This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird. Read Step 1 here.

Taking inventory of your equipment, and personnel is a great next step to starting or growing your media department.

Take notes on what you have to work with:

• How many computers, cameras, or external hard drives do you have?
• What software do you have on those computers?
• What can software do you know how to use or what software can your volunteers/personnel use?
• Do you have digital cameras; if so, how many?

I would break all these categories (video cams, computer, still cams) into a chart that lets you know the quantity, quality (be realistic), and estimated cost of each item.

Another great thing to think about is whether this department be a valued source to your church’s outreach. If yes, consider feeding some of the funds from your missions department to your media department. We should be helping people over seas and advancing the Kingdom in other countries, but don’t forget that we are responsible to our neighbors too.

In fact, if you’re a young church, these are the people that will ultimately make up your congregation. If you’re trying to grow your media department, this will give you a great nest egg for possibilities down the line.

This is why talking about the vision of the church and this department is so vital, because it helps to make the hard decisions.

I know redistributing funds is not always an easy decision, so you could try to raise funds for your media dept. through various events or you could do this.

Also, if you remember, we wrote down the estimated cost of all our items. Maybe it’s time to consider selling some of the items that don’t align with said vision of the church. It’s also possible you could sell out-dated items on ebay or craigslist.

Hey, a extra $15.00 here and $30.00 there can add up!

Inventory your things, sell what you don’t need, and do what you can to find creative ways to raise capitol strictly for this department.  Do what you can to create a “working model” for your new media department.

[Image from Jekert]