Vision for Success

Capital fundraisers share the secrets to a great campaign

by Michael W. Michelsen, Jr.

To be successful, a church fundraising campaign must begin with a vision. And few congregations have proven this maxim true as convincingly as the members at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. The church's finance committee developed their vision by focusing on ministry first and money second.

"Their focus was on God and on the mission of increasing our ministry and our outreach," says Alyce Price, Highland Park's director of finance and administration. "The building and fundraising program revolved around those."

The committee eventually decided to demolish or renovate several existing structures and begin extensive new construction. To do the job right, they determined the church would need to raise $28 million.

"That's when we started interviewing consultants," Price says. "We needed a consultant who had experience dealing with larger campaigns and had dealt with demographics similar to ours."

The church, home to more than 13,000 members, including President and Mrs. George W. Bush, hired The Genesis Group in Fayetteville, Georgia, to conduct its fundraising campaign. Since its founding in 1988, the company has raised close to $2 billion for its clients.

"The focus of our company is quality," The Genesis Group's Jim Sheppard says. "That's why we're organized like we are, much like a law firm that has consultants rather than employees. Our clients work with people who are loyal both to them as well as The Genesis Group."

Sheppard's proven program helped Highland Park raise more than $38 million in pledges.

"We're obviously very pleased," Price says. "The additional money raised will allow us to purchase additional land that has an apartment building on it. We can use that building as temporary office space while other construction and renovation is being done. It also gives us a contingency fund, which is nice to have."

Like Highland Park, many churches are turning to capital fundraising companies to help them meet their financial needs. Your Church talked with the leaders of several major companies to find out more about this critical service.

For Bill Wilson, president of Resource Services, Incorporated (RSI) in Dallas, Texas, the difference between a good capital fundraising campaign and an awesome one can be summed up with a single word: God.

Wilson should know fundraising. His firm, started in 1972, was the nation's first devoted to the fundraising needs of local churches. In the past 29 years, RSI has served more than 17,000 churches across denominations, and its 56 consultants have raised more than $6 billion. They helped Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, raise $80 million in pledges between 1999 and 2000.

There is no substitute for a job done right, Wilson says.

"That begins with taking the time to design a comprehensive program for each church we serve," he says. "The result is a program for each of our clients that is intimately flexible. This flexibility allows us to match the uniqueness of each of our church clients with a program that fits their style and traditions and will work with anything they want to do. The bottom line is consistent, quality service to those church clients."

"I believe my job is to help churches build unity," Graham says. "We do that three ways: vision workshops, capital feasibility workshops, and people. These things help establish the 'why' of a building program. And when you get people together behind a clear vision of the ministry, they'll help you pay for it."

Since its founding in 1976, Cargill Associates has raised more than $3.5 billion for nearly 2,500 Protestant and Catholic churches in the United States, Australia, and Canada.

"Protestant churches will raise between two times and four times their budgets," Graham says. "Roman Catholics will normally raise between three times and five times their budget—mainly because of their membership numbers. But the trick is to get a clear vision built among the membership."

"That's the way I always try to build a fundraising campaign. Involve them and they will come," Price explains.

Founded only two years ago, IMPAC Services has had more than 150 client churches and raised more than $150 million. "My goal is simple: I never want to have had a former client," Price says.

IMPAC Services carries out its mission with quality materials and a team approach to serving client churches, he adds.

"There's nobody in this field who knows everything," he says. "I believe that the best approach to presenting a program is to hire experts in each area and let them do their jobs.

"When a church goes with IMPAC they get our entire firm. Each church will see at least three consultants."

"Raise the spiritual temperature in a church and the funds will be raised," says Dave Sutherland, president of INJOY Stewardship Services. Last year, INJOY's 100 employees raised more than half a billion dollars for about 1,400 evangelical Protestant churches across the country.

Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, California, has been an INJOY client since the beginning of its capital program in 1985.

"We have a three-phase program we want to accomplish," says Henry Wells, the church's pastor. "Our program started in 1985 by raising $5 million for a new sanctuary. We recently raised another $9 million after establishing a $7-million goal for a new family life building, which holds our gymnasium, conference rooms, and a dining hall. Now we're getting ready to start another program that will raise another $7 million for a new building to house our children's and youth programs and administration."

Wells credits the motivation provided by INJOY's founder, church leadership expert John C. Maxwell, for what his church has accomplished.

"There are a lot of pastors who don't want to talk about money," he says. "In the parable of the talents, Jesus spoke about stewardship. Why shouldn't we?"

"Our ability to get information on possible funding sources is phenomenal today," says The Genesis Group's Sheppard. "[Using] a variety of information sources, I can find out who in a given community is likely to give in excess of $100,000. That's incredible."

The economy's ups and downs also affect the future of fundraising. For more than eight years, Americans have enjoyed one of the most prosperous economic booms in history. Now, in light of a possible economic slowdown, how will churches be affected?

The experts disagree. Some sound a warning. Others claim that churches will not be affected. But everyone agrees these are uncharted waters.

"The key is to instill in each church member that scriptural giving is a joyful privilege," RSI's Wilson says. "In each church my firm works with, I want something so good to happen that it could only have happened by the power of God."

Michael W. Michelsen, Jr., (mmichelsen2@earthlink.net) is a freelance writer living in Riverside, California.

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