The NEW New Dollars / New Partners
New Dollars / New Partners is a capacity building training program, designed by Partners to help congregations with older properties.
Key questions that congregations address include:
• Who are we, and why should the community care about us?
• What assets do we have, and how do we use our assets for action / ministry?
• How can we be good stewards of our buildings?
Although the program has achieved great success, cost and other considerations often limited participation to congregations sponsored by a regional denominational office. Further, the program was developed nearly 20 years ago— inviting updates that incorporate new technology and reflect our experience providing training to over 1,000 congregations and consulting services to hundreds of others in the interim.
Thanks to support from Lilly Endowment Inc. in 2024, Partners completed a multi-year effort to enhance New Dollars / New Partners, with the goal of making it accessible to a wider variety of congregations.
Enhancements include:
• Updated research
• New training materials— print, digital, and video
• A hybrid virtual / in-person format that retains instructional quality and builds connections between participants while lowering costs
• Revised software that lets congregations calculate the economic value of their community serving programs
Two cohorts of congregations received the updated training in 2024, and it is now available to all congregations in the United States.
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Zion Church of the City of Baltimore was founded in 1755 by German immigrants, whose original hymnals are preserved in the church library. The church was one of 16 sites to pilot the revised New Dollars / New Partners. Following the training, Partners worked with Zion to reimagine the use of its building through a guided community conversation and asset mapping. Photo: The Rev. Rochelle Stackhouse
This was the most relevant virtual training I have had since seminary in 2011. It let me know we are not alone in this struggle to save our sacred place. I am encouraged and have greater hope.”
Rev. Patricia A Bufford, Centennial African Methodist Episcopal Church, Buffalo, NY
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