St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church

THE CHALLENGE

Initially, church leadership at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church planned to conduct a capital campaign internally in order to fund a new campus and church building for the parish. Immediate efforts lost effectiveness and the church fell short of goal. With hitting this roadblock, St. Philip leadership needed additional guidance and assistance to find fundraising success.

THE VISION

In order to realign community expectations, the new plan included:
• Constructing a new church campus.
• Rearranging building plans to include a usable sactuary for immediate use for Mass.
• Expanding parking options for the growing community.
• Building a secondary parish hall.

THE SOLUTION

With a vision for a new direction on the campaign, Steier Group’s onsite guidance helped to reinvigorate the stalled campaign. Consistent messaging and communication proved to be an important aspect of reigniting enthusiasm throughout the community. The Steier Group team worked closely with the parish Director of Communications to provide campaign updates on the parish website and bulletins. This generated positive feedback from parishioners. Additionally, the campaign General Chairs spoke directly to the community on several occasions, expressing the importance of the campaign and stressing the teamwork needed for success. This partnership raised the amount needed to hit goal on the first campaign.

St. Philip enlisted the firm again in 2023 for another campaign. This effort aimed to retire debt from the first phase of construction and raise additional capital required by the Diocese of Fort Worth to move forward. A large group of volunteers signaled positive support from the community. All volunteers were active during the public phase of solicitation, which lead to personal contact for many donors. The second campaign exceeded goal by over $1.5 million, giving new life once again to this parish’s future.