It would be easy to suppose that once a parish has built itself a new church, its financial resources would be exhausted for some considerable time into the future. But the parishioners of St. Thomas, Brooklin, have shown that generosity has no limits.
In November 2010, the Rev. Claire Wade arrived at St. Thomas’ as the new incumbent in the new space. In the early years of the decade, it had been decided that the church, built in 1869, could no longer meet the needs of the congregation. So the parish, assisted with a major grant from the diocese, embarked on a $650,000 capital campaign to construct a new building.
The new building opened in November 2009. Linked to the old church and the former rectory, it is a state-of-the-art structure with a flexible worship space, removable seats and green technology.
Shortly after Ms. Wade arrived at St. Thomas’, the parish was invited to participate in the diocese’s Our Faith-Our Hope fundraising campaign, with a target of $205,000.
“It sounded like a daunting task at first,” she says. “We were concerned that the parish was just coming off a five-year capital campaign for the building and that people would not embrace this new request for money.”
The solution, parish leaders decided, was to relate the campaign to what had been happening at St. Thomas, and pitch it as a continuation of the building campaign. Half of the parish proceeds from the Our Faith-Our Hope campaign would go toward paying down the mortgage on the new building, and half would pay for badly needed renovations to the old church, which is now used as a chapel.
Ms. Wade says the Our Faith-Our Hope campaign was helped by the fact that the two co-chairs of the capital campaign volunteered to lead it. She herself approached one parishioner and asked for—and received—a substantial gift. “This is a very generous parish,” she says.
However, the Our Faith-Our Hope campaign was still challenging. Some people said they could not manage another gift so soon after supporting the capital campaign, and others questioned why they should be fundraising for the diocese.
However, those who could not give because of economic hardship pledged their time and talents. And to those who questioned fundraising for the diocese, Ms. Wade pointed out the large grant that the diocese had given for the building campaign.
“I had to do some work in creating awareness of the major contribution the diocese made to the new building and of our need to reciprocate by being supportive of diocesan endeavours,” she says. “I also reminded parishioners that we do not operate independently. We’re part of a bigger whole and that ministry costs money.” She preached many sermons about the biblical imperative of giving, whereby giving is not only an obligation, but a privilege.
The campaign strategy was successful. Not only did St. Thomas meet its target of $205,000, it actually raised more than $270,000.
Work is underway on our strategic plan