Workshop: Faith and Facilities

Faith & Facilities: How Church Property Can Work Harder to Support God’s Work
Peter Holland
October 10, 2023, 10 am-Noon EST

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Increasingly, churches find themselves burdened with facilities that no longer support the mission and purpose of the organization. The maintenance and routine operations of buildings and grounds are often the second or even single largest expense borne by a congregation. Space is underutilized, if at all, and operating expenses and maintenance (often deferred) are a relentless driver of expenses that can threaten the viability of the parish. This real estate and facilities module will address practical and easy to implement ways for parish leaders to better utilize the parish’s resources. Additionally, this module will provide guidance on how to transform what may be a liability into an asset, to support a broader parish mission and ensure long-term viability. There will be an opportunity for a case study and for class participants to ask questions about their individual property challenges.

Peter Holland has over 40 years of consulting in Fortune 100 and not-for-profit experience in real estate and shared services, including organization metrics, design and performance improvement, tenant representation, corporate site selection, procurement and sourcing, global outsourcing, business continuity, and facilities operations and management. He is skilled at aligning real estate strategies to support an organization’s key mission and financial and operational objectives. Peter was a founder and CEO of BenchCore, a corporate real estate benchmarking service. BenchCore’s clients included Google, Exxon, Adobe, and Travelers Insurance. Peter has served on numerous non-profit boards for both professional and community service organizations, including CoreNet Global, Church Homes Retirement Communities, the Local Initiative Support Corporation or LISC, Loaves and Fishes Ministries, and The Essex, CT Land Trust, among others. He is a former member of the Counselors of Real Estate and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as well as a licensed real estate broker in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts. Peter has served on a variety of committees and as a member of the vestry at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Simsbury, CT. He now attends St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex, CT