hurrican_matthewBefore I leave Charleston County, SC I wanted to write about what we should learn from Hurricane Matthew.  It’s Wednesday and at 3 PM today the governor of South Carolina ordered my country to be evacuated.  It takes hours to evacuate areas like mine so when a hurricane approaches emergency plans are implemented.  From Florida all the way up the east coast our attention is on Hurricane Matthew.  When and where will it hit the U.S.?  How much damage will it do?  Here in South Carolina our governor Nikki Haley is not taking any chances.  She has ordered coastal evacuations days ahead of time.

My wife and I will leave soon for our daughter’s house far from the coast.  We will join thousands and potentially millions of east coasters picking up and leaving.  We will not probably be back until Monday.  We will miss the offering at our church.  Oh, wait, there won’t be any services.  So I won’t miss the offering.  We gave last week anyway.  However the offering will be missed by all the churches who will either have services cancelled or see serious declines in attendance.

Plan for the unexpected.  Matthew has certainly ruined my weekend.  We were supposed to have my daughter’s three kids here for the weekend for one last romp on the beach.  Now we have to go to them.  We are working on our Plan B.  In life the unexpected is the norm not an exception.  So, here is my question, do you have a plan for when weather impacts your services?

Many churches have a cancellation policy for inclement weather.  Few however have a plan to make up for a lost offering due to weather.  This morning I wrote a plan for my members.  Do you have a plan?

Prepare ahead of time.  My state has plans in place and they are prepared.  At a press conference this morning our governor alerted citizens to all that was available.  They did not just wait until a hurricane was upon them.  If you wait until a crisis is upon you you will not manage that crisis effectively.

So, now is the time to get ready for the unexpected happening to you.  So, before I leave Dodge I wanted to share with you…

Key Steps for Bad Weather Week Ends – Follow these steps to ensure offering success despite bad weather.

  1. Develop a plan of action for bad weather ahead of time.  The first step is to simply think through a strategy ahead of time.
  2. Set up online giving through your churches web site.  Americans are used to online commerce and use it regularly.  Need online giving?  Check out, Charis Giving Solutions
  3. Update your data base to include email addresses and cell phone numbers.  Since weather happens so fast email and even text messaging are the best way to contact donors at the last minute.
  4. Write your appeal letter ahead of time and have it ready at a moment’s notice.  I recommend that the letter be written and printed and sitting on the shelf ready to mail.
  5. Order offering envelopes with a pre-printed postage paid stamp NOW.  Utilizing envelopes like this means that you only pay postage if it is mailed back to you.
  6. Watch the weather forecast for the weekend.  While we like to joke about the weather man being inaccurate more often than not they hit it right on the head.  Our current technology gives you a fair warning of impending bad weather.  So, if the forecast is for snow, ice or in my case a hurricane over the weekend I can get my appeal letter in the mail before bad weather.
  7. When bad weather comes execute your plan! Someone on staff makes the call about whether you will be open when bad weather strikes.  Who will make the call about the makeup offering strategy?

PrintBy following these simple steps you can avoid a total loss of dollars!  Get your plan in place now!  By the way I have a great tool to help you called, Snowed Out  The tools I give there will work for any weather related weekend.  Get ready now for the unexpected.

Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach