Calvary Family of Churches Grows 30+ Thriving Congregations with Donorbox

Introduction

You don’t feel the need for a church until it’s gone. That’s exactly what Calvary Family of Churches has tackled as they’ve built a network of 30+ interdependent churches across 9 states and 2 countries.

It’s all about launching, relaunching, and strengthening gospel-centered, healthy congregations. Closures are on the rise as attendance and donations dwindle nationwide. But through shared resources, convictions, and pastoral training, Calvary Family of Churches (CFC) has found a way to bring 15 churches back to life, and plant another 15 new churches.

To secure support for their mission, CFC first had to raise awareness and create urgency. The message: if church ministry disappears, community support and gospel go with it. Then, CFC looked for ways to give people a meaningful way to get involved in multiplication. Charitable giving was a key factor, which is where their partnership with Donorbox began in 2018.

Seeking security and flexibility

CFC wanted a way to steward giving with a platform that was faithful with donors’ information. Security was the top priority, so supporters could trust that their money was being handled responsibly.

The second priority was offering a variety of ways to give. And finally, because CFC hosts a lot of events, they wanted to be able to handle ticket transactions, gifts, and registration fees easily in one place.

Modern giving that inspires trust

Donorbox was a natural fit. Jeremy Conrad, Executive Director at CFC, explained: “The trust Donorbox inspires is really helpful. Church members trust us as we lead them through a plant or replant. We found a partner who inspires confidence and trust on the financial side.”

Donorbox’s payment options immediately appealed to CFC’s multi-generational community. “What we loved about Donorbox from the beginning was that they leveraged ways to give that people are already comfortable with – Apple Pay, Venmo, and others,” shared Jeremy.

On the event planning side, CFC has been using Donorbox Events to create campaigns, sell tickets, track revenue, and manage registrations for flagship events, like their annual Non-Ignorable Conference.

Planting and revitalizing 30+ churches

Calvary’s church network has been growing steadily since 2013. What started as one church in Denver, Colorado has grown to 34 churches, many of which are nearby, but also extend many states over. Ministries are unified with a shared vision and core convictions.

But this growth was not as simple as it sounds: 15 of these were dying churches, on the brink of closing their doors. Through prayer and faithful pastors who shepherded people to reach their community and embrace the gospel, each church began to slowly come back to life. Today, they’re thriving, vibrant communities.

CFC’s impact goes beyond planting and replanting churches. One is developing leaders. Last year, 20 pastors were part of their revitalization cohort. Additionally, they invest in the development of other networks with similar convictions, launching 3 new networks in recent years.

How does Donorbox support this growth? In three key ways: analytics, efficiency, and donor retention. Together, these factors have helped CFC increase donations by 30% from when they started using the platform to today, bringing in over $1.7 million from nearly 10,000 online donations via Donorbox.

“Donorbox brings instant visibility to metrics that would otherwise go unseen. We get a look behind the curtain with our dashboard, which saves us from asking staff to spend hours finding the information on their own,” said Jeremy. “We’re engaging donors in new ways with this information.”

Built-in automation frees up a lot of time: “Donorbox has definitely made our work more efficient. Tax receipts alone used to take us 3 to 4 days, and now it’s a click. It’s seriously one click,” explained Jeremy.

Recurring giving has been invaluable in fueling their mission. “Donor retention has been one of the biggest benefits of using Donorbox. In the past, when we relied on people sending in checks, we found they’d only send one when they remembered. And when they forgot to, we didn’t know. With Donorbox, we can give them the option to give a consistent recurring gift online, and that’s so helpful.”

The Future

In June, CFC hosted its annual conference that brings together all 34 churches plus others that are outside of the family, which is a highlight each year. Registrations were managed with Donorbox Events. The conference fosters friendship and helps Christian leaders refine their focus, bringing attention to why they’re in this together in the first place.

Asked whether they’d recommend Donorbox to others, Jeremy replied: “We’d absolutely recommend Donorbox. Customer service has been excellent and responsive throughout. What we appreciate most is that Donorbox is known and trusted. Our donors feel confident giving, and that’s what matters most to us.”

Donorbox is grateful to support the growth of Calvary Family of Churches’ ministries over the long term.

Donorbox features used

• Events
• Campaigns
• Donation Designations
• Suggested Amounts
• Recurring Donations
• Digital Wallet Options