The diocese is set to relaunch its $65-million fundraising campaign.
The campaign has been on hold for the past year because of the slumping economy, but Archbishop Colin Johnson says the time is right to restart it.
“The needs for ministry continue and call for our faithful response and support,” he says. “The economic situation appears to be stabilizing. I believe, along with our diocesan leadership, that we need to reactivate the financial campaign that we put on hold when the recession developed.
“We are people who have been given abundant resources by a generous God,” he says. “There are critical opportunities to engage in ministry and mission in our church today: reaching out to people who have no connection with Christ; new ways of proclaiming the Gospel, both inside the church and, more importantly, beyond its walls; building on the excellence in ministry we are already doing; supporting ministry in isolated and under- resourced areas in the Council of the North’s dioceses; and supporting your own parish. The Anglican Church is a great gift. We offer intelligent faith, engaging community, transforming worship and compassionate outreach.”
Diocesan Council approved the campaign two years ago after a feasibility study found that there was strong support in the diocese for a major fundraising initiative. The study found that 83 per cent of those interviewed said they would give to the campaign, and an additional 11 per cent would consider giving.
The study was conducted by Community Counseling Services (CCS), one of North America’s most experienced and respected fundraising firms in the area of church campaigns. They interviewed 303 clergy, church members and diocesan leaders.
Those interviewed responded favourably to the idea of raising money for the following areas: to plant new congregations and build new churches; for clergy formation and leadership development; to help parishes engage more effectively with their communities; to support ministry in other parts of Canada; and to fund outreach programs and other grants-in-aid. The study also concluded that FaithWorks should continue independently from the fundraising campaign.
Those findings will shape the upcoming campaign, says Peter Misiaszek, the diocese’s director of Stewardship Development. Like the diocese’s successful Faith In Action campaign 20 years ago, a sizeable chunk of funds raised will be retained by parishes for their own capital or ministry enrichment, he says. The amount retained by parishes will be determined this spring by an advisory committee made up of clergy and laity.
CCS, which ran Faith In Action and the national church’s popular Anglicans in Mission, has been hired to coordinate the upcoming campaign. Beginning in March, it will work with the diocese to develop resources and solicit major gifts from individual Anglicans.
Mr. Misiaszek says the campaign will be run in 10 to 15 selected parishes in the fall. “We will identify parishes that feel they are ready to do something now and we will intensively run the campaign in those parishes. They will benefit by having a professional fundraising firm working with them. This pilot campaign will help us fine-tune the campaign and its resources and prepare it for the next phase.”
The next stage of the campaign will begin in February, 2011 and last until January, 2012. During that phase, about 60 churches at a time will run the campaign in three- to four-month intervals. By the end of the campaign, every church in the diocese will have had a chance to participate.
Mr. Misiaszek says he is confident the campaign will reach its goal. “Previous generations in the Anglican Church have ensured that future generations were resourced, and we will continue to do that. We will raise these funds so that the church of the future can function effectively and grow in ways we haven’t even foreseen.”
He says the campaign has its roots in the Acts of the Apostles and the early Christian communities. “People worked together to ensure the growth and prosperity of the early church. Acts 2 talks of planting churches and growing new congregations. That’s going to be a strong focus of this campaign.”
The estimated cost of the campaign is 9.23 per cent of $65 million, or $6 million. This is considered competitive by industry standards, says Mr. Misiaszek. The campaign expenses for the first six months will be about $600,000, to be paid for out of the diocese’s Ministry Allocation Fund. The loan will be paid back, with interest, upon receiving the first non-designated donations from the campaign.
