Thompson named interim director of funds development

Successful completion of Joining Hearts & Hands campaign is top priority of seasoned fundraiser

Bob Thompson

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Robert L. Thompson, Certified Fund Raising Executive, has joined the General Assembly Council (GAC) communications and funds development staff as interim director of funds development.  The announcement was made by Karen Schmidt, deputy executive director for communications and funds development.  Thompson assumed his new duties on July 16, 2007.

Thompson, an elder at the Waverly Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pa., has served as counsel to more than 200 churches and church-related organizations, schools, medical institutions and other nonprofit organizations.  32 of his more than 40 years of fundraising counseling were spent with Ketchum Inc., where he ultimately served as chair of the board.  Most recently, as president of R.L. Thompson Associates and consultant to Church Financial Campaign Services (CFCS), Thompson has focused on capital campaigns and other services for churches and church-related organizations and on counseling for clients in planned giving and strategic planning.

“We are blessed to have someone of Bob’s caliber heading up our funds development office,” Schmidt said.  “His considerable knowledge, expertise and proven track record in fundraising will ensure that this program area receives outstanding leadership and direction.”

One of Thompson’s first priorities is to oversee the successful completion of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, the denomination’s national campaign to raise $40 million for new overseas mission personnel and church growth in this country, particularly racial ethnic and immigrant congregations.  Joining Hearts & Hands, which has raised $27.6 million as of June 30, 2007, is scheduled to bring its final report to the 218th General Assembly (2008) in San Jose, Calif.

In its final phase, Joining Hearts & Hands will be reaching out to congregations with the capacity to make gifts of $250,000 or more to the campaign.  To lend assistance and credibility to the congregational effort, the steering committee last year endorsed a member of the committee, the Rev. Dr. Tom Gillespie, president emeritus of Princeton Theological Seminary, as its honorary chair.  In collaboration with Gillespie, Thompson has developed a plan for the campaign’s “final push.”

Steering committee co-chairs, the Rev. Dave Peterson and the Rev. Joanna Adams, will continue to provide ongoing leadership for this last phase of the campaign, along with an expanded group of steering committee members and others working as a Leadership Task Force.

To achieve the campaign’s ambitious goal, Thompson has recently completed the staffing for Joining Hearts & Hands by recruiting a team of experienced consultants who, along with David York, will execute the final push.  York has served as campaign director since October 2006.

Joining the staff leadership team as of July 30, 2007, are John Elder Wray, Pittsburgh, Pa.; James L. Vande Berg, St. Augustine, Fla.; Robert J. Kukla, West Chicago, Ill.; and Kevin J. Garvey, Zionsville, Ind.  All bring outstanding credentials in fundraising and have held key leadership positions in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

“With our team now in place, and with God’s help,” Thompson said, “I have every confidence that we will get the job done.”