Partnering with Greater Mission prior to our 275th anniversary truly changed the trajectory of St. Michael’s Church. Tom Sonni guided us with exceptional vision, mobilizing our community for stewardship and equipping us to launch a successful Capital Campaign.

As we approach the completion of the “Light to the Nations Campaign,” the impact is undeniable—we are transformed both financially and culture-wise across our staff. In my 19 years as a leader here, I have never been more energized or excited to lead our congregation!

The professionalism and the creativity of Grater Mission from beginning to end ensured the successful outcome of this campaign.

From the moment I encountered the Staff at Greater Mission, I was blown away by their confidence, joy and professionalism.

In four months working with Tom, we 
reached our $12 million goal and were able to build our new church.

I have worked for two dioceses during the past twenty-one years and I have worked with four different consulting firms on diocesan capital campaigns, annual appeals, and major gift initiatives. The Diocese of Richmond's Living Our Mission campaign is the most successful diocesan-wide capital and endowment campaign in which I have been involved.

We raised over$I03 million – – far exceeding our $65 million goal. 1 found that Greater Mission’s approach to fundraising embodies the spirit of sacrificial giving and authentic Catholic stewardship. Additionally, Greater Mission worked as a team with our staff. This is both efficient from a budget perspective, and now, our staff have skills and experience that wiII allow them to better serve the Diocese and parishes in the years to come.

I wish to express my best wishes and prayer support for the success of Greater Mission and all the projects that it is currently developing for the good of the Catholic Church. I also want to express my sincere gratitude for the help and advice they offered us during the capital campaign "United in Faith" at the parish of St. Bernadette in Cedartown, Georgia.

Thanks to the education, support, strategy and the accompaniment that you gave to the members of our community; we have been able to develop a successful campaign that we are now seeing in the construction of the new parish center, from where we can continue offering our service to this community so diverse in its members and its needs.

We had a VERY successful campaign…one that exceeded our expectations. This was, in large part, due to the experience and guidance of Tom Sonni with Greater Mission. The strategy that Tom outlined and worked to implement aligned perfectly with the spiritual approach that we were looking for.

This well-developed plan did not require a hard “sales pitch” or an excessive number of volunteers.  More importantly, the campaign created an excitement and sense of involvement among  our parishioners.  10 out of 10 would recommend!

On behalf of St. William Catholic Church, I am pleased to offer this letter of recommendation for Greater Mission in recognition of the outstanding work they provided in conduction our feasibility study and guiding us through the early stages of our Capital Campaign.

From the beginning of the process, the team at Greater Mission, specifically Fernando and Tony, demonstrated professionalism, expertise, and a genuine commitment to the mission of our parish. Beyond the technical aspects of the study, Greater Mission showed great sensitivity to the values and culture of our faith community. They approached every conversation with respect, encouragement, and a clear understanding of the importance of stewardship and parish engagement. 

Their guidance throughout the process gave us confidence and clarity as we moved forward in planning our capital campaign. The insights and recommendations they provided have been invaluable in helping us prepare for the next steps in strengthening our parish and advancing our mission. I wholeheartedly recommend Greater Mission to any parish or organization seeking experienced and mission-focused leadership for feasibility studies, capital campaigns, or stewardship initiatives.

By far, Greater Mission gave my parish the boost it needed for our Capital Campaign. Even though our diocesan managed feasibility study showed a low pledge potential, Tom Sonni and his firm gave such good direction that we have tripled that anticipated pledge amount for our church project.

As pastor, working side by side with Tom, he imparted a confidence and willingness in me that was truly amazing.  His knowledge of running a successful campaign is unbelievable and gets real results. 

I highly recommend Greater Mission to any church (or Diocese). Of all the different church projects (new churches, religious education buildings, church interior renovations) I have been a part of in the past forty years, Greater Mission is the one firm that I consider the Pearl of Great price.

As Vicar General of the Diocese of Lansing and pastor of two of its parishes, I want to officially recognize and commend the efforts made by your organization on our behalf during the recent Witness to Hope Capital Campaign, a first ever effort for our local Church. As the Priest Chair of the Campaign Cabinet,

I had the good fortune of working closely with Anthony Gwiazdowski, Donna Marino and many of the parish campaign directors. In every interaction, I found the Greater Mission staff to be exceedingly eager to be of service, courteous and professional. I also found them all to be people of deep faith, who are more motivated by mission than money. I do not believe either of my parishes would have made their respective goals without the direction and input of Greater Mission and following the formula laid out for us. That was in evidence all across the Diocese of Lansing. Pastors that worked closely with their director and followed the formula went well over goal. Those who did not heed the advice tended to fall short. The staff of both my parishes were pleased to partner with Greater Mission and have nothing but positive reviews of their interactions. If I were ever planning another parish or diocesan campaign, I would most definitely seek the assistance of Greater Mission. The staff are dedicated and motivated and those are necessary traits when planning ambitious undertakings. I believe Greater Mission leaves our diocese on a much stronger footing to take on the many challenges of the New Evangelization.

We worked with Greater Mission on a Capital Campaign in conjunction with the Diocese of Lansing. Our parish goal assessed by the Diocese was $937,756. Currently we have received in pledges a little over $2,368,000.

I found Greater Mission’s method to be well thought-out and highly effective. I was impressed by the spiritual component of Greater Mission’s approach. They emphasized including God in each donor’s decision-making process and to view the pledge decided upon as a way of supporting and building up the Church.

Thank you for your valuable assistance in helping us to have hope for our future. Your ministry will be in our prayers. And I do mean ministry!

In addition to raising funds for our local needs, the Living Our Mission campaign has provided an unexpected opportunity to bring our parish community closer together. By meeting one-on-one and in small groups to talk about the goals of this campaign, I was able to build deeper relationships.

Two hallmarks of their guidance for me have been the focus on mission and the focus on stewardship. This campaign is about mission, an investment in the future, that we are not going to tum the lights out and walk away.

I have enjoyed selling that message since I was really recruiting our folks to be witnesses of hope for the future. The second blessing has been their focus on a prayerful and sacrificial approach to stewardship. I have been involved, when in Detroit, with other organizations which really strong-arm people. There is none of that here. Rather it really is inviting all donors to take the requests we make of them to prayer and then make the best sacrificial pledge they can make. I have found this a very healthy and spiritual approach to fund­raising. And the priests (most of them) who followed the plan and process were very successful; those who decided to do otherwise most often were not successful. I was also impressed by the personnel of Greater Mission. In summary, I was very pleased with the service provided by Greater Mission; they did what they said they would do; and they really helped to change the culture of our diocese. The priests worked hard on this campaign and the results show that. As it was the first time for many of them to conduct such a campaign there was a learning curve and some had to overcome initial discomfort with meeting with major donors or speaking about the fund-raising. Greater Mission assisted all of them. I am very happy to recommend Greater Mission to you.