Saint Luke’s Reaches $7 Million in Capital Campaign…Doesn’t Stop There

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
June 12, 2010

Darien, Connecticut – Saint Luke’s Parish, established in 1855 and currently the spiritual home of approximately 1,000 families, was faced with increasingly pressing infrastructure and space challenges that led to a Vestry decision in early 2007 to conduct a capital campaign for funding to resolve the most pressing of the challenges. The first step in the process was to select a campaign consulting firm to assist in that campaign. James D. Klote & Associates was the firm selected.

The priority needs that were determined included:

• Deterioration of the mortar bonding the stone blocks in the church and education building walls
• Failure of critical components in the pipe organ
• Space limitations in Franklin House, home to Person-to-Person, a social services agency originally established in 1968 as an outreach ministry of Saint Luke’s, currently assisting over 24,000 people annually – with the help of 250 volunteers. Additionally, the second floor of Franklin House has for many years served as home to a Saint Luke’s clergy family.
• Space limitations in the education building, home to the Sunday School classes and the weekday Saint Luke’s Parish School, brought about by the changes in the Sunday School program.
• Lack of availability of affordable housing for clergy and administrative staff positions.
• Buildings & Grounds Endowment funding level that had not kept pace with the increasing costs of augmenting the annual operating budget for building and grounds maintenance
• Outreach Capital Fund

The total projected cost for the priority items, exclusive of the Outreach Capital Fund, was $7,072,000. The Outreach Capital Fund was to be funded with a “tithed-plus” portion of the campaign achievement and was targeted at $1,000,000. Funds for the Outreach Capital Fund were set aside as payments toward pledges were received.

The thirty-three week campaign, initiated in March 2008, has reached the $7 million level despite the onset during the campaign of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. The good news doesn’t end at that achievement level. New members will be provided the opportunity to join the campaign success during the five-year payments period which extends until mid 2013. Funding already received has provided for:

• The re-pointing of the church and education building masonry
• The installation of a Walker organ in the Sanctuary and the relocation of the old organ to the Chapel
• The completion of the two planned Clergy/Staff houses on campus. A third will be added later.
• The complete renovation and reconfiguration of Franklin House to accommodate the needs of Person-to-Person, providing private casework offices, an expanded clothing center and the conversion of a barn to a full service, self-select food pantry
• Outreach ministries: an expanded partnership with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bridgeport, CT, and the adoption of three villages in Malawi where monies are helping to create a systemic response to the needs of adults and children with HIV/AIDS

The implementation of the next phase o f the project, final design and construction of the Youth and Community Center is in full swing.

Julie Pearson, Junior Warden at the time the campaign began, stated unequivocally that “the Klote approach to campaign administration and leadership was central to St. Luke’s decision to retain the firm”. She also is convinced that the full-time on-site consultant approach is “the most effective means of campaign achievement”. She was faced with the task of deploying resources to manage the campaign and went on to say “without the James D. Klote & Associates full-time resident consultant, that responsibility would have fallen to an already over-burdened staff, most of who were not experienced with campaign management”.

With offices in Falls Church, Virginia and St. Charles, Illinois, James D. Klote & Associates is the largest full-time, on-site stewardship consulting firm in the country. For additional information, please contact the firm at www.jdklote.com or (800) 360-2315.