We're Building Something Great!
The Financial Plan
Today’s plan for the new building, including completion of all three levels of the building, will cost approximately $9.279 million.
To make a new building a reality, we are excited to partner with Care for Friends. They have a secured $3 million grant from the State of Illinois to put toward the project and agreed to additional fundraising as well. COS has continued its capital campaign for this project, building on its previous campaigns, and is projected to raise $3 million for the project. The remaining to funding will come from a $1.5 million loan, secured by Church of Our Saviour.
COS has had a long tradition of collaborating with the community, and we believe that a partnership with Care for Friends (which launched from COS’ Food for Friends program), will allow us to continue to nurture our respective missions and ministries for years to come.
Here are some details on each funding source.
COS 2012 Capital Campaign
In 2012, Church of Our Saviour launched a capital campaign to begin work on a parish hall reconstruction project to serve the needs of its own community. $1.5M was pledged in the campaign. The COS Vestry earmarked all funds from that campaign to be used for constructing a new building.
$276K of the 2012 dollars covered the architecture, design, and administrative work completed during the early stages of the project. There is still approximately $768K remaining from the 2012 campaign, which can be put toward the current project.
We know that some parishioners made a pledge to the 2012 campaign which they have not yet fulfilled. We expect about $225K of the outstanding pledges to be fulfilled for a total of $1M in funding. Any gifts above and beyond this amount will advance our current campaign goals.
Care For Friends Contribution
In the summer of 1968, Church of Our Saviour opened its doors for the first time to at-risk Chicagoans who sought shelter from the violence surrounding the Democratic National Convention in nearby Lincoln Park. Our “Food for Friends” program grew out of this effort and eventually became so large that it made sense for it to become an independent non-profit organization.
Care for Friends is now financially independent from Church of Our Saviour, but provides an annual rent payment to operate out of our Parish Hall. Care for Friends also employs their own staff for volunteer management, security, and operation of their programming, which includes a hot lunch, healthcare clinics, job training and enrollment, a food pantry, and after-school programming for young people.
As a separate 501(c)3, Care for Friends has a pool of donors and grantmakers unaffiliated with COS. Through these sources, they have secured $3M in grant funding to build or buy a permanent home for their organization.
Care for Friends intends to direct this funding to Church of Our Saviour’s building project and operate their programming on the lowest level of the new building.
COS 2020-21 Capital Campaign
In the fall of 2020, as it became clear that the Care for Friends contribution would revitalize our campaign, we began talking with donors whose financial gifts could help move the project forward.
In early 2021 we launched the current capital campaign and have secured $1.6M to-date. The generosity of generations of parishioners and the partnership of Care for Friends puts us closer than ever to breaking ground on a new community center.
We need your support to cross the finish line, though! We still have a gap of $400,000 to raise in order to complete the project.
Debt/Building Loan
We also have the capacity to take on up to $2M in debt to complete the building. Interest rates are still historically low for 30-year mortgages. In addition to the 50-year lease Care for Friends is willing to enter into for use of the new building, we also believe that the upper level of the building will be an attractive rental space for a variety of community groups. While we will not secure tenant(s) until we have a construction timeline finalized, we do anticipate interest in renting the space which can help service any debt we take on for the project.