Step 3: Set the Goal
One memorial gift gave us a fine start. Others quickly
added their support.
--an organ fund committee member
In nearly all first-time campaigns, the church faces an apparent dilemma between the amount of money needed for a new organ and the amount the church believes it has the capacity to raise. Too many churches make the mistake of guessing "what can likely be raised' from the congregation, usually based only upon anecdotal information. An unreliable estimate sometimes determines the price range of a new instrument. How does a church handle this dilemma?
First, determine the most desirable instrument for the needs of the church, then the selection's cost becomes the basis for testing a possible campaign objective-and for establishing a more realistic goal. From experience, we know that organs for most churches will fall within three broad ranges of costs, depending upon the size of the church:
- Lower Range: $100,000- $400,000
- Middle Range: $400,000 - $800,000
- Upper Range: $800,000 - $1.5 million
Also from experience, we know that successful campaigns will reflect the following general divisions:
- One or two gifts will equal approximately twenty percent of the goal.
- The top thirty gifts will equal approximately sixty percent of the goal.
- Another seventy-five gifts will equal approximately fifteen percent
of the goal. - The final five percent of the goal will come from many smaller gifts.
The following illustrates the basic principles described above:
| Goal: $200,000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | No. Gifts | Amount of Gift | Total | % of Goal |
| Upper Tier | 2 | $20,000 | $40,000 | 20% |
| Middle Tier | 3 | $10,000 | $30,000 | 60% |
| 5 | $5,000 | $25,000 | ||
| 6 | $4,000 | $24,000 | ||
| 7 | $3,000 | $21,000 | ||
| 10 | $2,000 | $20,000 | ||
| Lower Tier | 12 | $1,000 | $12,000 | 15% |
| 16 | $500 | $8,000 | ||
| 50 | $200 | $10,000 | ||
| All other gifts | $10,000 | 5% | ||
The same goal can be reached through different gift amounts and different numbers of gifts. The following example, a variation of the illustration above, depicts this guideline:
| Goal: $200,000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | No. Gifts | Amount of Gift | Total | % of Goal |
| Upper Tier | 4 | $10,000 | $40,000 | 20% |
| Middle Tier | 6 | $5,000 | $30,000 | 58% |
| 10 | $2,500 | $25,000 | ||
| 12 | $2,000 | $24,000 | ||
| 12 | $1,500 | $18,000 | ||
| 20 | $1,000 | $20,000 | ||
| Lower Tier | 20 | $750 | $15,000 | 20.5% |
| 20 | $500 | $10,000 | ||
| 30 | $250 | $7,500 | ||
| 80 | $100 | $8,000 | ||
| All other gifts | $2,500 | 1.5% | ||
Everything we tried was a success. It was easier than we anticipated.
-- organ fund chairperson
For example, the organ fundraising committee, following the above illustrations, identifies prospective donors who have the capacity of making a $10,000 gift to the organ fund. They will look for others with the capacity for $5,000, others at $2,000, and so on down through the chart-listing names of individual prospects beside the gift amounts needed. In this manner, the committee emerges with a more dependable analysis of the gift potential within the congregation, and a campaign goal can be set with more reliability.
The following portrays the common occurrence of quickly raising a portion of the goal to get started. For example, if $75,000 is secured toward a $200,000 goal, the remainder could be achieved through weekly gifts:
| Goal: $125,000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Gifts | Weekly | Amount | Total | % of Goal |
| 20 | $10.00 | $1,560 | $31,200 | 25% |
| 20 | 7.50 | 1,170 | 23,400 | 19% |
| 50 | 5.00 | 780 | 39,000 | 31% |
| 60 | 2.50 | 390 | 23,450 | 19% |
| 51 | 1.00 | 156 | 8,112 | 6% |
It is important to note that more gifts are raised after the church has signed a contract with the organ builder than before. Many churches sign contracts when they have approximately 30% of the objective in hand or pledged. There is usually ample time to allow pledges to be paid while the organ is being built.
