Free e-Book

Our gift to the church. Our eBook explores why a discernment and engagement-based approach works better than traditional fundraising, and tells you how to do it.

Church Capital Campaigns eBook

About The Book

Many churches have experienced an unsuccessful capital campaign in their history. A poorly conducted campaign that utilizes outdated and inappropriate tactics can have a devastating impact on the church.  Not only will the goal of raising much-needed funds not be met, but in many cases, a failed campaign can tear a community apart and take years to heal, if it can recover at all.

In this capital campaign overview, we hope to show you how Church Development’s proven methods of Discernment and Engagement are a far-better approach to raise the funds needed for your ministry, and in the process, ignite a community-wide passion for your mission. We’ll cover the many pitfalls that undermine well-meaning church capital campaign tactics used by traditional fundraising consultants and how to avoid them. We will also include a self-assessment tool to determine if your community is ready to undertake a capital campaign.

If you’ve been faced with a need for a church capital campaign and are trying to figure out how to go about it, or you’ve survived at least one high-pressure capital campaign and are desperately looking for another way, this book is for you.

Denis is great at presenting what has been proven to work: he's got data and science to back up what he preaches. That's one of the aspects of Church Development that we like.

Judy Bowman, St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church

Through our capital campaign, church members’ lives were transformed. Now, our annual giving, volunteerism and attendance have all increased.

Rev. Dr. Dan Dolquist, Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church

Our previous debt relief capital campaign consultant raised $2M, Church Development raised $3.5M, with the same boring case for support.

Jeremy Heinen, Holy Trinity Catholic Church

About the author.

Denis began working in the nonprofit development field in 1981. He founded Church Development in 1992 after a near-death experience motivated him to integrate his faith, education and skills in work that served the church and the virtue of stewardship. 

His undergraduate and graduate studies are in organizational development.  He is the author of two books, The Stewardship System and Stewardship-Based Capital Campaigns.  Denis Greene is a proud member of the elite Catholic Speakers Organization, CatholicSpeakers.com.

With decades of experience in conducting church capital campaigns, Denis has the expertise to guide any parish or congregation toward success that is much broader than financial.

Denis Greene