Translate growing attendance at your church into greater impact in your community by committing to give a specific amount of money per church attendee to nonprofit organizations.
CedarCreek Church in Perrysburg, Ohio, a 2012 Outreach 100 church (No. 59 Largest) started the “$1 for 1” program, giving away $1 for every person who attends a service at one of the church’s campuses. CedarCreek’s leadership team chooses which charities benefit from the giveaway. Recipients will include a combination of local, regional and international nonprofit organizations.
The inaugural donations were based on attendance over Easter weekend 2012, when 18,415 people attended services at one of CedarCreek’s four campuses. Recipients of the first donations—$4,603.75 each—were: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio, Cherry Street Mission Ministries, Vision Ministries and The Arms Forces, an Ohio group that assists military veterans.
CedarCreek’s “$1 for 1” initiative helped a life-changing, life-saving program of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio, says Barbie Harrison, the organization’s president and CEO.
Harrison says a mother of five children who was addicted to drugs had plans to kill her children because she didn’t want to be a mom anymore. As a last resort, she turned to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio, which matched her oldest daughter with a member of CedarCreek Church. The love and support the daughter received filtered back to the mom, who has turned her life around.
Stories like that show the value of such agencies. But matching an adult and a child through that program costs $1,000, including volunteer recruitment, background and reference checks, and other necessary expenses. CedarCreek’s donation helped pay those costs.
In 2013, the church plans to make “$1 for 1” donations every week. “With average attendance between 8,000 and 10,000, that means we could donate between $400,000 and $520,000 in 2013,” CedarCreek Senior Pastor Lee Powell says.
The impact of those donations is significant, Harrison says.
“The ‘$1 for 1’ program conducted by CedarCreek Church was an outstanding effort,” Harrison says. “Working together, we can change the world.”
