Is Charity Efficiency Important in Christian Fundraising?
Helping fundraisers in Christian organisations to demonstrate excellent charity value for money is part of my work. It often involves discussions with donors from generous Christian organisations, and I have noticed that the two-way link between fundraising and efficiency is of increasing importance. This goes beyond demonstrating ‘charity value for money’ in terms of only using impact stories.
What does the Bible say about efficiency?
Shortly after starting Solution Factors, I dug into the Bible’s instructions on running a business and managing money. In short, the Bible tells us to plan, invest, work hard, be completely honest and give generously. Part of this has involved ensuring that I’m working as efficiently as possible, and many Christian donors share this ethos.
There are plenty of verses about efficiency in the Bible. For example, John 15 verse 2 (NIV) says:
“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
Ecclesiastes 10, verse 10 (NIV) also talks about having suitable skills and tools to work efficiently:
“If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.”
Is efficiency important in Christian fundraising?
In writing this, I’m hoping to affirm the thoughts of Christian charity leaders who closely monitor cash flow and are keen to increase fundraising and organisational efficiency, because this topic is becoming increasingly important.
The Charity Commission emphasises the importance of transparency, which in turn helps build trust. This is imperative when fundraisers in Christian organisations are applying for substantial amounts of unrestricted funding.
Should we include charity efficiency in some of our fundraising messaging?
Yes, we should. Based on meetings with guardians of Christian charity trust funds, I have found that there is an element of fundraising messaging that many Christian charities miss, yet donors are keen to hear.
Why is this important to fundraising?
If you’ve made it onto a potential donor’s taste-based shortlist of worthy charities, what else do you need to secure a donation?
Major donors frequently want to know how their funds will be used, how financially sustainable your charity is, and what you’re doing to increase its sustainability.
This has been backed up by secular charity market research that cites some of the UK’s most eminent trusts warming to providing unrestricted funds, rather than restricted, if they have the confidence that it will be spent wisely. They don’t want to hinder a charity if it needs to react to an emergency and they want to avoid unnecessary administrative overheads.
Although there’s no single miraculous solution that will work for all, each organisation has the opportunity to improve and then showcase its efficiency improvements to potential funders.
Is there any evidence to prove that charity efficiency is important in Christian fundraising?
There have been excellent reports on this topic, based on secular charities, trusts and individual private donors.
IVAR (Institute for Voluntary Action Research) has published some excellent reports over the years; its research on trusts and restricted vs unrestricted funds are always useful.
CGAP (research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy) published a paper called ‘How donors choose charities’, by Beth Breeze. It contained extracts from market research confirming that a lack of information could limit giving. Some donors admitted to carrying out in-depth due diligence by reading accounts and annual reports.
Stewardship’s Generosity Reports (2024 and 2025) included pointers for Christian charities.
For many years there was little information available about the outlook of individuals who donated to Christian charities: as a result, charity leaders and fundraisers understandably had to make some assumptions. Stewardship’s Generosity Reports are helping to close the gap between assumptions and facts. The Generosity Report 2024 discussed a substantial survey about Christian giving in the UK. It reported on a broad range of factors; it didn’t concentrate on how Christian charity efficiency impacts giving. However, it did say that, of the donors surveyed, 15% of Christian donors cited lack of confidence that the donated money would be spent well, and 16% felt that donation recipients sometimes take people’s generosity for granted. The 2025 report was also incredibly useful, and touched on the importance of transparency.
