If you have general or specific questions about contributing (frequency, stock options, etc.) contact our treasurer at treasurer@stpaulseattle.org.
Update, August 31, 2023
Celebrating our Capital Campaign Success
Last spring we kicked off the capital campaign to raise $1,011,700 to make St. Paul's accessible for all and to complete long-deferred repairs. Your response was terrific, and by mid-summer we increased our goal to raise an additional $150,000 to address further important improvements to our buildings and grounds.
As we reach the end of August 2023, we are very close to meeting the increased goal thanks to your generous response. We have $449,533 on hand in funds that preceded the campaign, mostly bequests from donors who wanted their gifts to support our buildings and grounds. We raised $670,896 in pledges and donations for the campaign itself. Thank you! If anyone is still discerning whether to participate, or whether to increase their pledge, know that we are just $41,271 away from our increased goal.
We are planning a festive celebration on Sunday, October 1st after the 10:30 liturgy to mark this moment in our history, and hear a more detailed report on what we've accomplished as well as our construction plans for the coming months. Father Stephen will also lead celebrations and information sessions following the 8:00am and 5:00pm masses. Please join us.
Joe McDermott and Laura Saunders, Capital Campaign Co-Chairs
The Rev. Stephen Crippen, Rector
From the Rector, June 1, 2023
Repairing and Revitalizing our Church Home and Mission Base
For the past few Sundays, I’ve been giving small updates on our Capital Campaign, which began this spring. It’s time for a more detailed look at how things are going. I am profoundly gratified and encouraged to report that the Campaign is going tremendously well. Thank you to all who have already pledged, and to all who are still discerning their involvement. Thank you so much. You are faithfully stepping forward to repair and revitalize our church home and mission base, and your efforts will touch the lives of our parishioners and neighbors for decades to come.
The Original Plan
Our hope was to do the following projects at a cost of $1,011,700, with pledges fully met by the end of 2024. Items marked with a 🔹 are part of our effort to make our buildings and grounds fully accessible to all.
New roof on both buildings; resealed skylights above the sanctuary
New decorative-metal fence around the perimeter of the grounds
New & relocated east outdoor trash/recycling shed
New exterior stairs (with railings and landing) to the church office
Remodeled, welcoming, and more secure office reception area
Upgraded rector’s office for team meetings & pastoral care
New flooring in office area (carpet or tile)
New floor tile in parish hall
Repainted office area and parish hall
Repainted exterior of the office building
🔹 New bridge from the parking lot to the sanctuary
🔹 New ADA-compliant ramp to the parish hall on the south side
🔹 New handrails for all indoor stairways (on both edges of stairways)
🔹 Upgraded restroom off the parish hall to make it ADA-compliant
Many of these projects are long overdue, and their completion will prevent expensive deferred maintenance, particularly in the case of the roof. The office building is showing its age (85 years), and needs to be refurbished to be safe, welcoming, and useful for staff, volunteers, worshipers, guests, and vendors. Our relatively newer building, now aged 61 years, shares with the office building a deep need for accessibility improvements.
I am delighted to report that we have received enthusiastic support from nearly half of our pledging households, with just a little ways to go on our original goal:
Funds on hand, including those given by member bequests: $406,000
Amount pledged as of June 1, 2023: $559,501
Remainder to be raised against the original goal: $46,199
Again, thank you!
The vestry has also authorized the use of our separate, existing liturgy fund to take care of these items:
🔹 Four shortened sanctuary pews (two are complete)
Repaired glass (scratched by a vandal) in the parish hall
What’s Next?
As you have seen in recent newsletters and other announcements, our Accessibility Task Force has identified several other issues that, if addressed, would make our entire building complex accessible to all, with only three remaining exceptions – the choir loft and the altar and pulpit steps. I am confident that we will exceed our original goal, given the overwhelmingly positive response so far. If we exceed it substantially, we could do several more things that have long been on our wish list, and would profoundly improve our facilities:
🔹 A chair lift for the small stairway leading to the chapel, sacristy, and office
🔹 A new south exterior entrance to the library and children’s rooms (& restroom), entering from halfway down the new south ramp
🔹 New and higher (easier on the knees) altar-rail cushions
🔹 New flooring (carpet or tile) throughout the office building, including safer stairways
🔹 Upgraded sound system in the sanctuary
Cladding of the office building exterior due to siding decay
Windows in the exterior (south-facing) and interior (office-facing) walls of the upgraded rector’s office, for light and safe-church compliance
New lighting in the office area and parish hall
Repaired and possibly redesigned ceiling in the parish hall
Clerestory windows in the chapel, for ventilation and light
Repainted chapel walls and ceiling
Replacement of the irreparable garden fountain
To be able to afford the items on our wish list, and to safeguard against cost overruns of all projects, we would love to raise an additional $150,000. This gives us a new goal for remaining pledges of $196,190
How You Can Help
Make a Pledge
If you haven’t yet pledged, please consider doing so. Your generous gift joins those of many others to continue our historic and prophetic mission at 15 Roy Street. I hope we can have full participation of all pledging households, regardless of the amount. No gift is too small!
Sponsor a Project
If you find one of the items on our list particularly interesting, contact me to ask about being the benefactor of that particular item. Some of them are relatively small, at least by comparison to the others (for example: the altar-rail cushions). At some point in the coming weeks, I may be coming to you about this, too!
Extend a Matching-Gift Challenge
Whether or not you already have pledged, I invite you to consider joining a group of parishioners we are forming to extend a matching-gift challenge as part of our effort to add the additional needed items to our original project list. One member has already indicated a desire to offer a matching gift, and I would love to find more, to create a matching challenge of $50,000-$75,000. If the matching challenge is $75,000, and other households meet the challenge, then we’ve raised our additional $150,000! Again, no matter how much you are able to give, your participation is what helps St. Paul’s the most.
I hold all of us in prayer as we undertake this daunting yet energizing task together. We are doing what God commanded our patron, St. Paul, to do: “Get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do” (Acts 9:6).
With profound gratitude, I am faithfully yours,
FAQs
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From time to time churches need to spend a lot of money on a substantial upgrade to their buildings. Churches are not in the business of making money, and, unless they are beneficiaries of multiple wealthy donors, don’t have the money available to tackle huge projects – like a new roof. Our budget each year is tight. We generally have a balanced budget, but it’s not easy, and your vestry is very careful to spend your donations wisely and carefully, and always with prayerful consideration. So when we need to tackle a big expensive project, we launch a capital campaign. Pledges made to the capital campaign are separate from your annual pledges, and they allow us to embark on much needed work, knowing that the members of the parish have promised to fund that work.
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Yes, it’s a lot of money. Almost triple our pledge income each year. And your vestry knows that most of you cannot simply give 4 times the amount you pledged last fall.
We are not expecting to raise all of the money from parishioners. St Paul’s, thanks to generous bequests, has some money that we invest through the diocese – our Diocesan Investment Funds (DIF). One of these funds is specifically set aside for building issues. While we draw 4% of these funds each year, to help us balance our budget, using the entirety of our Property DIF for a new roof, and much needed repairs to our office building, is exactly the purpose of having such a fund. It is entirely appropriate, and good stewardship, to use our Property Fund to cover a significant portion of the cost.
Additionally, we received a bequest from Tom Edwards, Br. Basil, at the end of 2019. We invested this money, and did not simply roll it into our operating budget, even when that would have been very helpful. It is good stewardship to use bequests for special projects that will have a long term benefit to the parish.
So we have some of the money already. But we need all of you to contribute as you are able. We will have pledging options set up soon, where you can pledge a monthly amount over and above your regular pledge, pledge a lump sum payment, or transfer stock to St Paul’s (as a non-profit we don’t pay capital gains tax, and the full value of the stock is a tax deductible donation for you). -
We will have two opportunities for you to give us feedback and suggestions, on February 19th, and March 19th. There will be both in-person and Zoom discussions. We look forward to hearing your suggestions. We are also forming a task force made up of parishioners with mobility issues to advise us on how best to meet their needs. If you have mobility issues and would like to be on this Taskforce, please email the parish office.
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We would love to put in an elevator, providing access to all levels of our buildings. We even had the architect draw up plans to do just that. Then we got quotes of over $2 million dollars, plus a 5 figure annual maintenance bill. We simply don’t have the money.
An ADA-compliant ramp would need to extend from the parking lot, right up to the edge of the labyrinth, turn around, and then continue up to the office. The much shorter and almost-level ramp in the tentative plans (from the parking lot directly into the front corner of the church) is priced at $158,000. A ramp to the office would be many, many multiples more expensive, take up parking spaces, impact our labyrinth, and block light into the church.
We have the option, at a future date, of putting in a chair lift for the stairs from the church up to the chapel and office area. Or if we raise enough money, that can be part of this project. And part of this project will be to upgrade railings and lighting throughout our buildings, so that stairs are easier to navigate than they are now. -
We need to replace the roof urgently, and roof work can only be done in the summer. We hope to replace the roof this summer. We can begin work on the fence soon too. This will have the advantage of securing the construction site for the rest of the work. Once we have a final plan, we can apply for permits, and get firm bids from contractors. Ideally we would like to begin the work on the office building late this year.
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We don’t expect to have all of the capital campaign pledges paid by then. In fact, we know we will not. But the work is urgent, and we have the option of making a temporary loan to ourselves from our general endowment fund, which we will pay back as we receive your promised pledge payments.