New York, NY
September 2007 --
Gone are the chicken dinners and fish fries. And gone
are the car washes as the main vehicles of
fundraising for churches and church groups.
Churches are going to the internet to raise money by
purchasing a low cost and effective franchise in the
online travel business. "It only makes sense" says
J.E. White of The Minority Home Based Business
Report, which is a website that provides free
information to minority entrepreneurs. "Churches have
the loyalty of their members as instant customers
because the church members would rather book
online travel with their church rather than Expedia or
Priceline especially since the church fares are
competitive with the more popular online travel sites."
Additionally, now churches and church groups can
plan church retreats, cruises and marriage
encounters and receive the commissions that the
travel agent or salesperson would normally receive in
addition to the fees that the church would normally
charge for the particular activity.
Pastor Michael Claiborne of the Christian Love
Tabernacle, PMC Ministries in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania is a man of the cloth and a
businessman that sees the potential of the online
travel business and is taking positive advantage of it.
He sees the online travel business as a means of
church income and an "opportunity for the church to
start a business without a lot of overhead and start-up
costs." "Pastor Mike" as he affectionately called by his
flock and people that know him calls the online travel
business "a fund raiser that never stops raising" He
says "no one travels as much as church folks so the
members can book their travel online with the church.
It is like an offering you don't have to ask for." He says
that "churches could benefit like never before" and "if
you want to travel why not travel with the truth". More
church leaders are seeing the vision of Pastor Mike
and are venturing into the online travel business as an
opportunity for perpetual and low pressure fundraising
for the church.
Church fund raising may be one of the most
challenging types of fundraising events a person will
ever try to carry out successfully. It is challenging
because you are often dealing with people who have
little or no experience at raising money in any type of
setting. Most churches typically turn to the standard
church fund raising events, but this is no time to be
like everyone else. The percentage of income that
Christians give has been declining for 30+ years.
Current percentages are 1 ½ to 3 ½ percent. Barna
Research recently reported that although 17% of
Christians say they "tithe" - but only 3% actually give
10% or more of their income to the church. Therefore
the online travel is a great way for the church to
compensate for declining donations.
For more information on the opportunity of the online
travel business go to
http://www.rootsrecoveredtravel.com/ or visit The
Minority Home Based Business Report at
http://www.theminorityhomebasedbusinessreport.com
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