by Erik Ely, Generis
Financial Health
Often churches have giant, God given visions and no money by which to make things happen. I spoke to a church once that wanted to hire me, but had no idea if they were going to be able to make the payroll that week. I respectfully declined the business and encouraged them to focus on developing a healthy generosity environment first. I will talk more on this later. A church needs to realize that a campaign consultant can cost between $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the size and complexity of the church. There are also printing, and media cost to take into account on top of this. These costs do not include any cost for the project like architect, builder or permitting costs. Having your financial ducks in a row before you embark on this endeavor is necessary. This is where engaging Generis in a generosity audit several months in advance will help strengthen your congregationās giving and in turn strengthen your financial position.
Staff Health and Timing
This is an area that can be easily over looked. Having staff that is already over worked and in a state of poor morale will make a successful campaign questionable. By starting the process early, we would be able to move at a methodical, consistent pace as opposed to a fever pitch that leads to hard feelings, resentment and burn out.
Generosity Environment
I touched on this under Financial Health above, but let me elaborate. At Generis, we want to help churches create a culture of generosity. Churches that have a culture of generosity and go into a campaign are significantly more successful than churches that never talk about money and try to raise money. Put yourself in the congregationās shoes for a moment. You are going along giving, never hearing the church talk about money and all of a sudden, they are asking the church to give hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. Talk about grinding the gears of the organizational transmission. We can take the time to prepare the environment of our congregation, so a capital campaign is a transformational experience and opposed to a transactional experience.
Project Timing Is Everything
Individual projects lend themselves to having to move fast. I have worked with several churches that were in the process of buying an existing building and had to act quickly. Other times a church can dictate the pace at which it can move on a project. If you have the luxury to do so, always lean towards taking more time. Generosity is a matter of the heart. It is a spiritual discipline that needs to be nurtured and fostered. When we as leaders slow down a second and move at a methodical pace our people will have a rich experience and be changed forever.