Shared Generosity, Shared Mission: Annual Report Highlights Growth and Impact
View reports for our 2026 assembly on our assembly mission and ministry stories page or in this collection of blog posts.
FY 2025-2026 Annual Report
Director for Generosity & Strategic Development
June 2026
"And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 [NRSV]
What a gift it is to serve as your Director of Generosity and Strategic Development. The Holy Spirit was at work during fiscal year 2025/2026, as it was marked by deepened relationships, strategic storytelling, and expanding possibilities for congregations and communities across our synod. This was also the year our family welcomed our daughter into the world, and I am profoundly grateful to this council and our whole synod family for the grace extended during parental leave. Thanks be to God!
Congregational Mission Support: $1,755,014 received from 71 congregations
Mission and Ministry Fund: $363,100 granted to 12 vital yet vulnerable congregations & ministries
Communicate Jesus: Telling the Story of our shared generosity
This year we published our four quarterly Mission Support Impact Stories, one of the clearest ways we fulfill our shared calling to help congregations see themselves in our common mission. Each story was crafted to connect giving with lived impact:
· February: Teranga, Hospitalidad, and the Spirit of Generosity
· May: Advocacy Ministry with LAMA & LEAN
· August: Mission Support Grants Transform Lives Across Our Synod
· November: Celebrating Seven Ordinations in 2025
Our November story was a historic one: our synod celebrated seven ordinations in 2025, the most in a single year in our history, including our first two deacons in Word and Service Ministry. The story of Pastor Solomon Kuch, a South Sudanese refugee who led Emmanuel Sudanese Lutheran Fellowship for five years while working night shifts and raising six children, became a powerful witness to what faithful mission support makes possible.
This year also saw two significant new resources come to life. We published the first-ever GCS Annual Impact Report, a foundational tool for storytelling and donor engagement that connects data with lived experience. And in January, we published Deep Roots, Shared Mission, a comprehensive resource equipping congregations to engage their 2026/2027 Mission Support planning with clarity and confidence. We also produced thank-you videos featuring Bishop Hutterer for every congregation to share with their members, including Spanish-subtitled versions for our Spanish-speaking communities.
Connect People: Equipping leaders to speak from the heart
The centered initiative of this year was the Synod Council Storytelling Coaching project. In collaboration with Karen Kretschmann, ELCA Churchwide Coordinator for Storytelling Engagement, we launched a year-long initiative inviting every synod council member into a one-on-one coaching session, each preparing their own videotaped mission support story for this assembly. The goal was simple and bold: by June 2026, every council member equipped to tell a compelling story of generosity in their own voice, for the sake of the whole church.
This year I visited 11 church councils and executive committees and worshipped or preached at 17 congregations across the synod, including Our Saviour’s in Phoenix, Mountain View Lutheran in Phoenix, American Lutheran in Sun City, and Love of Christ in Mesa. Our donor CRM in Airtable continued to develop, building the infrastructure to identify aligned donors and strengthen recurring giving to our shared ministry.
Create Possibilities: Strategic generosity bearing lasting fruit
The Mission & Ministry Fund closed the fiscal year at $2.63M, a figure that reflects not decline but deployment. We granted $363,100 to 12 congregations and ministries, while congregations across the synod gave $73,995 in unrestricted gifts to the fund, a meaningful expression of trust in our shared mission. The fund continues to reach Latine, Indigenous, youth, and young adult communities across Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
The New Promise Lutheran Church Mission Endowment Fund in St. George gifted $30,000 to Crossroads Lutheran through the GCS Mission and Ministry Fund, to be distributed over three years. This is the synod at its best: connecting across stretches of vast desert, state lines, and time zones to bring resources to where the need is greatest.
This year we launched the first-ever GCS Give Day, our inaugural Giving Tuesday campaign, in collaboration with Solveig Muus, Director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Arizona. Together, 23 donors gave $7,500 toward a $5,000 goal, exceeding it by 50% and establishing a foundation for digital generosity campaigns across the synod for years to come.
Looking Ahead: Rooted and growing
In the year ahead, my primary focus will be cultivating individual donor relationships, deepening the personal connections that sustain long-term generosity across our synod. I will also continue connecting congregations and leaders with stewardship resources from across the synod and the broader church, including tools, webinars, leaders, and programs that equip communities to grow in faithful generosity.
It is a privilege to witness how generosity continues to shape our synod’s mission. Thank you for your generous hearts, faithful spirits, and for the opportunity to serve in this role.
Rev. Dan Potaznick, CFRE
Director of Generosity & Strategic Development
Office of the Bishop, Grand Canyon Synod - ELCA
