To rebuild an existing pipe organ or to purchase a new pipe organ, you should follow the following five steps.

1. Enlist Expert Advice
In recent decades, the number of qualified pipe organ builders in North America has increased significantly. There are also many reputable organ consultants who make it their business to advise congregations with aging pipe organs on how to best preserve the value of their instrument. Most organ builders and consultants are accomplished organists themselves, and many have advanced degrees in music.

It is important to pick guides through the decision-making process who are also up-to-date on features now available on classic pipe organs due to innovations of modern technology. For example, relatively inexpensive features now facilitate automatic transposing, a simple way to help music and choir directors tremendously.

2. Assess the Value of Your Current Instrument
Making a detailed evaluation of the value of your current pipe organ is usually the first step to determining whether and how it can be successfully rebuilt.

Most congregations avail themselves of several assessments to better guide them in their investment decisions. A minimum of three consultations is recommended.

In most older pipe organs, replacement of the instrument's switching, combination action, "swell motor," and other control mechanisms are usually necessary to make it fully operational and well equipped with the flexibility today's organists expect. Pipe organ control systems with capabilities to meet virtually any need are available to organ builders. The most popular systems are custom configured for a particular organ using standard electronic modules proven in thousands of organs.

3. Form an Organ Committee
As a practical matter, most churches create a pipe organ committee to oversee detailed plans for the rebuilding project and to direct fundraising efforts. Although the project may be relatively large in scope for your church, it is nonetheless advisable to keep your organ committee small, including about five or six persons. A group this size will find it practical to take several trips to other churches with organs, especially those with recently rebuilt organs. Of course, these individuals should be identified by members of the larger congregation as capable and trustworthy.

It is usually best to include at least one representative of those who are already against rebuilding the organ, so that they will have direct access to the facts about costs and expected benefits of such a project. Whenever possible, try to include individuals who are personally able to make substantial donations to a future fund for rebuilding the organ, so that they can personally set an example of giving for the entire congregation.

The first job of the organ committee is to educate itself. Besides availing the church of opinions from several pipe organ builders and/or consultants, it is good to contact other churches that have recently gone through an organ rebuilding project.

Although each situation is unique, other churches can give you valuable tips about how they evaluated various professional opinions on the best route to take in rebuilding their organ. Other churches can also share stories of the successful tactics they used to involve their entire congregation, raise funds, etc.

4. Select an Organ Builder
The church organ committee should have primary responsibility for hiring a qualified organ builder to do the job. Your committee members should keep in mind that glitzy advertising materials are not necessarily an indication of superior service. Some makers of electronic organs can often dazzle congregations with elaborate sales tools since their generic products allow them a relatively larger sales margin to devote to such devices. In contrast, pipe organ builders are essentially craftsmen and, as such, spend more time perfecting their craft than on developing sales brochures.

Most committees find that three proposals are a good number to manage. Always ask to see a listing of each pipe organ builder's recent client churches and interview as many as possible for references.

5. Involve the Congregation
Once a plan is locked in, it's time for the organ committee to involve the rest of the congregation in the project. Often, the steps of planning and implementing an organ rebuild can be spread out over a few years, if necessary. This makes fundraising more manageable and gives congregants specific goals that they can work toward.

For example, specific donations can be allocated to particular parts of the organ. Congregants are often eager to make contributions of time and money to a rebuilding project where the results of their efforts are clear and yet intertwined with the most sublime moments of their worship experience.

Church members can share in the positive experience of achieving goals where the result is both a thing of beauty and sacred, both a concrete and spiritual manifestation of what fellowship within the congregation is all about. In this way, a pipe organ rebuilding project can be very helpful in deepening the bonds within the congregation.

It does not take a lottery-like windfall of funds to rebuild your church's pipe organ. An estimated 85% of funds to rebuild existing pipe organs or purchase new ones come from smaller donations. Across the land, and across denominations, churches have shown time and again that organs inspire generosity and participation that exceed the original expectations of organ committee members.

Organ committees recount these success stories and tips on fundraising for organ rebuilding projects:

Immanuel Lutheran Church in Pflugerville, Texas, had planned to apply for grants to cover the costs of rebuilding their pipe organ, but the church found that most funds were collected through a few appeals to the congregation.

First Baptist Congregational Church in Chicago finds that some of the strongest supporters of their ongoing rebuild projects are members on fixed incomes. The "Adopt-A-Pipe" tactic gave donors adoption certificates for their chosen pipe and regular reports on the progress of that pipe during the rebuilding project.

Finally, Palos Park Presbyterian Community Church in Palos Park, Illinois, asked congregants to help dismantle their organ under the direction of their organ builder such that it could be shipped out for rebuilding. They had not counted on winter weather in May, nor had they imagined that dozens of volunteers would nonetheless labor nonstop until the job was done, saving a significant expense. A generous donation from a local corporation helped fund the project, and the organ is now a powerful part of the church's program of outreach to the community.