In November I attended a Charity tax and legal seminar hosted by Carters of Orangeville, Ontario. It was a day in which great information, though not exactly entertaining or gripping, was presented. It is held annually in a large church, and is often sold out at $25 per seat.
I’ve spoken to a few people who have offered seminars in their churches free of charge or for a nominal fee. The length of these meetings ranged from a few hours to the entire day. Without exception, the reported attendance has been dismal. Our own congregation offered two such seminars last Spring, the first was “Get Out of Debt,” and was presented by representatives from Scotiabank. The second was Children, Food Additives, Nutrition and Behaviour. It was presented by Shelly Linehan, ND, of Full Circle Health in Hamilton. Both were really well presented, extremely well publicised, appreciated by those who were there, and poorly attended.
Now I can understand why more than 800 people would pay to hear lawyers, accountants, and insurance agents talk about liability and tax law for charities. In today’s climate, a mistake can spell the end of a charity and perhaps the financial well-being of its directors. What I am wondering is, what interests people enough to come out on a weekend or weeknight, that is obviously connected to the Gospel. There are many implications of the Gospel in life, and it’s pretty obvious that we have far to go in our understanding of those implications; and much further in working them out.
So to all you leaders out there: what will motivate people to education beyond what they receive on Sundays? I want to continue our Lifelink™ courses—I think the concept is relevant, and I thought the topics were as well. Any advice? In the past we have had “Community Outreach Seminars” presenting talks on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the DaVinci Code, the James Ossuary, etc. As outreach, these were not stellar performers, although better attended than the Lifelink courses. It could be the time of day—the Community Outreach Seminars (dull name) were held on a weeknight, while the Lifelink courses were held on a Saturday.
Awaiting your wisdom,
Scott