In this Edition of
our email newsletter, we illustrate ways that churches and non-profit
organizations can Wyden Their Horizons
by conducting Capital Fund Campaigns to renovate
their facilities and to grow the membership of their organizations. We are happy to provide this free email
newsletter as a way to share our insights about the blessings and joys of
generous giving. This publication is provided as a resource for
organizations, churches and individuals, who are raising funds for good
causes. Please feel free to forward this email to any family, friends,
colleagues, and co-workers who may be interested in subscribing
themselves.
Wyden Your Horizons
with a Capital Fund Campaign to Enable Membership Growth. . .
Sometimes when we are consulting with an organization, we hear members
say, "We really need to raise additional funds, but we need to have more
members before we can do that." This way of thinking really sets up a
"catch-22" for the organization. In essence, this way of thinking
actually has the cause and effect reversed. In fact, inadequate facilities
automatically limit an organization's ability to grow because they do
not provide the resources that the organization requires to carry out
its mission.
No matter how hard the staff or volunteer leadership works, if an
organization's facilities are not appropriate for the services that the
organization wishes to provide, the ability to provide those services will
obviously be limited, and the organization's growth will be constrained. On the other hand if
a
church or non-profit organization conducts a successful Capital Fund
Campaign and renovates its facilities, it will be able to provide more
service to its community and it will grow in membership and support. A Capital
Fund Campaign is invariably the key to growth in both number of members
and growth in giving.
There are several common practices that cause churches and non-profit
organizations to delay conducting Capital Fund Campaigns. Many churches or non-profit organizations that are declining
in membership will continually delay maintenance of their
facilities because of operating budget constraints. Eventually this
delayed maintenance causes their facilities to become dilapidated and
out of date. At the same time, the members of these organizations may renovate
their homes on a regular basis, but they may allow their church
facilities to fall into a state of disrepair, because they do not
believe that their church or community service agency can raise the
funds required to repair their facilities and bring them up to date.
Sometimes, as the membership of an organization ages, older members forget that new
generations require different programs and services, and new facilities
are required to be able to provide those services. Sometimes they say, "It
was adequate for my children or our family. Why should we give money to
renovate it for new members?" These older members fail to realize
that potential new members will expect the same level of quality facilities on Sundays that they experience Monday through Saturday in
other settings in our society. Specifically, young families will want a
clean, attractive Nursery and Sunday School facilities, that are on the
same level as the Sanctuary. If a church has its Nursery in the basement,
and its Church Facilities are outdated, no matter how hard the leadership
and staff work to attract new younger members, they will be
unsuccessful. Yet, if the church conducts a Capital Fund Campaign to raise the
funds to renovate its Nursery and Church School facilities, it will grow
in its faith in what it can accomplish, and this confident attitude and
the new facilities will enable the church to make the new attendees to
feel comfortable.
Many organizations
severely underestimate their potential for raising funds. Sometimes, since
the membership has not grown, the membership may be discouraged about its
potential for increased giving, or sometimes a fund-raiser will tell the
organization that its potential for increased giving is minimal. Most
fund-raisers that work with churches are only able to enable a church to
raise two to three times the existing giving level in a Capital Fund
Campaign. This is because these fund-raisers have not updated their
fund-raising processes, and they practice "run of the mill" fund-raising. We have enlisted the guidance of the most skilled practitioners in this
field to help us develop our expertise so that we provide "state of the art"
counsel to the organizations we work with. We also approach our work with
an attitude of faith in God's abundant providing. Consequently, we are
fearless in our goal setting and do not limit God's providing by a lack of
effort to strive toward a seemingly impossible goal. Consequently, we typically
enable a church to raise records amounts of funds -- far more
than they ever imagined. We can enable the churches and non-profit organizations
we work with to raise 5 to as much as13 times their existing level of
support. We have never conducted a campaign where the church did not
succeed in raising the funds required to renovate its facilities or to build
new facilities.
Often, the leaders of churches or non-profit organizations do not
realize that you can always raise much more in a Capital Fund Campaign
than you can in normal, annual, operating budget campaigns. That is
because Capital Fund Campaigns are focused toward tangible facilities.
Most people will give more generously for new buildings or facilities,
than they will for intangible programs or staffing. Also, since
Capital Fund Campaigns do not occur annually, they offer many donors the opportunity to give from assets in addition to income.
Operating Budget giving usually is provided primarily from gifts
of income, but in a Capital Fund Campaign typically 65% to 90% of the
giving comes from gifts
from assets of investments, stocks, bonds, real estate, possessions, etc. Many
individuals are very motivated to make such gifts because of the
significant tax benefits that can be accrued by making gifts of assets.
In addition, an inspiring, Faith-raising Capital Fund Campaign will
also cause members to increase their giving for Operating Needs because "Commitment
breeds Commitment." When members make major donations for new
facilities, they are more invested in the church or non-profit
organization, and are motivated to give more for the staffing or programming
that is required to fill those facilities. We often get letters from
churches about a year after we have helped them with an ambitious Capital
Fund Campaign, where they say, "We raised much more than we thought we could in
our Capital Fund Campaign and have finished renovating our facilities. Now,
from the same members who said they couldn't give any more money, we have
major
increases in giving for our Operating Budget for programming and staffing."
If a church or community service agency has up-to-date facilities,
suitable for its mission, more individuals will be able to be served
and the organization will be able to grow. In fact, brand new facilities,
will draw attention to the organization and by their attractive nature
cause growth in and of themselves. It is true, that these facilities will not
sustain growth by themselves, but they may enable an organization to
attract enough new members to secure the financial support that will
enable the organization to have the professional staff that is required
to sustain continued growth.
We have never found a situation where God put a need before a church
without providing the resources to meet that need. In other words, it is
never a shortage of funds that limits an organization's ability to conduct
a Capital Fund Campaign, that is necessary to renovate its facilities to
enable it to grow. Rather, typically when an organization hesitates to conduct a
Capital Fund Campaign, it is because there is a lack of belief that the funds are available and a lack of
qualified professional counsel, and a shortage of creativity in creating
processes to raise those funds. An inspiring, Faith-raising Capital Fund
Campaign can truly Wyden The Horizons for an organization to renovate
its facilities to provide improved programs, services and ministries, and
to consequently grow in its membership. Top
