Should Your Church Raise Money Through Crowdfunding Sites?

Brady Josephson spends a lot of time thinking about fundraising. A self-described “charity nerd” who teaches fundraising at North Park University in Chicago, he is managing director of NextAfter Institute, where he provides training to help organizations raise more money online.

ChurchLawAndTax.com talked to Josephson about how crowdfunding can work for churches.

What are some of the pros and cons of crowdfunding?

First off, let’s define crowdfunding. It’s really just raising money in smaller amounts from a variety of donors using an online tool. The biggest difference with crowdfunding is that it is often done on an online platform like GoFundMe.com, CrowdRise.com, or FundRazr.com. This style of fundraising often has a funding goal with a thermometer and a timeline or countdown. These tools often try to tap into the social networks with easy-to-share functionality.

One ...