Christian School Capital Campaigns


When it comes to assuring the future growth and success of Christian schools, few activities will yield as significant an impact as a Christian School capital campaign, helping the Christian school to take a substantial leap forward in the fulfillment of its mission.

What is a Christian School capital campaign?

A Christian school capital campaign is an intense effort on the part of a Christian school to raise significant dollars in a short period of time, typically for acquiring, constructing, or renovating a building. Increasingly often today, however, the campaign’s focus may be on raising funds to develop athletic fields and facilities, initiate a new program, build an endowment for the future, purchase major equipment, retire debt, conduct renovations, or any combination of these or other purposes.

How does a Christian school capital campaign differ from any other type of capital campaign?

Let’s face it. Christian Schools are unique. You don’t raise money for a Christian school capital campaign like you would for a college, university, hospital, museum, or any other type of non-profit. To a certain extent, a Christian school capital campaign is somewhat similar to a church capital campaign, in that you have a fairly defined constituency (parents, alumni, grandparents, etc.) who you want to go to for support. If the Christian school is operated by or closely associated with a particular church or group of churches, you may also look to those church or denominational constituencies for support. At the same time, Christian schools also often have opportunities for broader community support, which means you may also have opportunity to look to local businesses, foundations, and individuals for some significant gifts. Finally, Christian School capital campaigns are distinct from other community campaigns in one very important way, and that is that they are based on Christian Stewardship principles. A Christian School capital campaign is not about tactics or techniques. Rather, it is a program rooted in Biblical Stewardship principles to lead your constituents through a time of spiritual growth and prayerful consideration of how God would have them respond to the needs and opportunities.

How long does it usually take to run a Christian school capital campaign?

A Christian School capital campaign will generally proceed through four distinct phases: an initial Pre-Campaign / Feasibility Study, followed by the three phases of a comprehensive campaign: a "Quiet" Leadership phase, a Public Campaign phase, and the Fulfillment phase.

The pace of your campaign will depend primarily on three things: 1) how well your campaign activities are planned out, 2) how timely your campaign committee members are on following through on their assignments, and 3) your donors’ timing. Some donors will give you a final answer during the same visit that you ask for a gift. Others may require more time in order to pray, consider, and discuss before making a final decision.

In general, most campaigns take 12-18 months to complete the planning and the active campaign phases, and up to three years for pledge payments to be fully collected.

What are some common mistakes Christian schools make in conducting a Christian school capital campaign?

  • Not conducting a Pre-Campaign / Feasibility Study
Comprehensive pre-campaign planning is an essential element of a major capital campaign—many campaigns have been scuttled by a premature or ill-planned launch. A capital campaign is too important to the future of your school to proceed on blind faith! When considering a major capital campaign, an internal assessment of your Christian school’s readiness, and an external assessment of the willingness and ability of the school's constituency to support the campaign should be conducted. The purpose of the Pre-Campaign / Feasibility Study is to provide objective data to assist in making critical decisions to determine the likely success of a Christian school capital campaign.

  • Going public too soon
The success or failure of most Christian school capital campaigns is generally determined before they are even publicly announced. For almost any major Christian school capital campaign, it is almost impossible to reach the final goal through small gifts. One of the most common mistakes is to assume that if you get some good publicity the whole Christian school community will rally to the cause and give once you formally announce your campaign. They will, but they won’t give at the level you will need to succeed. The major gifts you raise during the Quiet / Leadership Phase of the campaign will make or break your eventual success. Don’t rush to make an announcement. Focus first on the face-to-face meetings with these key major gift donors – they are critical to the eventual success of your Christian school capital campaign.

  • Not seeing the campaign through to completion
When most people think of a Christian school capital campaign they think of only the public phase, which represents the middle part of the campaign. Truth is, however, the success or failure of most Christian school capital campaigns is determined at the beginning and the end. The most important part of the campaign is in the early phases, when most of the planning is conducted and the major gifts are secured. The end stage of the campaign is also critically important, however. Most people who give to a Christian school capital campaign will do so with a multi-year pledge. Too often campaign committees pack up and go home once they have secured a sufficient amount of cash and pledges to complete the project. But what if a sizeable amount of these pledges are not collected? Or what if once building commences the costs of the project are a little higher than anticipated? At the end of the day, the campaign is not going to be a success until the project is complete and all the pledges are fulfilled. The Fulfillment Phase of the campaign is important to ensuring that the vast majority of pledges are fulfilled, and that new gifts are continually being secured to replace that small percentage of pledges that will go unfulfilled and/or to offset unexpected cost increases or overruns, ensuring that your Christian school is not burdened by unforeseen cash flow problems down the road.

Why should we choose to use a capital campaign consultant to provide capital campaign counsel to help us with our Christian school capital campaign?

A Christian school capital campaign is one of the most significant initiatives your Christian school will undertake. It is a complex undertaking, and is critically important that it be done right. To succeed, a Christian school capital campaign must have a very high profile. This means that if it flops, it will be a high-profile flop. You also generally only have one shot at getting it right. There are many ways that a Christian school capital campaign can “go off the rails”, and when it does it can be very difficult to get it back on track.

With so much at stake, most Christian schools wisely choose to retain a Capital Campaign Consulting Firm to help guide them through their Christian school capital campaign to a successful completion.

What are the benefits of retaining a Capital Campaign Consulting Firm to provide Christian school capital campaign counsel for our Christian school capital campaign?

As the saying goes, when you need expertise hire an expert.

At Keystone Consulting, our consultants will work with you to craft a customized Christian school capital campaign fundraising plan to help your Christian school turn your vision into reality as current and new friends are taught Biblical stewardship principles and are asked to make gifts over and above their current involvement with the ministry.

Whether you are looking to conduct a campaign for new buildings, athletic facilities, debt reduction, an endowment, a combination of the above, or any other type of major fundraising campaign, we are experts in providing the counsel and assistance to successfully complete a Christian school capital campaign that will help your Christian school take a substantial leap forward in the fulfillment of its God-given ministry.

Keystone Consulting personnel have extensive experience in guiding Christian schools through successful campaigns. We have helped hundreds of Christian schools just like yours raise hundreds of millions of dollars for their Christian school capital campaigns, and would welcome the opportunity to assist your Christian school in meeting its goals.

For more information please call us at (800) 382-0094, or via email at info@keystone-consulting.com.