Our Blog — Page 5

The Assessment/Study – A Valuable Tool

July 20, 2014 by evansdavis

Evans/Davis was recently contacted by a church and asked us to explain the value of the Assessment/Study. It was interesting because the church suggested… “There are about five individuals that will determine if we should do a capital campaign. If they are on board, we are good…if not, we wont do one.”

Well, this thought is only partially true. Whereas, major donors need to be interviewed to determine if there are sufficient dollars available to reach the desired amount, much more is gained through an assessment/study.

Besides dollar numbers the program gives other valuable information from the congregation that could significantly impact a capital campaign. These includes:

Their perceptions of the abilities of both the current lay and clergy leadership

Their feelings on the long-range vision plan for the church

A composite priority of how best to deal with the needs of the church

The perceived strengths and areas of church life that need help

The potential for campaign leadership

The best timing for as well as other influences, both internal and external, that could have an impact on a campaign

We suggest you contact us so that we can give you additional information that will help you in determining if an assessment/study is right for you.

Filed Under: Campaign Tactics

When is the Best Time to Begin the Planning Process?

June 26, 2014 by evansdavis

Anytime is a good time to begin developing a vision plan for the long term growth and development of your church. It just depends on church schedules and key dates on the church’s calendar.

A number of churches begin the process after Labor Day following summer vacations. For others, it begins immediately following their annual meeting. And, for some, the arrival of spring and the celebration of Easter mark a good time to begin the planning process. No matter the timing, it is imperative that your leadership is on board and ready to guide the church to discern God’s call for its future.

Our mission is to assist churches and their regional associations in setting hearts on fire for Christ. Please contact us so we can discuss timing and best options.

Filed Under: Campaign Tactics

Value of Evans/Davis Services from a Senior Warden’s Perspective

June 20, 2014 by evansdavis

Halfway Through Construction

As a member of the leadership team of an Episcopal church it is sometimes worse than trying to herd cats to get a Vestry, Clergy and other church members on the same page in regards to a capital campaign.

When we at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Medina, Oh were finally forced to face a series of crumbling building issues (10+ years of water buckets, ice dam destruction, etc.) we knew we needed help. We turned to Evans/Davis for support, here are the key benefits that they brought to our needs:

Experience and perspective, they kept us rational through some pretty emotional discussions and decision processes.

The vision and planning process has been impactful well beyond the capital campaign, the process output continues to guide our thinking and behavior.

Masterful ability to meet with members and garner honest feedback around financial contribution and church leadership.

Results, we ended up raising almost exactly what the Evans/Davis process and team said we would.

Our capital project is complete, it is enjoyed by all and serves as physical evidence of God’s blessing upon us and it only took 4 years from start to finish.

Steve Rucinski, 330-958-4867, feel free to contact me if I can help you with your church’s decision process.

Filed Under: Capital Campaigns

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

We need to do more for ministries beyond us!

August 17, 2012 by evansdavis

There is a tendency, as churches begin the visioning process, to look at only their long term needs. A number of churches, however, in their vision planning, are looking at ways to go beyond themselves and looking to support outreach ministries. These can be regional association (Diocese, Conference or Synod), national or even internationally focused programs and projects.

One church decided, as part of their capital funds campaign, to tithe $100,000 of their $1 million objective to their diocesan camp and retreat ministries program. Yet another decided to add $10,000 annually to relief efforts in Haiti.

As stated before, outside counsel can assist your church in determining God’s vision for your future – be it for local, regional, national and even international programs.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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

We just received a bequest! Guess we don’t have to do a capital campaign now!

August 9, 2012 by evansdavis

How many times have we heard this? There is a church in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area that has been in existence for a long, long time. They have approached a number of near crisis situations before receiving a bequest from a member who had past away. Each time they used the bequeathed dollars to help with operating and other capital needs only to find the money eventually running out returning them to a near crisis situation…thus delaying the inevitable.

Once again, they find themselves in a dire situation with shrinking membership and a physical plant that is old and needs lots of work. Clearly, had the church leadership, years ago, had saved the first bequest or used it sparingly and developed a long-range vision plan for growth and development they would have likely provided the resources in a “non-panic” mode.

Bequests are a wonderful gift to the Church and other not-for-profit institutions. They need to be used wisely and sparingly. A good vision plan will use all three funding sources (annual, capital and planned or bequeathed dollars) to financially support the long-term growth and development of the Church or other not-for-profit organization.

Evans/Davis can meet with your leadership to determine the best course of action and help in planning the visioning process.

Filed Under: Capital Campaigns

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