Sometimes it seems you need to hire a consultant to advise you on whether or not to hire a consultant! Church finances are hard enough to keep straight, and a budget is not an easy thing to keep balanced. So when it comes time to build, renovate or simply reduce church debt – do you look for outside help? Or, do you focus on training your own employees to guide the church body through capital campaigns? Decide what’s right for you.

Dan Arterburn has served on the staff of Hermitage Hills Baptist Church for 23 years and is currently the associate pastor of administration. Hermitage Hills Baptist is a 3,500-member church in the Hermitage suburb of Nashville, Tenn.

Lauralyn Theodore is church administrator of Community United Methodist Church in Naperville, Ill. Her responsibilities include oversight and direction of the administrative, financial, facility, personnel and program activities. She recently celebrated 15 years in ministry.

Raise More Funds by Raising Your Own Campaign Team 

By Dan Arterburn

WHEN A CHURCH IS making a decision about the method of raising capital funds, its leadership should realize there are numerous options available today for a project or debt retirement. For our congregation in Hermitage, Tenn., the experience has been that the fundraising company looks at the project, church size, and church giving-history to evaluate the cost of their services. The cost is primarily based on the amount of money they think they can help a church raise. A consultant is assigned to the church, and that person comes in to train staff members in the process they think the church should follow. The consultant spends time with the senior pastor and staff, guiding them in the steps they should take to encourage giving to the project.

Our church built a new worship facility about three years ago. Prior to construction, we had almost $4 million on hand and needed to raise approximately $5 million more to complete our funding. The total project cost was $9.5 million. To reach our funding goal, the church chose to use a company that followed the traditional method. Our consultant and his company analyzed our giving history and suggested a plan for our campaign. Their fee for assisting us in raising $4 million was approximately $60,000 plus campaign costs, which added about $25,000 to the total.

Our consultant made a number of our members angry with his tactics of “encouragement,” and really didn’t handle our people in the way we felt they should be treated. In addition, the company didn’t really fulfill its contract and responsibility. This was the third time we had used consultants in capital campaigns in this church’s 50-year history. Each time we used this approach, our giving never reached its potential and we rarely received the total funds pledged. Our church decided to give this method one additional try since we had grown significantly and we needed to raise a much larger amount of funds.

When our worship center project was almost complete, it was time to address the $3.6 million we had borrowed for the project. Our pastor led us to use The Gage Group, a fundraising group that also served churches like ours – with leaders who preferred developing and doing their own campaigns. The company was aware that a consultant-led campaign did not always work for a number of churches, so its owner developed material for training groups. Staff members of churches train for one day and are then provided with the same materials consultants use. For about $3,200, a church can send up to four people (this must include the senior pastor) who plan to serve as campaign leaders.

This is the method we used for our most recent campaign. Our senior pastor, two lay leaders and I went through the training and had guidance available to us for a year. Our campaign costs totaled less than $30,000, but we raised about $2.3 million in three years.

We have delayed our next campaign for a year, due to other ministry emphases in our congregation, and have asked our people to continue their current giving for one more year. Our debt will be paid off in or around August 2009, and we are still putting final touches on the vision of what is next for us. We are developing satellite campuses in the greater Nashville area and still need to upgrade our main campus as well. Our next campaign leaders have already been trained, and we were also pleased with the second training experience. We will probably go outside the box this time by leading our people to give over the course of four years, rather than the traditional three, to help us reach our next goal. During that period, we will revisit the campaign after two years, with the purpose of bringing new members into participating in the campaign for its remainder.

Consultants Drive the Success of a Capital Campaign

By Lauralyn Theodore

COMMUNITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH in Naperville, Ill., has been involved in two capital campaigns during my 15- year tenure as its church business administrator.

The first campaign was needed and used to catch up with building updates and repairs. The funds were needed, but the appeal was not “sexy” (something that would grab the congregation’s imagination and thus encourage significant monetary gifts), so an outside firm was hired and our goal was set at $800,000.

The whole campaign ran approximately six weeks. With the help of the consultant, well-organized and well-written communiqués were sent to the congregation on a regular basis. The organization of the whole campaign enlisted a broad representation of the congregation assisting with the total buy-in of the membership. The consultant met with the committees on a regular basis, keeping the collegiality and connectedness of the group intact. The church hired a part-time clerical worker to help with the additional work, thus not putting any undue hardship on the staff members. With the expertise of a fundraising company, the goal was met.

The church’s second capital campaign had a more ambitious goal: $1 million, which was needed for an elevator, new and upgraded restrooms, and fire-suppressant systems. A different firm was used for this campaign, and the church was successful in reaching its goal. The company used for this campaign was a smaller firm, and offered a semi-onsite person to assist with writing, producing and overseeing the mailings to the congregation. As with the first campaign, many were enlisted to help – and members of the congregation definitely had the feeling they were a part of this challenge. 

The church and I have found it invaluable for a campaign to have an outsider’s perspective in assessing the overall sentiment of the congregation. Professionals in the field of fundraising bring a wealth of information on how to organize, analyze and “make the ask,” as well as other tools that a congregation may lack.

Choosing the company the church will work with is of utmost importance; interviewing several firms is a must. There are large and small companies, and all bring something unique to the table. Community United Methodist Church was very eager to maintain its own personality in all of the campaign materials and found that, by going with a smaller firm, the customizing was easier. I do believe, however, that successful firms are successful for a reason, and their formula, if followed, very frequently works to the church’s advantage. It is a tension between following the firm’s blueprint and still being true to one’s individuality.

If I were asked if I thought it worthwhile to hire outside consultants (whether a large or small church is asking for significant funds) my answer would definitely be yes. There are just too many details for one committee to be aware of and to handle – especially if nobody on staff has experienced a capital campaign. Consultants are not inexpensive, and when a small, new church is looking at the cost of a consultant, its leaders may be tempted to think they can go through the campaign alone. In my humble opinion, it’s just a bad idea to try to do it yourself.

When hiring a consultant, it is extremely helpful to have a good working relationship with the company. The pastor’s role in such a journey is vital; thus, the pastor has to be totally supportive. An important thing to remember is that he or she should have significant input when seeking outside counsel to assure the company’s theological position complements the church’s.