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The are several types of church fundraising ranging from tithing contributed during religious services to phone solicitations, direct mail campaigns, and specific types of church fundraising events like gala dinner events or bake sales. But regardless of the types of church fundraising chosen, there are a few simple principles that must be examined.

The first principle is that successful fundraising takes careful forethought and planning. The second is that no organization should rely so much on a single funding source that the group would not be able to operate without it. All types of church fundraising planning needs to be guided by this second principle because a church that is totally dependent on a large donation from one individual is very vulnerable.

The churches that put forth the effort to use diverse types of church fundraising such that the loss of any one source of contributions would not have a large impact is clearly in a strong position. For example in 1869, the Metropolitan Museum of Art turned solely to the prosperous people of New York City for contributions. More than a century later, it still gets donations from prosperous citizens but it also receives contributions from local, state, and federal governments, and from corporations and foundations as well. Sure this is an art museum and not a church but don't lose sight of the bigger picture here in terms of diversifying the source of donations and not being overly dependent on any single source of contributions.

Today, diversification of financial support is critical and no organization can generally expect to finance its work repeatedly from any single source. Even if the organization succeeds in getting one huge donation, it cannot and should not be realistically expected that the donation will be renewed every year, and the future of the organization is far from safe. Furthermore, funding sources prefer seeing that a nonprofit organization's funding is indeed well-diversified because this demonstrates a consensus that the mission is important and worth supporting.

By becoming associated with all types of church fundraising supporters, fundraisers can select those most appropriate to their own organization. Remember, it is highly unlikely that every supporter will show interest in your campaign, and so, with limited fundraising resources, you will need to choose the battles you are most likely to win.

Philanthropy can be traced back to individuals rather than to governments, businesses, or foundations. The United States' founding philanthropists were people such as Benjamin Franklin whose generosity and vision led to the creation of several of Philadelphia's earliest nonprofit institutions.

During the Middle Ages, Europe's cathedrals were built not only through the largesses of queens, kings, and other nobility but also through the giving of artisans and trade people. Many members of guild and merchant associations, including bakers, carpenters, weavers, shoemakers, butchers, masons, fishmongers, furriers, and other contributed to the building of the famed cathedral in Chartres, France; their funding underwrote the creation of many of its breathtaking stained glass windows. Church fundraising goes way back in time, as you can see.