There are two primary ways to raise funds to build a church. The first is a church fundraiser: offering things such as bake sales, chicken or spaghetti dinners, concerts and other events. However, the amount of money churches raise in this fashion is a small fraction of what they could have raised in the second way.
The second way is to raise funds through a church capital campaign.
Raising Funds for Church Building Programs: The Church Capital Campaign
The most effective form of fundraising for a church building program is a process that today we call a church capital campaign.
The typical results of a capital fundraising campaign are impressive. Statistics show that churches that seek (and follow) the help of a professional outside church capital campaign consultant will raise over a 3-year period, on average, two times their current annual giving to the operating budget. A church would have to sell a huge number of spaghetti or barbecue dinners to raise even a fraction of what a capital campaign would bring in.
There is a strong biblical basis for a church capital campaign. In every example in the OT, from the construction of the tabernacle to the rebuilding of the temple, when something needed to be built, repaired, or expanded, God’s people gave to the work according to the ability God had given them. Unlike church fundraisers, a capital campaign is an organized effort to encourage people to seek God’s will in giving an offering above and beyond their current giving for a capital project.
Click on the following link for more information about a church capital campaign.