What do we mean by breakthrough?
We’re specifically talking about breakthroughs for the people outside of the Church—and for personal breakthroughs, or shifts in our own faith.
What would the Bay Area look like if more people truly understood that God loves them—that He’s a good father and provider? What would it look like if families had a place to rest, re-connect, and have fun? What would it look like for our friends, neighbors, and coworkers to finally have a sense of belonging here? Achieving these things requires innovation and sacrifice—and most importantly—surrender.
Step out in faith
Breakthrough is about bridging the gap between you and God, discovering what it’s like to surrender, and stepping out in faith as we impact the community around us
no mere fundrasing
The Breakthrough Campaign is an opportunity to partner with God in the work He’s doing in and through our community. Breakthrough is about breaking through in our community with the Gospel and messages of hope
You're not alone
Reflect on Scripture, listen for what God might have for you, and consider how you might use your resources to engage with the work.
join us in this journey
- Venture Event Complex
- Front Porch and Backyard
- Venture Family Institute
- Digital Discipleship Toolkit
Venture Event Complex (VEC)
A place for the community to participate in life-giving events.
Phase 1: Field $1.5-2 million | Phase 2: Gym $20 million
WHY?
The picturesque, park-like oasis that Venture occupies is a powerful tool from God to reach our friends for the Gospel. Having 27 pristine acres in the heart of the Bay is unheard of. But our not-yet-believing friends and neighbors will not set foot on our property without reasons that matter to them. We will create facilities on our campus that can host large-scale family-friendly events to reach thousands of parents and kids—as well as sports facilities to run leagues that reach thousands more. These are the types of activities that people crave. By doing them well, many of our neighbors can experience, for the first time, how Jesus uplifts, invigorates, and motivates those who live in His orbit.
What is it?
- Region-leading sports and family-focused event complex with fields, courts, indoor gym and facilities to support large events (concessions, bathrooms, storage).
- Venture-run sports leagues.
- Venture-hosted Free Family Fun Events.
What will it require?
- Funds to transform Kring Field into a sports and recreation complex that includes sports courts, turf field, gym, and the infrastructure that makes hosting large events possible.
- Funding for a Sports League Director, Complex Manager, and Events Coordinator.
Front Porch & Backyard
Welcoming places for friends to gather and connect with one another.
Front porch $4 million | backyard $3 million
WHY?
In an area that never stops working and moving, friendships are still formed and deepened when you slow down and connect. People crave spaces that are safe, comfortable, and inviting. Front porches and backyards are the places in people’s homes where relationships grow, and for our church it’s no different. The front and back entrance areas of our current building are inadequate and uninviting. By reimagining them as gathering spaces, the invitation to share a freshly brewed ethically-sourced cup of coffee in a beautiful location, or to strike up a conversation while the kids play on a great playground, will create the perfect excuse to gather and give people an opportunity to connect. Another advantage is that children will now have a fun, safe place on campus to make friends and be a kid.
What is it?
• Construction of a coffee shop with great coffee and plenty of indoor and outdoor gathering spaces for friends to spend time together throughout the week.
• Reimagining and refurbishment of our current “front porch” to not only make Venture more welcoming, but also provide more hang out space for families and friends.
• Creating a “backyard space” that provides connection and recreation for kids, students, and families.
What will it require?
• Funds to construct the coffee shop and outdoor patio area complete with fireplace and new seating areas.
• Funds to refurbish areas around the church entrances with new seating, clear directions and signage, and new play equipment for kids, as well as make our entrances ADA-friendly.
• Funds to build a youth hangout and activity area behind our existing building.
Venture Family Institute
The leading source of encouragement and training for families in the area.
$1 million
WHY?
The number one need of our community that we can uniquely meet is to help raise kids who thrive. Families in our community will do whatever it takes to help their kids. They invest large amounts of money in tutors, camps, sports, and school. But that’s not always working, as evidenced by the increase in depression, anxiety, and suicide in our younger age groups. Our area is lacking in training and development opportunities for how to raise healthy families with healthy rhythms and a grace-centric worldview. Through unique, biblically-based content, as well as events designed specifically for parents and kids, we can help any family, regardless of their faith-background, increase the chances their children will grow up to lead a healthy life.
What is it?
• A comprehensive online resource with articles, videos, webinars, and group-based coaching. Content will cover a large spectrum of topics that are relevant to families in our area. Some examples are:
Articles or blog posts like:
– Five fun, free, family-friendly activities to try within a 30- minute drive of Los Gatos.
– What to do when your child is having discipline issues at school.
– Ways to ensure all of your children feel loved and
connected to you when your time is severely limited.
– How to lead your kids to Jesus in a multi-faith environment.
• Live seminars and workshops on our campus.
What will it require?
• Funds to build a user-friendly, content-rich Venture Family Institute website and app.
• Funds to source expert content and develop online training programs.
• Funding to create and run live seminars on our campus.
• Funds to hire a VFI Director.
Digital Discipleship Toolkit
A future-oriented digital toolkit to allow anyone, anywhere to take a life-giving discipleship journey.
$1-1.5 million
WHY?
Our goal is for every person reached to become a fully-formed disciple of Christ. We, and the people in our community, however, are very busy so we cannot always attend services, group meetings, and training opportunities. Furthermore, our culture now expects access to growth opportunities and content anywhere at any time. We are located at the centerpoint of the digital revolution, yet churches in our area are not keeping up with our workplaces. We will change that with an app-based tool that will allow anyone who is interested in pursuing spiritual growth to do so from their own pocket, allowing them to build rhythms and ultimately find the real life that Jesus offers to His faithful followers.
What is it?
A custom-developed spiritual growth tool focused on helping people
grow spiritually.
What will it require?
• Funds for custom app development.
• Funds for content generation.
• Funds for translation services to reach other cultures.
Breakthrough Stories
invest in breakthrough webinar
Venture Christian Church has partnered with MortarStone to provide a one-hour virtual presentation exploring creative ways to fulfill your Campaign Commitment. An example of what will be covered includes illiquid assets such as publicly and privately held stock, real estate, qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, and more. Such gifts from non-cash assets not only provide an ordinary income tax deduction, in many cases, they can reduce or eliminate Capital Gains taxes. By giving creatively, you can redeploy tax dollars to Kingdom causes!
FAQs
Cash and check contributions must be received or postmarked by December 31st to be included on your giving statement for that year. To be included, online transactions must be initiated by 11:59 pm PST on December 31st. Please Click Here to contact the Finance Department or call during business hours at 408.997.4600 with any questions about the contributions deadlines.
You will not pay any fees. The dollar amount that you select to give will be recorded on your contribution statement. However, the church does incur fees for processing. The most cost-effective way to maximize your giving is to give online from your bank account. To give this way, click the GIVE ONLINE button on this page, and choose the ACH Bank Account option as your payment method whenever you make a one-time gift or set up a recurring giving schedule.
You can make changes by logging into your account with Kindrid.
Simply choose SIGN IN
That depends:
For an individual cash contribution of under $250: You must have a bank record (such as a canceled check) or a receipt from the church containing the church’s name, and the date and amount of each cash contribution.
For individual contributions (cash or property) of $250 or more: You must receive a written receipt from the church with the church’s name, the date and amount of each contribution, and states whether you received goods or services for your contributions (and if so, a description and good faith estimate of the value of the goods or services received). Canceled checks cannot be used to substantiate cash contributions of $250 or more.
For non-cash property valued at $500 or more: Other rules apply (see instructions to IRS Form 8283). If the value is more than $5,000, you must obtain a qualified appraisal of the property and attach an “appraisal summary” (IRS Form 8283) to the tax return on which the contribution is claimed. Some exceptions apply.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 made permanent qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from individual retirement accounts. A QCD allows annual direct transfers to a qualified charity of tax-deferred IRA savings. Funds must be made payable to the charity, not the IRA owner.
The benefit to the donor is realized in the lowering of adjusted gross income, while fulfilling the required minimum distribution.
Requirements:
- Only individuals who’ve attained age 70 ½ may make QCDs
- Venture Christian Church is a qualified charity to accept such distributions
- QCDs may be made from any IRA or individual retirement annuity, but not from a simplified employee pension, a simple retirement account or an inherited IRA
Making the Contribution: Contact the financial institution holding the IRA Account. Inform them of your desire to make a QCD.
Venture Christian Church 16845 Hicks Road Los Gatos, CA 95032
The check must be payable to Venture. It won’t qualify if the trustee or custodian makes the mistake of putting IRA money in a non-IRA account of yours as an intermediate step. It won’t qualify if the check is made out to you. The law doesn’t provide a way to correct mistakes. The Internal Revenue Service has said that a check from an IRA may be made payable to a charitable organization described in section 408(d)(8) and delivered by the IRA owner to the charitable organization.
If we have your email address, your current year-end statement will be emailed to you by the end of January of the following year.
Please notify Finance if you’d prefer it to be mailed to you, which will be mailed to the address we have on file.
Please ensure that we have your correct email and mailing address.
If you move or need to update your information, please do so by logging into your Venture (Rock) profile. You will need a login user id and password to access your Venture (Rock) profile. If you do not already have one, go to: https://my.venture.cc/
Yes! We take very seriously the security of your personal information and data. Your payment information is not stored by Venture Church; it goes directly to Kindrid, our vendor for online transactions.
All sensitive financial information is stored with bank level security and secured with 256 AES encryption, stored by our banking partner to Level 1 PCI compliance standards. Additionally, all transmissions to our banking partner and on our site are via an encrypted HTTPS connection. All this means they conform to the highest set of security standard in the payment card industry.
Yes. We accept any credit card issued by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. Debit cards are great, too; simply select the Credit Card option as your payment method. To give from your bank account, choose the ACH Bank Account option as your payment method.
No. The value of personal services are never deductible as a charitable contribution. However, unreimbursed expenses you incur in performing services on behalf of the church may be. For 2020, you can use a “standard mileage rate” of 14 cents to compute a deduction for any miles your drive in performing services for the church. Be sure to maintain accurate records.
EXAMPLE: Several church members go on a short-term mission’s trip to another country. The value of their labor is not deductible, but they can deduct their unreimbursed travel expenses (transportation, meals, lodging) incurred in performing the trip.
For detailed instructions, please Click Here to contact the Finance Department or Call during business hours at 408.997.4600.