Vision and Planning

We are Scheduling Stewardship and Visioning Workshops

November 19, 2014 by evansdavis

As in past years, Evans/Davis will provide stewardship/visioning workshops to Dioceses, Conferences and other regional associations in late winter and spring next year. The firm does not charge for this service so it is recommended that, if you wish to provide churches/missions in your Diocese with such a workshop, you contact our office before the end of the year. Every effort will be made to work within your calendar.

It is our mission to assist you in setting hearts on fire for Christ. Please let us know how we can help.

Filed Under: Vision and Planning

Where There is No Vision the People Perish…

October 21, 2014 by evansdavis

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18, KJV)
Over the last week, Michael Davis and I have had some fascinating and illuminating discussions about dreams, visions and passion. I’d like to (briefly!) summarize what I have learned from those discussions.

There is a fundamental difference between a dream and a vision. Quoting from the iconic movie Cinderella “A dream is a wish your heart makes”. Dreams are wonderful, but they may last only through the evening, or for a few days, or even for a lifetime. As long as we don’t commit resources to our dreams, they will remain forever within our hopes and desires . . . and our heads. However, when a dream becomes fueled by the passion that moves us from an internal focus to an external focus, that dream will become a vision, a vision where we are eager to sacrifice time, talent and treasure in order to make that vision a reality.

What is the source of the passion that allows us to sacrificially work on a vision? More specifically, what is the source of the passion that allows us to work on a vision that will give glory to God? That passion comes from God, and is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our churches. When our individual passions and our community’s passions align with the passion and mission of God (look to Matt. 22:37-40 and Matt. 28:18-20 for succinct descriptions of that mission), the Holy Spirit will empower us to be carried out into the world with a power far beyond anything that we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).

It is helping others discover the vision and passion that God has placed into the lives of individual Christians and Church communities that has me excited to be working with Evans/Davis. How do we align those visions with the vision that God has for our church? How do we discover the passion that God gives us so that we will eagerly sacrifice time, talent and treasure in order to make that vision a reality? How do we set hearts on fire for Christ? That is what Evans/Davis is committed to, and it is clearly my commitment as well.
David Bailey+

Filed Under: Clergy Comments, Vision and Planning

Do architectural firms provide vision planning?

October 16, 2012 by evansdavis

Most architectural firms provide some sort of a planning process. Typically, they hold a number of focus meetings, with various groups and leaders, to learn of everyone’s needs and desires when it comes to modifications and changes to the current facilities. This is often referred to as developing a “space” vision.

Evans/Davis provides a program that develops a vision for “ministries and mission.” It is important that a vision that takes in a long-range look at those ministries that need to be developed, improved upon or expanded is completed before a “space” vision is developed. The old rule of thumb – “function before form” – applies in most cases. A visioning retreat of church leaders that determines ministry priorities is usually the best course of action prior to an architectural firm developing a long-term space vision.

This is why the firm recommends that fund-raising counsel be brought in first followed by the architectural firm. Working together, the two companies are best able to come up with a vision plan that emphasizes ministries and how church space can be arranged to foster and enhance these ministries.

Filed Under: Vision and Planning

FUTURE FUNDING…WHERE ARE YOU?

August 14, 2012 by evansdavis

IT’S FALL!!! Oh my…where has the year gone?

If you find yourself asking this question you are probably wondering if there are enough dollars currently in or coming in to cover your Church’s/organizations budget. Vital ministries, programs and services typically pick up in the fall. Can you afford them? And what about expansion? Are there dollars available for this as well?

Autumn is typically a time when Churches and not-for-profit organizations begin developing next-year’s budget and looking to long-range growth and development. It is the time for developing costs for next year and looking at future needs. Most importantly, it is a time to assess whether the current income stream is enough to cover your annual and long-range costs.

We live in challenging and changing times. It is important that your leadership looks at all of the tools available to provide the ministries, services and programs needed for today’s needs. Evans/Davis has developed an affordable vision program that can assist you in developing the right plan that will help to assure dollars will be there for current and future ministries and services.

IT’S TIME TO PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE!

Filed Under: Capital Campaigns, Vision and Planning

It’s Not In the Budget – Church Capital Campaigns

February 14, 2012 by evansdavis

How often have we heard this!! As churches plan for the next year they, of course, develop an operating budget that usually is based upon the expected giving of the congregants for the year usually from an annual, fall stewardship campaign.

This budget usually contains staff salaries, heating and lighting, some ministry costs as well as general maintenance and up-keep of the church facility. It usually has little or no costs associated with high-ticket (capital) items or costs associated with long-range planning or costs associated with conducting a capital campaign.

We suggest there are possible ways to handle these costs:

1) If your church has an existing endowment, money can be borrowed from that fund to cover costs associated with both fund-raising counsel and architectural fees and given back to the fund as capital pledge dollars are received during a capital campaign.

2) If there is an expected construction loan needed, many banks will loan the necessary dollars for “program start-up” knowing that those dollars would be returned with interest as part of a construction loan.

3) Some dioceses have start-up grants and loans to assist parishes in the planning process. Again, loans would be paid back with dollars coming from the capital campaign.

It is important to begin the planning process early on…whichever plan works best for you and your church. Bringing counsel in early will save your church dollars in the long run and will guarantee that your visioning program and likely capital campaign will be cost effective and efficient. Most importantly, delaying vision planning and development of long-range needs of your church hurts the potential for both numerical and spiritual growth during these challenging times!

Filed Under: Capital Campaigns, Vision and Planning

Leadership is the Key to Capital Campaign Success

February 3, 2012 by evansdavis

If there is one basic necessity in capital fund-raising, it is leadership in the commitment of time, talent, energy and money. Interestingly, nearly everyone is willing to talk about potential leaders and colunteers for a fund-raising campaign. They will also suggest certain corporations and foundations to be aasked for large gifts. But, almost everyone tries to avoid mentioning individuals who may be capable of making leadership gifts.

Table of Giving Standards

Early in campaign planning, a “Table of Giving Standards” is created to illustrate the importance of leadership gifts. It shows how gifts of different sizes must be combined to reach the fund-raising goal. Leadership gifts often comprise the top 10-15 gifts shown in the Table. If secured, the campaign will usually succeed because others will then tend to contribute in accordance with their capability.

Leadership Gifts are Key

Leadership gifts made at the outset are the foundation of a successful campaign. Depending on the campaign goal, they often start at $50,000 and go up from there. The saying that “20% of the people contribute 80% of the money” applies to leadership gifts. Still, many people think they can raise $2 Million by asking 400 people to each give $5,000. That strategy always fails.

Occasionally campaigns that start out on the right track may take a wrong turn. For example, an organization trying to raise $4 million is seeking a donation of $1 Million as the lead gift to the campaign. If that gift comes in at $500,000 instead, some may say, “We’ll just have to find ten more gifts at $50,000” may be overly optimistic. Where can they be “found?” Lowering the target doesn’t help either (100 gifts of $5,000 may cost more in time and effort than can be collected).

The momentum of a campaign rests on getting to the goal as quickly as possible. The more prospects you must solicit to accomplish that goal, the longer it takes and the more momentum you lose.

Successful campaigns are won with relatively small number of large leadership gifts received early in the solicitation process.

Filed Under: Capital Campaigns, Vision and Planning

Get Help Early When Fundraising

February 2, 2012 by evansdavis

The earlier, the better, is the rule to follow when involving fund-raising counsel in your new project, whatever it might be. Projects are completed by taking these four actions:

Defining your project in writing; what, where, when, how much and whom.
Securing all of the required funding.
Designing the project architecturally and structurally
Building the project with reliable construction

The two most time consuming actions are usually the fund-raising and the construction. You must allow for the time it takes to secure the gifts in a fund-raising campaign and to get sufficient payments in hand to begin construction. The construction–either new or remodeling–cannot be rushed. Chose and involve your counsel early.

Clearly Identify Your Potential for Fund-Raising

You need to identify your potential for fund-raising before your dreams for your new project get far beyond your potential to fund the project. You may have reserve funds, the ability to borrow money at an attractive rate, and the capability to raise significant dollars. How much do you have of each?

A fund-raising feasibility study early in the project will indicate ho much you can raise. This may help the architect in designing something you can afford. Then, all you need for fund-raising purposes is a site plan and ‘foot-print’ of the building to begin fund-raising. An architectural sketch might also be helpful, but you do not need complete architectural drawings. You save considerable money by not proceeding to complete architectural drawings to soon.

Types of Counsel Help

It is also important to involve fund-raising counsel early so you can decide which type of help will serve you best. The most common options are: Full- Time (on-site) resident counsel and Part-Time (periodically on-site) consultation. In the final analysis, the costs of raising funds are the same whether you use full-time resident help or periodic part-time help. The differences between the two are these:

Full-Time Resident help gives you a professional on-site full-time to guide your effort. Though a relatively intense effort is required, this process actually accomplishes the objective quickly and requires less staff time overall. More money is raised–usually significantly more–and the funds start coming in earlier. This approach works best when your constituency is well defined and fully informed.

Periodic Consultation gives you serve a few days a week or month and works best when you have a development professional on staff. The campaing takes longer, which can be an advantage when you need to build broad community awareness for your project. Out of pocket travel costs for the periodic visits do mount up and can be expensive.

Timing is Everything

Finally, early involvement of fund-raising counsel will permit you to plan the timing of your campaign correctly. Timing can be very important. Major gifts are often best sought in early fall. Churches may want to coordinate a capital fund campaign with their fall stewardship efforts.

Educational institutions may want to avoid conflicts with annual fund-raising campaigns while coordinating with major campus events. Social service agencies may have to schedule around United Way campaign or other important events. In the South and Southwest fund-raising may be most productive in the late fall to early spring. The northern portion of the country presents other issues relating to vacation schedules and winter migrations by major gift prospects.

The earlier the better is a smart move when it comes to bringing fund-raising counsel into your project planning. The nice part is that in generally costs no more to do so.

Filed Under: Campaign Tactics, Capital Campaigns, Vision and Planning

How Well Do You Plan?

January 27, 2012 by evansdavis

A Catholic Priest announced from the pulpit one Sunday morning plans for a visit to Rome and the Vatican. It would be a three-week tour, which would include not only a visit to Rome, but other Italian cities as well. He was excited about the trip and announced the travel agency that would be used to plan and organize the tour. He announced the dates for the tour, which would be nearly one year from the announcement.

It is amazing how churches will plan for trips nearly a near ahead and select a travel agency yet wont spent the time needed for long-range vision planning and often will not use counsel in the planning process. They often “go-it-alone” for a long time, stumbling and fumbling through the planning process and many times bring in an architectural firm long before it is necessary wasting dollars.

The administration and board of a community hospital saw the need to expand and add to their neo-natal care and additional birthing rooms. They proceeded to hiring an architect and began developing plans for expansion. The hospital leadership than decided to conduct a capital campaign and brought in counsel to conduct a campaign feasibility study. They were shocked to learn that most everyone in the community was aware of the expansion and were not likely to make a sizable gift. Many of the hospital’s major donors wondered why a capital gift was needed since it was already a “done-deal.” Obviously, bringing in counsel earlier during the planning process would have prevented this from heappening.

The moral to both studies…use counsel and START EARLY! Professional counsel can guide you through the planning process helping you to determine what is the best course of action and assist you in developing a road map for the church or any not-for-profit organization’s future. Most importantly, mistakes are minimized, volunteers are used effectively and efficiently and the work is completed in a timely manner.

The result…a well-defined plan that enables you to maximize the dollars needed to make your vision plan a reality!

Filed Under: Vision and Planning