Park Hill United Methodist Church: A New Culture of Philanthropy

CCS Fundraising was not only our strategists, but our loudest cheerleaders. They partnered with us to recruit passionate campaign leaders, and personally customized each training and campaign meeting to our group’s needs. CCS was instrumental in Park Hill United Methodist Church’s campaign planning fundraising success, raising 30% of our goal with over $1M by the launch of the campaign’s active fundraising period.

PASTOR GENEVIEVE ROHRET-NAVIN, EXECUTIVE PASTOR, PARK HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

THE CHALLENGE

Park Hill United Methodist Church (PHUMC) recognized the need for funds to renovate its facilities, including replacing the outdated 100-year-old heating and cooling systems, restoring the kitchen and main level bathrooms, replacing the elevator, updating alarm systems, and restoring the building foundation to prevent further structural water damage.

However, PHUMC had not undergone a major capital campaign in 40 years. The community needed the philanthropic muscle to back the new pastoral leadership and the large fundraising initiative. PHUMC turned to CCS for expertise, guidance, strategy, and, most importantly, support in building fundraising confidence. PHUMC’s campaign sought to change the conversation from a “collection plate” mentality to a major gifts mentality.

THE SOLUTION

The feasibility study and recommendations then launched the church into the readiness and planning phase for Celebrating Our Legacy, Embracing Our Future.

The feasibility study and recommendations then launched the church into the readiness and planning phase for Celebrating Our Legacy, Embracing Our Future, where we aimed to build consensus on campaign priorities. The church needs concrete renovations to functionally operate, and we helped them create a campaign case for support that prioritized the mission to represent the needs of their worship space rather than nuts and bolts construction language. We deliberately recruited leadership with diverse backgrounds, ages, and relationships to PHUMC to ensure a 100% participatory approach. Together, we moved forward with a $3 million+ qualified campaign goal.

Our next priority was to help build consensus on campaign priorities. CCS provided training to ensure all volunteers and staff feel empowered to talk about the church, campaign priorities, and how to invite others to give. Together, we built the necessary campaign infrastructure for the church to build relationships, accept multi-year gifts, and steward champions of the church. Finally, we created a campaign case for support where the value proposition prioritized the importance of their mission to spread the love of God to all people, no matter what, over the renovations needed to functionally operate. By flipping the script in this way, the mission-based focus of the campaign amplifies and aligns with the needs of their worship space, and calls on donors to invest in stewarding their sacred space to welcome more to their community. Together, we launched the campaign’s quiet phase with a $3 million qualified campaign goal.

THE impact

With four months of planning, recruiting, and training, PHUMC campaign leadership raised over 30% of their goal and kicked off their active fundraising phase with over $1M in campaign gifts secured from 25 donors. CCS was able to support PHUMC in this early fundraising success through several unique strategies:

• One of the biggest achievements of this partnership is PHUMC’s newly established culture of philanthropy and deepened congregational care, built through shared values around restoring PHUMC’s center of worship. This campaign has allowed the diverse female pastoral leadership to connect with legacy members and new lay leadership utilizing the cultivation methods employed by campaign volunteers.
• Recognizing that many priority prospects were legacy members of the church who longed for connection, PHUMC hosted a large event to kick off their active fundraising period. The early fundraising success was leveraged to honor those who built up the church, while also highlighting what the church means to the community now and in the future. This instilled confidence in this donor base that the campaign efforts were being taken seriously by a much wider community than previously.
• This early success and strategic guidance gave PHUMC leadership the necessary confidence to recognize that the case is appealing to non-church members. One of the three six-figure leadership gifts came from a community leader who was a close friend of many yet not a member of the church. 

The PHUMC team has found joy in fundraising independently and is motivated by the future of campaigns at the church. The PHUMC team is now fundraising more boldly than our strategies outlined because they are confident to increase an ask or lead with a non-traditional approach. Park Hill United Methodist Church is using campaign work to deepen relationships, and further its mission.