Ben Stroup

Jim Tomberlin is the leading voice on multi-site churches today. I was thrilled when he agreed to offer some insights related to funding multi-site churches in a special post. You can follow Jim on Twitter, visit him on the Web, or check out his blog. Jim is “first class” in every sense of the phrase. Thanks, Jim. Great Job! (Note: Official bio information is at the bottom of this post.)

Multi-site has become a proven and effective strategy for launching new and vibrant congregations. Multi-site congregations have a high success rate because of the support and leverage of the sending church. So, what does it cost to go multi-site?
Here are some financial rules of thumb in multi-site church world:

• Multi-siting creates more seats at the optimal inviting hours for a fraction of the cost and in less time than adding on an existing church facility.
• Renting schools and theaters are the “lowest risk, lowest cost” way to multi-site.
• 50% of multi-site churches start in a school.
• $250k is the national average for start-up costs in a school or theater.
• 50% of start-up costs is for tech/media equipment; the rest is for portable equipment, marketing, and some staffing costs ramping up to launch.
• Add $1m for start-up renovation costs of a rented commercial facility.
• Church mergers or “absorptions and acquisitions” can be a low cost, fast-track, high impact way of multi-siting. Mutually-beneficial and mutually-desired church mergers are on the rise.
• Typically, churches will put multi-site funding into their operating budget and have a special fund-raising campaign to launch a multi-site campus.
• Churches will raise more money by utilizing a fund-raising, generosity specialist.
• It takes most campuses at least a year, two at the most, to become financially self-sustaining.
• It usually takes at least one year to recoup the people and financial investment at the sending campus.
• The larger the launch core, the sooner the campus can become self-sustaining functionally and financially.
• Giving tends to be higher per person at the new campus compared to the sending campus.
• The more people you launch with, the greater the overall net gain will be in attendance a year later.
• Typically, new campuses grow 25-50% in the first year. Many experience 50-100% growth!
• Multi-site was good stewardship in prosperous times, essential in tough economic times.