Good Samaritan Episcopal Church
Good Sam: who are they?
Good Sam’s close-knit community enjoys fellowship time together, highlighted by an annual outdoor worship service and parish picnic each autumn where they can truly marvel at the beauty of God’s creation all around us while we worship.
Good Sam’s parish motto is “Grow in Faith, Live in Hope, Share God’s Love,” and at Good Sam, we daily strive to meet these goals as our parish looks forward to the future together.
Phase I: listening
In the midst of the pandemic, the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan was asking crucial questions about their identity. As the congregation experienced online worship and virtual community, parishioners were reflecting what was of value and remained true over a changing season. Through a parish-wide listening phase we:
implemented a process for all voices to be heard
identified and defined the core values of the faith community
created a core filter for making decisions together
trained the leadership on how to use the filter across the organization.
In addition to identifying core values, the strategic visioning process prepared the congregation for a capital campaign as it provided a process for asking what it means to be a good neighbor in their context.
Phase II: feasibility
For some time, members of Good Sam dreamed of engaging in capital improvements. In the spring of 2023, they engaged in a feasibility study to determine the level of support for a proposed campaign. They wanted to move forward with the support of the congregation and, not having done a capital campaign in more than two decades, wanted to make sure they knew the:
level of awareness of the proposed plans within the parish
level of support for moving forward with a capital campaign
level of engagement by the congregation with the projects and their perception of priority
realistic and feasible goals should a campaign move forward
The results of our feasibility study strongly suggested that Good Sam move forward, and also provided insights into the congregation that would be invaluable to running a healthy capital campaign and to Good Sam's overall strategy for fundraising going forward.
Phase III: solicitation
With the feasibility study as as our infrastructure, we moved into the solicitation phase with confidence. In the fall of 2023, Good Sam launched Assurance of Things Hoped For, a capital campaign with a goal of $1,203,071. Leadership and volunteers invited gifts while also making sure to keep the congregation informed and engaged, and the process transparent.
In January 2024, Good Sam raised $1,305,155. They surpassed the goal the feasibility study pointed us toward, and just as importantly, they strengthened relationships and inspired the congregation to imagine new possibilities for love, active caring, and servanthood. A healthy capital campaign by all of our standards.
