An Ablaze! Fundraising update (Mollie)

Here’s an interesting update from the August 21-22 Board of Directors meeting:

70. Fan Into Flame Report

Jeff Craig-Meyer, Associate Executive Director of LCMS World Mission Development Services, provided an updated report of the Fan Into Flame fundraising effort, noting that the campaign has passed the one-third mark of its goal with contributions totaling $33,512,734, of which $16,108,681 has been received in cash. Of the total amount, approximately $20 million has been received from major/individual gifts and $13 million through congregational appeals. He also called attention to campaign expenses totaling $9,841,923 through May 31, including $5,274,286 for the CCS consultants’ contract, $1,026,508 for CCS campaign expenses, $2,026,508 for LCMS World Mission expenses, and $1,137,412 for LCMS Foundation expenses. . . .

After reviewing the coming schedule of major gift events and their potential long-term benefits, the presenters responded to questions regarding the involvement of all districts in the campaign, the professional assistance of the CCS consultants, the cause for expenses exceeding earlier predictions, and optimism that the $100 million dollar will be exceeded to such extent as to cover increased campaign expenses.

It is certainly interesting that over 61 percent of the Ablaze! contributions actually received as opposed to pledged ($16.1 million) have been eaten up by fundraising costs. It will be interesting to see how this proceeds.

I’m wondering what incentive the LCMS Foundation has to improve its operations. If all they have to do is answer a few tough questions a few times a year, I don’t anticipate much of a change in these bloated fundraising costs.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.