anonymous]

You could have told them that you preferred scheduling your meeting at the church. Why are you scared of your church officials? Doesn't sound like a good fit church. My DC Episcopal church had a fundraising professional who also coached the officials to do home visits. Many people scheduled their visits at the church.

[Anonymous]

I know of two DC area Episcopal churches that have done this in the past few years. (One might be yours, if I'm guessing correctly.) It is usually for a capital campaign rather than for the regular annual stewardship drive. I don't think it's about assessing your ability to give. I think they don't ask for "answers" during the visit. I do think that they want you to have questions and comments ready for them, since that is the point of their paying an individual visit. Who is making the visits? If anyone is going to feel uncomfortable or put on the spot, I'd expect it to be the visitors.

[Anonymous]

No Lutheran churches I know of do this, so it's not all Protestant churches.

[Anonymous]

Our Episcopal church in another city did home visits at stewardship time. It was basically for us ask questions, and then they gave us our stewardship packets for us to make our decisions in private. No pressure.

Our DC-area Episcopal church doesn't do home visits.

[Anonymous]

Find another church. Our Episcopal church simply hijacks a few sermons at pledge season. No hard sell directed at individuals, just a general toss out to the congregation to increase your annual giving. The closest thing they have to making individuals stand out is Pledge Sunday where they invite the congregation to come to the altar and drop off their annual pledge card. Plenty of people stay in their seats.