Top 5 Church Donor Metrics to Pay Attention To
Giving isn’t just something practical that churches need to survive - it’s actually discipleship. Church tithes and offerings can be a remarkably helpful indicator of the overall spiritual health of a church.
And here’s a hint: It’s not about how much money has been given to the church.
You can meet your budget and still have a dying church.
Church giving is one of the most measurable and concrete datapoints of your ministry - primarily owing to the fact that in the United States, a 501(c)(3) is required to carefully track every donation and provide giving statements to the donors every year. Because of this, even a small church (as long as they’re compliant with the law) has a lot of data on their tithes and offerings.
You may not realize it, but within that giving data is significantly more information than simply “how much money do we have?” In fact, the total number-of-dollars-given is only the tip of the iceberg and frankly, tells you almost nothing about church health on its own.
If you have a church of 200 people and 199 of them give absolutely nothing, but a single business man writes million dollar checks to the church, that is not a healthy church (even though its bills are being paid). Any pastor knows this, which means we intrinsically know that tithes and offerings can tell us not just how much money the church has been given, but the spiritual health of the congregation, too. There is something there, in the giving metrics, if we only knew the right questions to ask the data. There is something there that allows leaders to take the spiritual temperature of the congregation and see God at work in individual hearts.
We just need to measure (and regularly pay attention to) the right giving metrics.
Today, I want to share with you the top 5 giving metrics every church should be paying attention to - metrics that I think give a much clearer picture of the current condition of the church and the growth trajectory it’s on. These are metrics that can keep donor’s individual gifts unknown to leaders (very important; see Matthew 6:3-4 or James 2:5-6). Yet each of these metrics tells a story far more valuable than simply “how much has been given?”
Average Donor Age
Average Donor Age
What you can learn: Does our church have multi-generational leaders? Do younger people see the value in giving to their church? As our older congregants die, will our church survive?
Measuring the average donor's age year-to-year is like having a window into the future of your church. It's not just about who is giving now, but who will be sustaining your church in the years to come.
Our chart for tracking average donor ages. Experts told us to expect the average donor age to go up during the pandemic - they were right!
For instance, imagine a church where the average donor's age has been steadily increasing over the past decade. This trend might suggest that while your older congregation members are actively contributing, younger members might not be as engaged in giving. It's a subtle yet powerful signal that the church may need to revitalize its connection with younger demographics. This could involve tailoring ministries or communication strategies to resonate more with younger audiences, ensuring that the church remains a vibrant, multi-generational community.
Conversely, if you notice a gradual decrease in the average age of your donors (or even a steady age), it likely indicates that your efforts to engage with younger members are bearing fruit. This shift can bring a different kind of vitality and perspective to your church, often accompanied by new ideas and approaches to ministry and community outreach.
-
Here’s a question you might be asking: What’s the nationwide average age of a church donor? For protestant churches, the most recent data tells us 59 years old is the average age of a church donor. That comes from data collected by Lifeway Research and Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (August 3, 2021). This can give you an additional benchmark to compare your church to.
-
Computing the average donor age is likely not straightforward for your church (it wasn’t for ours).
First, you’ll need to collect the birthdates (with year) of your donors. If you use a Church Management System (ChMS), this is going to be the best way to collect that information on the profiles of your church members, at the very least. You could require birthdate when someone gives online for the first time, as well.
Then you’ll need an authorized finance person to access all the donors from a given year and export their age at the end of the year (we built an excel formula that calculates each donor’s age on December 31 of the year they gave).
Then simply find the “mean,” the average, of all those ages.
Finally, put that single age number in a chart so you can compare year-to-year over a long period of time.
Just like our other metrics here, tracking donor age isn't just about numbers; it's about understanding the dynamic life cycle of your congregation. It tells a story of who is invested in the church's present and offers insights into who will carry its legacy into the future. By monitoring these changes, you can strategically plan for a healthy, balanced congregation that spans all ages.
2. Percentage of Church Members who Give
Percentage of Church Members who Give
What you can learn: Are our most committed people seeing the value in financially supporting the church? Does everyone “have skin in the game” or is it just a select few?
A pie chart we use on our monthly metrics report.
Measuring the percentage of church members who give is like taking the pulse of your congregation's commitment and engagement. Maybe you don’t have formal “members” but the question is largely the same: Do the people who are most committed to our church, our “core” people, view giving to our church worth their money? And if not, why?
At Arrowhead Church, we have a formal membership process and we actually take church membership very seriously. Potential members go through a four week class (called Essentials), they meet with an elder, and if after some prayer they want to join, they sign a covenant. We call our members “partners” to convey that we are each committed to each other and to the gospel. So as a part of that, we believe that giving is a part of belonging to a church, a tangible expression of being invested in its mission and community. While we never enforce or shame anyone into giving, it's an expectation of our partners that we openly discuss.
So every month, we take a simple measurement: What percentage of our partner households gave during that month?
Imagine a scenario where only a small fraction of your members are giving. This could be a signal that many are not fully engaged or might not understand the importance of financial stewardship in the church’s mission. It's a prompt for church leaders to revisit how they communicate about giving and its role in spiritual life and church membership. Going back to our example at the beginning of this post, this is a completely separate question than how many dollars have been given. If only one member is funding the entire church, it’s not healthy.
Conversely, if a large percentage of your partners are contributing, it’s an encouraging sign of a healthy, committed community. Whether a church member gives $5 or $5,000 in a month, any contribution indicates that financially supporting their church is on their radar. This doesn’t just reflect financial health but also indicates a strong connection between the members and the church's vision. It shows that the message of shared responsibility and commitment to the church's mission is resonating well.
The timeline you measure is a different question, too, and whether you measure weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, each has pros and cons. At Arrowhead, we take this measurement monthly. For us, giving to your church should be one of those spiritual rhythms you do regularly. “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”
-
Answers are going to vary here, especially depending on what timeline you’re evaluating (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually). Since at Arrowhead, we measure this monthly, “healthy” for us is 50% of our partner households giving in a month.
-
You’ll need an authorized financial person to run a report based on two rules: Individuals/households who are members AND who gave during a specific period. Once they do, they can divide that number by the total number of members in the church and it’ll give you a decimal, which you convert into a percentage.
Example: The church administrator runs a report on their ChMS for the number of individual who are members AND who also gave during November, 2024. Then they told the ChMS to only display heads of households so every home is represented by 1 result. The report showed 126 people. The administrator divided this number by the total number of member households, which is 345. That gives 0.365 or 36.5% of households who gave in November, 2024.
Ultimately, this metric isn’t just about tracking dollars; it’s about understanding the depth of your congregation's commitment and finding ways to nurture a culture of shared responsibility and spiritual growth within your church community.
3. Giving Method Breakdown
Giving Method Breakdown
What you can learn: How comfortable are our people with technology? Is giving accessible to everyone?
A pie chart we use on our monthly metrics report.
Measuring the Giving Method Breakdown at a church like Arrowhead, where members can give in person or online (via app, website, or texting through Planning Center Online), is akin to mapping the congregation's digital footprint and preferences. This metric reveals much about how comfortable and engaged your members are with technology in general.
Let's say you notice a trend where online giving, particularly through the app, is steadily increasing. This shift could indicate a congregation that's becoming more tech-savvy and comfortable with digital platforms. It may also suggest that members value the convenience of giving via mobile devices. This insight can guide you to invest more in digital tools and communication strategies that meet your congregation where they are.
On the other hand, let’s say you’ve spent two years pushing online giving options, but a significant portion of your church still prefers in-person giving (let’s say more than 80%), it might indicate a hesitancy or discomfort with technology. Maybe not a good idea to spend a lot of resources on the church podcast or video Bible study. It also could indicate that your online giving methods are difficult to setup or use.
At Arrowhead Church, we have hundreds of people younger than 30 years old who rarely or never write a check. If our online giving were difficult to use, almost none of those younger people would participate in tithing. So your giving method breakdown will also reveal which demographics are tithing and if you’re missing a significant segment of your people.
I would consider our church congregation’s to have an average comfort with technology. Likewise, with about six years of really easy digital giving options, we see about 50% in digital and 50% in physical gifts during the course of a year.
Understanding these patterns helps tailor your approach to stewardship. It enables you to cater to different preferences, ensuring that everyone finds a giving method that works for them. It's not just about making giving easier; it's about understanding your congregation's journey with technology and meeting them along the way. This balance of digital and traditional methods ensures that everyone, regardless of their comfort with technology, feels included and able to contribute.
4. Giving vs. Attendance Growth
Giving vs. Attendance Growth
What you can learn: Is our church fulfilling its mission?
One of the ways we compare the year-over-year growth for our Sunday morning adult attendance and giving. This is really noticeable between May - December. As attendance grows over the previous year, so does giving.
In 2019, I remember church consultant Matt Svoboda saying a really simple statement to me: “People give toward success.” In other words, people want to give when it seems like the organization is succeeding at its mission. If your church is booming and people are getting saved left and right, people are going to want to give to that. If your church is barely hanging on and the people are exhausted and they haven’t had a consistent pastor for four years, we would expect weekly giving to be poor.
Tracking the correlation between Giving and Sunday Attendance Growth is crucial for understanding the financial implications of your church's growth dynamics. If your church has seen an enormous and consistent attendance growth, you might be more incline to take larger financial risks (such as a larger facility or additional staff). If your church is not growing in attendance, taking large financial risks (the “build it and they will come” method) is likely unwise.
When analyzing this metric, it’s important to remember that while a shrinking church will immediately see giving decrease, there's often a lag between an increase in attendance and a corresponding rise in giving. Typically, this lag can range from a few months to a year, depending on various factors like the level of new members' engagement and their journey towards financial stewardship.
Consider a scenario where Sunday service attendance at Arrowhead Church has been climbing steadily over a year. While this is a positive sign of growth, we wouldn’t expect to immediately see a proportional increase in weekly giving. This delay can be attributed to new attendees taking time to settle into the church community and understand its values, including the practice of giving.
However, if this trend of increased attendance without a corresponding rise in giving persists beyond the average lag time, it might be indicative of a deeper issue, such as ineffective communication about the importance and practice of giving in the church. Maybe your church worship structure is actually facilitating more attendees (like a super exciting, energizing college student experience), but not a deeper spiritual engagement. Maybe your church is growing, but not fulfilling its mission.
This situation calls for a review of how giving is presented by the leadership, ensuring the message is clear, compelling, and in line with the church's values. It might also call for a review about what the church is focusing on and how it’s challenging (or not challenging) new congregants. Is the church fostering a consumeristic view of following Jesus? That’s a big question!
In essence, monitoring this metric helps in identifying not just the quantitative growth of the church, but also the qualitative aspects of congregational engagement. It provides valuable insights for church leaders to adapt their strategies in teaching, discipling, and stewardship- aligning them with the evolving dynamics of their growing congregation.
5. Recurring Giving
Recurring Giving
What you can learn: How many people are so committed to this church, that they give regularly or even automatically? Are congregants bought into our building campaign vision?
Does a donor give more than once? If they give online, have they setup an automatic gift?
A pie chart we use on our monthly metrics report. This is just one kind of recurring metric you can measure.
Tracking Recurring Giving, which includes both the frequency of individual gifts throughout the year and the percentage of congregants who set up automatic, regular donations, is a vital metric for understanding the stability and predictability of church finances. This metric can be especially insightful for church leaders in planning and budgeting.
Recurring donors, those who commit to giving regularly, often provide a more reliable and consistent stream of income compared to one-time or sporadic givers. This consistency is crucial for churches in managing ongoing expenses and planning for future projects or initiatives. For example, a high percentage of recurring givers can indicate a strong level of commitment and financial stability within the congregation, allowing church leaders to make more confident decisions regarding long-term investments or expansions.
I remember my economics professor would always say, “people vote with their dollars.” In other words, people can say whatever beliefs they want to, but how they spend their money reveals what their actual beliefs and values are. If I champion environmental values in conversation and on social media, but I buy the biggest, most inefficient luxury SUV, what are my true values?
That reasoning extends to where we donate our money, as well. As a church, people may seem all for a new idea or initiative, but if no one gives toward it, are they really bought in?
Consider a building campaign, which will often include pledges. A pledge is useful data because it is essentially a commitment to future recurring giving. If your church is embarking on a massive building campaign, and the pledges coming in are extremely minimal, that might be a signal that your congregation is not with you. There may be some major hesitancies or concerns about the new initiative. Often as a leader, we can be siloed from people’s actual thoughts and beliefs about our organization and the vision for it. Recurring giving, especially when tied to a specific project or campaign, can help reveal our congregations’ priorities.
In summary, recurring giving metrics not only offer insights into the financial health of a church but also reflect the congregation’s engagement and commitment to the church’s mission. This information is invaluable for church leaders in both short-term operational decisions and long-term strategic planning.
Wrap-Up
Tracking the right giving metrics offers more than just financial insight—it illuminates the spiritual health and engagement of your congregation. By focusing on these 5 key metrics, church leaders can gain a deeper understanding of their community's commitment and tailor their stewardship and outreach strategies accordingly. This approach ensures a thriving, spiritually vibrant church that goes beyond just meeting budgetary needs.
I share how our church smoothly transitioned giving platforms in 2023, retained our donors, and saved over $10,000. Here’s our strategy!