LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 32

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32

SYNOD REPORTS

Through Dec. 31, 2012, the status of Fan into Flame was as
follows:
Total Gifts and Pledges to Fan into Flame:		
Cash Received/Disbursed:
LESS: 		
Uncollectable Pledges:
LESS: 		
Balance of Outstanding Pledges		

$69,311,720.94
($55,108,669.66)
($ 5,290,465.41)
$ 8,912,585.87

Figures include special gifts made as part of Fan into Flame to
deploy new Ablaze! Network Supported Missionaries (Total Pledges
and Cash Received/Disbursed of $8,926,184.06), and gifts made to
LCMS districts and congregations that conducted their own variation
of the campaign (Total Pledges of $8,158,748.71; Cash Received/
Disbursed of $5,753,987.71 and an Outstanding Pledge Balance of
$2,404,761.00).
A special report prepared at the conclusion of the active fund-raising phase of the campaign was provided to LCMS stakeholders in
November 2011. A digital version of the document, which reported
gifts and pledges from the campaign’s inception through Oct. 31,
2011, is available online from the Synod’s Web site.
Through Dec. 31, 2012, the status of Fan into Flame gifts and
pledges is as follows (unaudited):
Cash Disbursed as of December 31, 2012
Jerusalem (Local/Congregation Outreach)—15%
Judea (District Outreach)—15%			
Samaria (National Outreach)—20%		
Ends of the Earth (International)—50%		
Fan into Flame direct missionary support		
Campaign expenses funded by cash received		
Cash on deposit for Fan into Flame projects/personnel
District/Congregation sub-campaigns cash		
Subtotal of campaign cash received/disbursed

$ 2,317,318.67
$ 7,302,595.23
$ 3,321,057.23
$ 8,054,097.29
$ 8,926,184.06
$18,186,602.03
$ 1,246,827.44
$ 5,753,987.71
$55,108,669.66

Pledge Status as of Dec. 31, 2012
Uncollectable pledges as of Dec. 31, 2012		
Balance of outstanding pledges			

$5,290,465.41
$ 8,912,585.87

Subtotal of campaign pledges			

$14,203,051.28

Fan into Flame Campaign Total		

$69,311,720.94

Campaign Expense Deficit borne by Synod**

($1,981,994.32)

** To be recovered as outstanding pledges are fulfilled (10% cost ceiling)
and other unrestricted gifts for Fan into Flame are received.

Total campaign expenses of $20,168,596.35 represented 29.1% of
the campaign’s total terms of all gifts and pledges, or 31.5% of cash
and collectable pledges ($64,021,255.53). A sizable portion of the
campaign’s expense was the cost of utilizing an external campaign
consultant. The total cost ratio, while approaching the limit of what
is considered acceptable in terms of administration overhead (33%
according to the Better Business Bureau), is indicative of both internal and external challenges the Synod faced when it chose to mount
a significant denomination-wide fund-raising effort. Beginning in
mid-2007, the impact of the nation’s “Great Recession” on the ability of LCMS households, congregations, and districts to participate
in the campaign and fulfill pledges was a noteworthy external challenge. Recessionary economic realities such as unemployment and
the mortgage crisis likely limited the maximum potential revenue
for Fan into Flame below the established goal of $100 million, and
demanded higher-than-normal fund-raising energy to be expended.
Mission Advancement has assumed responsibility for encouraging
Fan into Flame donors to fulfill outstanding pledges and for monitoring the campaign’s financial performance through the fulfillment
phase, which will end in October 2017. The number of fund-raising
staff dedicated to servicing Fan into Flame has been reduced to one
non-traveling full-time staff member and part of a second full-time
staff member.
2013 Convention Workbook

Lutheran Malaria Initiative Update

Following overwhelming approval by delegates to the 2010 convention, the LCMS entered into a partnership with Lutheran World
Relief (LWR) of Baltimore, Maryland, in the Lutheran Malaria
Initiative (LMI), a collaborative effort to help end malaria-related
deaths in Africa by 2015. Underwritten by a grant from the United
Nations Foundation (unconnected to the United Nations), LMI set
an initial fund-raising goal of $45 million, with the LCMS seeking to secure 55% of that amount (or $25 million) over a four-year
time frame. The Initiative’s fund-raising effort was designed to focus
energy on two distinctly separate strategies: outreach via congregations and the 35 districts of the LCMS, and a robust major gifts effort.
The outreach component has been immensely successful. All
35 districts formally agreed to conduct LMI fund-raising efforts at
the congregation and organization level. In addition, three of our
Concordia universities (Irvine, Nebraska, and Portland) recruited
captains with fund-raising goals, who then engaged staff and faculty
in financially supporting the Initiative. The outreach component of
LMI has also been heavily involved in using social media to engage
LCMS households in both giving and advocacy. By God’s grace,
hundreds of Lutheran congregations, elementary and high schools,
Sunday Schools, Bible classes, and congregation-based groups have
generously provided $934,593 in gifts and another $950,128 in documented or verbal pledges toward the effort.
Despite the best efforts of LCMS major gifts staff members, the
second strategy has not met expectations. While a number of very significant and generous gifts and pledges for LMI were secured between
July 2010 and December 2012, progress did not meet approved performance benchmarks negotiated with the United Nations Foundation.
As a result, the opportunity to apply for a second, supplemental grant
was withdrawn from consideration. Campaign leaders are working to
reconfigure the fund-raising component toward more realistic goals
based on performance data gathered thus far. Through Dec. 31, cash
gifts from LCMS households totaled $956,500. Documented and verbal pledges added another $763,980.
As of Dec. 31, 2012, LCMS fund-raising efforts for LMI have
resulted in combined cash/ pledges totaling $3,605,201 out of a
total amount raised by the LCMS/LWR partnership of just over
$5,059,000. By design, the LCMS LMI programmatic efforts in
Africa work from a cash-only basis, and the Initiative has not financially over-extended itself as malaria-related mercy work is carried
out in the field. In November 2012, LCMS staffers, LCMS partner
church leaders, and President Matthew Harrison participated in a dedicated advocacy event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Visiting
with Senate and House members and Congressional staff, the team
encouraged ongoing investment in the fight against malaria by the
U.S. federal government. The event was considered successful both
by Synod personnel and congressional participants.
Communications and Accountability

In September 2012, Mission Advancement and the
Communications departments launched a new bi-monthly donor/
stakeholder relations publication titled Lutherans Engage the World.
The publication replaced three former newsletters produced by LCMS
World Missions or LCMS World Relief and Human Care. The single
publication is mailed to approximately 80,000 donor households as
well as rostered church workers, every congregation, and the libraries
of the 10 universities and two seminaries. Primarily an accountability
instrument, Lutherans Engage the World is designed to demonstrate
how the Synod utilizes the gifts and offerings of LCMS members to
carry out witness, mercy, and life together efforts domestically and
internationally. The magazine is also a part of a commitment to lower
the cost of raising direct gifts and deploy more of every donated dollar