Realities and Solutions

Are you prepared to meet the realities and solutions of your next project and campaign? Read on to see if you are.

Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas where Joel Osteen pastors is the largest church in North America. They recently moved into Houston’s Compact center. That retro fit of the facilities cost over $90 million dollars. In their capital stewardship campaign they raised an incredible $60 plus million dollars. That means that to complete paying for their relocation they will need to somehow raise another $30 million dollars. What would you do?

You might think that is a problem that you would never have. You are not the head of the largest church in North America and you certainly do not have a project that is going to cost anywhere near that amount. You would be mistaken to dismiss the illustration out of hand. While you may not have the same kinds of problems in terms of numbers and dollars you do have many of the same issues facing you as you consider moving forward with your next project and campaign. Even though most of us will never experience the Lakewood size we will face nearly identical issues with regards to our projects and campaigns. Preparing for those realities and solutions now will mean all the difference between success and failure. So in this edition of The Stewardship Coach we want to help you identify the realities you will face and then the solutions you will need to apply.

Project and campaign realities

The list could be endless but here are some of the major things you need to be aware of with your project and campaign.

Your project will cost more than you anticipate. The architect said it would only cost $2 million dollars but the final tally was more like $3 million! We can not begin to tell you how many times we hear this story. Sometimes it is a matter of a few hundreds of thousand more and then other times it can literally be a million dollars or more in increases. We always advise our clients to go with the high number rather than the low number. Architects are like salesmen and they know that sticker shock can drive you away so they try sometimes to slowly get you acclimated to the cost by shooting you a low number and then after you are sold the price escalates.
It will take more than one capital campaign to pay off. Again, if Joel Osteen needs two campaigns who are you to think that you can do it in one? In fact in all the campaigns that we have done for churches and Christian Ministries it has always taken more than one campaign. The only times we have conducted one campaign for a client is when that campaign is the last campaign to pay off the existing short term debt they incurred to get into the project. You need a stewardship partner that is experienced in helping you set up a multiple campaign strategy. Our advice to Christian leaders is for them to from the beginning clearly state that the church will have more than one capital stewardship campaign. Knowing how to position your leaders and members is key to the success of the second campaign.
You will have a short term debt. The reality today with projects is that the cost of the project is more than one campaign can raise funds for thus you can count on a short term debt. We have dealt in other issues of The Stewardship Coach about debt and debt management. We simply find that the vast majority of churches and Christian ministries incur some type of debt. The real question is how to pay off the debt after you are in the building. You will especially need a plan for when the initial stewardship campaign concludes. What will you do when that campaign is over?

Project and campaign solutions

So, what do you do after the first campaign is over and you still owe the bank? Here are the most common approaches that churches and ministries take.

Write the debt into the budget. This approach is followed by many churches. It appears to be the easiest but in the long run it is one of the worst decisions you could make. Why? For one thing it adds additional strain to your budget. One pastor we recently talked with had a debt payment written into his budget of right at $400K a year! We asked him what he could do with an additional $400K a year. Would you fund ministries, hire more staff, give more to missions? Another reason this is not the best way is that it makes paying for debt the project impersonal. It limits your ability to continue to cast a compelling vision and to challenge your members towards faith based giving. That debt can be a weight upon your shoulders that makes life difficult and ministry sometimes impossible.
Bridge Campaign. Often churches will try to build some time between one campaign and the next thinking they will give the congregation a rest. The thinking here is that your members are tired of giving to a campaign and you want to give them some rest between major pushes. So, you ask your leaders to extend or continue on in their giving for another year thus bridging the close of one campaign with the start of another. The thinking is that you are giving the congregation a rest. However, your debt payments still need to be met so you still have to generate income to meet that payment. Asking leaders to extend their giving is an “ask.” You are not really giving them any rest at all. An ask is an ask is an ask! The other thing we find is that bridge campaigns never raise the money ministries think they will. That is because your leaders are smarter than you give them credit for. They know you will come back with another major appeal later. So, if you are not challenging them to step up they will hold back until you do. Most bridge campaigns as a result have to utilize budgeted monies to make up the short fall. There is a better way!
Consecutive Capital Stewardship Campaigns. The absolute best approach is to have another capital stewardship campaign. To begin with another campaign gives you the unique ability to recast your vision. Since you began the first campaign to the present time you have had numerous new families join your ministry. A capital stewardship campaign is a great time to get everyone focused on the same vision. It also gives you the best opportunity to capture the most dollars. Industry standards show that ministries will capture between one to three times their yearly budgets over three years. This is far better than a bridge campaign could do. Finally, you will be able to pay the short term debt off much faster with a back to back campaign strategy. This allows you to save money on interest and it allows you to position yourself better for whatever the next phase of building might be.

Part of the reason that churches and ministries sometimes shy away from capital stewardship campaigns is the negative experiences they have had in the past. The issue is not a campaign the issue in most cases is a partner that either did not understand your environment or did not have the time to give you what you needed. That is why you should make The Charis Group the first call you make! We might not all be facing what Joel Osteen is facing but we do face the same issues. How we approach and settle those issues is the key to our funding success. Let us help you strategize and plan your next campaign.

Mark Brooks

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