What Campaign Projects Raise the Most (and Least) Amount of Money?

Every church situation is unique, but some projects are definitely easier to raise money for than others.  Here is the rough order that I’ve observed in over 120 church capital campaigns.  But remember, never launch a campaign for a project just because it’s relatively easy to raise money for.  Only launch a campaign for something that your church really needs.   Your members will not stretch for something that you don’t need.

In general, simplicity is better than complexity.  A single project raises the most money.  The more projects a campaign includes the harder it is to raise money.  Multiple projects also make it easier for members to find something to object to.

  1. Construction of a new church sanctuary on new property
     
  2. Construction of a new church sanctuary on current property
     
  3. Preservation / Renovation of a beloved sanctuary
     
  4. Other Construction Projects
    1. Family Life Center
    2. Youth Rooms / Wing
    3. Christian Education Wing
       
  5. Preservation/Renovation of Church Buildings
    1. A Leaky Roof (the more rain coming through the ceiling the better)
    2. Accessibility Projects (elevators, ramps, etc.)
    3. Kitchen
    4. Bathrooms
       
  6. Specified Ministry/Mission Campaigns  (this category has the greatest variation.  Such campaigns can be very popular or very blah)
     
  7. Debt Campaigns
     
  8. Pipe Organ Campaigns (unless there is an appreciative pipe organ constituency with the money to fund it)
     
  9. Endowment Campaigns  (to fund endowments that typically generate a 4-5% return for the church annual budget)
    1. Raising money to seed an endowment
    2. Raising money to grow an endowment
    3. Raising money to pay back a loan that the church too out from its own endowment to fund a capital project  (The longer it’s been since healthy payments have been made toward such loans the harder it is to pay such debts off.)
       
  10. Campaign for unspecified ministries and missions (concrete raises money.)
     
  11. Reserve for Major Maintenance  (One of the easiest things to raise money for is a leaky roof.  The absolute hardest thing to raise money for is a reserve fund for a potential leaky roof. )

Church Freed from Overwhelming Debt

St Paul Lutheran Church (MSL), Lakeland, FL

Shortly before the 2008 recession, St Paul Lutheran Church built a state of the art gymnasium for its school, ramping up its debt from $1.6 Million to $4.4 Million.  This was a debt ratio of four times its $1.1 Million annual giving.  Then came the recession.  School enrollment and income slipped.  The church was struggling to make its mortgage payments and was only able to afford interest payments on one of its two loans.  Members felt tired and defeated after a long series of capital campaigns, yet leaders knew that they had to have another capital campaign.  They hoped to raise $1 Million to keep the wolf from the door.   Jeff Newlin helped the church design a capital campaign that felt more like a revival than a fundraiser.   A VISIONfest was held the Sunday before Commitment Sunday with creative vision presentations, a delicious luncheon, and the news that leaders had already pledged over $1.5 Million to the campaign.  After that everyone wanted to jump on board. The church raised $2.1 Million, 1.79 times its annual giving.  When the 3-year campaign was over, Jeff Newlin helped the church raise another $1.6 Million, 1.65 times income, in a follow-up campaign.  With debt nearly eliminated, growing school enrollment, and election of a popular interim pastor as the church’s permanent pastor, St Paul’s Lutheran is now in overdrive toward the future.  (Spring 2012 & Spring 2015) 

Church Depleting its Endowment Rallies around a Capital Campaign

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Dunedin, FL

The church’s sanctuary is an exquisite, carpenter gothic building overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, but it and other church buildings had fallen into disrepair.  Normally the vestry would have tapped the church’s endowment to cover the $850,000 projected costs, but the endowment was already funding half of the church’s annual budget, and it had dropped from $2.4 Million to $1.6 Million.  It didn’t take an MBA to see that the endowment, and perhaps the church itself, was headed toward extinction on the church’s current trajectory.  Although the congregation was undergoing a renaissance under the leadership of a new rector, the financial challenge before it seemed daunting.  The congregation had become too dependent upon its endowment and was unsure that it could raise the money it needed itself.  Faced with the challenge, the vestry decided to conduct a capital campaign.  Jeff Newlin led the congregation through a campaign based on God’s powerful vision for the church and rooted in prayer and sacrifice.  The church raised nearly $665,000 in three years, 3.83 times its annual income, enough to fund the bulk of the needed repairs.  More importantly, the congregation had discovered a new joy and confidence in giving.  No longer was it afraid of extinction.  Instead of being crippled by the generosity of previous generations, it was now being inspired by these previous generations to be generous in its own time.  (Spring 2013)