Skip to main content

Capital Campaigns

Image

 

Whether your campaign is to retire debt, expand your building, or extend your ministry, the Lord has incredible things in store for your work. It’s hard to overestimate how the Lord might work in and through you to reach more people for his glory. 

Most campaign campaigns are focused on what God will do at the end of a campaign: through a new building or through a new ministry. 

We love that but it’s not our focus. 

Our consulting focuses nearly exclusively on how God will sanctify you through the campaign, bring unity to your church, and grow more and better disciples through intention interaction within your body of believers. 

To put it simply: we do church campaigns differently. And it also works. 

Campaigns that align themselves in this way see nearly universal participation, churches strengthened, and pastors’ burdens lightened.

If you are ready to unify and strengthen your church, click below!

The cost

Capital campaign consulting costs just $5,990 per month. Campaigns are typically three years in duration but you may cancel at any time. All costs are included in this investment -- no matter the size of your campaign or how much you raise

All of our campaigns include custom campaign materials tailored to your ministry’s DNA, all of the on-site, in-person training for your teams, a feasibility study, and unlimited access to our expert staff throughout the engagement period. 

Capital campaign consultants can cost in excess of $50,000 for just a feasibility study PLUS a percentage of the overall goal. Secular fundraisers will charge some percentage of your total goal, higher if your goal is smaller.

A Comparison of Counsel Costs

Even Christian fundraising counsel will charge more than $75,000 for cookie-cutter counsel and a percentage over a certain goal. All of them will require an upfront, significant investment from you before you even start raising money. 

We never do that because we don’t believe in that model. 

We want your ministry to grow and for you to have a Gospel impact. That’s why we charge a small monthly amount to be in the trenches with you, providing counsel, training, and support. 

Our job is to lighten the load on your pastors and your church members so that your burdens are light and it is a joy to labor in this effort. 

How can we do this for such a low cost? 

We love the church and want to see it grow. This effort is our organizational priority so we want to make it affordable for nearly every church. We have perfected a model that we are excited to share with you that allows us to do what we do best through coaching and guidance. Your ministry will also share in the work to help move the campaign forward. But we only work with a very small number of ministries each year to be able to provide personalized attention to each ministry. 

Looking for an even more affordable option?

We love small churches and small campaigns to retire debt or expand ministries. At the same time, we know that an incredibly reasonable price might be out of reach for some ministries. 

That’s why we offer a DIY campaign kit for a much lower per month cost. You’ll get access to our workbooks and campaign kit. You’ll also get access to our expert team twice a year to answer any questions you have about your campaign. 

If you are planning a campaign of less than $500,000 the DIY campaign kit will be your best option! To learn more, book a call and we'll get you more information. 

If you think a capital campaign is about raising money, you’re wrong

Sure, you can ask the five richest people in your congregation to fund the new church building but that’s either a gigantic missed opportunity for church growth or it’s more likely an opportunity for very bad things to happen in your church. 

Here’s what we’ve seen and heard about, perhaps you have too: 

  • Pastors leave their churches after a capital campaign due to stress and conflict
  • Church members leave their church family during campaigns
  • People feel alienated because there are people “in the know” who are giving generously and part of the planning process. Everyone else is watching. 

That’s not how we’re supposed to do church so it’s not how we’re supposed to do campaigns. 

There’s a better way

Church campaigns can be designed to intentionally foster disciple-making opportunities among your members.  We can show you how.

What is the timeline for a campaign?

The first several months of the campaign are in the pullback phase where we conduct a deep dive intensive with your leadership to better understand your DNA, your ministry, and your goals. During these first few months, we refine the vision and conduct a feasibility study. You can expect this process to take between 6-8 months depending on schedules and availability. 

The next several months are spent training teams and developing the campaign structure. This can take another 6-8 months. 

The last segment is the actual implementation of the campaign. This timeline will largely depend on your scenario but typically takes a year and culminates with an event where pledges towards the campaign are received. 

After these first two years of work, there is at least one year of stewardship activities that we work with you to develop so that systems are in place to ensure that multiyear pledges are received and follow up with donors is occurring. 

For larger campaigns, typically over $2M and multi-year pledge periods, campaigns can lose momentum and pledges can fall off. That’s why we recommend a three-year engagement with Slingshot to provide ongoing counsel and training as well as advanced opportunities such as planned giving and endowments.