"Thank you Camp Glisson! Max and Sam had another great camp experience. I appreciate all the hard work you put into each week to make it special for all the campers. They are already looking forward to next year. God is Good!!!"

- Laurie, parent of two 2011 campers

Capital Campaign


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Serving Generations is our $4.9M campaign to ensure Glisson's long-term sustainability as a vibrant ministry. The key project is replacing our 62-year old, undersized Dining Hall with a new facility that can serve the full capacity of camp for 60 more years. Here are three ways you can help:

Pledge your support
Donate to the campaign
Team Up to make a difference

Want to know more first? Scroll down...

Serving Generations Overview


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The Glisson Board and Staff are proud to announce that Serving Generations, a $4.9 million capital campaign for Glisson Camp & Retreat Center – the most ambitious project Glisson has ever envisioned, is in full swing. We are asking members of the Glisson family to join us in this campaign, and we offer information on this page designed to share with you the objectives of the campaign, the methodical, multi-year process which brought us to this juncture in Glisson's rich history, and why we need the full involvement of the Glisson extended family to ensure that this vision becomes a reality.

In 2011 we received a $500,000 campaign gift from an anonymous donor which would match individual gifts dollar-for-dollar. We we were able to claim the full half-million-dollar matching gift by the end of 2012 because of enthusiastic support from hundreds of individuals. Thank you for helping us claim this matching gift!

In 2012 we received notification that another friend of Glisson has offered a new campaign challenge gift of $750,000 which this friend wants to represent the "last dollars in". In other words, we can claim this gift once we reach $4.15 million in campaign commitments. As of May 17, we have achieved over $2.7 million in commitments - that's essentially 65% of the gifts and pledges necessary to claim this incredible challenge. You'll see this explained in more detail below under The Power of a Pledge.


	As of May 17th, we're 65% of the way to $4.15M

RECENT DEVELOPMENT: On May 16th we were notified that another foundation has extended a grant of $300,000 to our Serving Generations campaign. The momentum is growing!

100% of our Board and year-round Staff members are in the second year of their three-year pledges - doing their part to make sure Glisson is around to serve generations to come. As we are continuing to approach the foundation community, pledges and gifts from those individuals and churches closest to the Glisson ministry become even more important as we build momentum toward our campaign goal. Please consider how your family, church, alumni friends or fellowship group might participate in this critical campaign.

Ready to pledge your support? You can Pledge online and use our Donate Now feature to give securely anytime. Or keep reading to learn more...like how the pledge you make will help us claim this incredible challenge grant even more quickly than a one-time gift will.

Why Do We Need A New Dining Hall?

The cornerstone of Serving Generations is a new Dining Hall. Our current Dining Hall was built in 1951 when Glisson hosted around 125 campers each week. Now that Glisson hosts as many as 320 campers each week (plus summer staff) during summer, and just as many retreat guests during retreat season, we find ourselves feeding as many as 400 people per day. Glisson's ministry has simply outgrown this much beloved 62-year-old Dining Hall which we have come to love through the years.

Dining Hall Front circa 1951

After completing a detailed Master Plan Update in 2010 and a meticulous feasibility study in 2011, it has become clear our most urgent need is for a new dining hall:

With a capacity of 170 people, the existing Dining Hall is too small to accommodate current camp and retreat volumes. This poses significant programmatic and practical challenges as large groups must dine in multiple shifts, interrupting the flow and scheduling of activities.
The Dining Hall is vital to Glisson's operations, used by virtually every participant, every day. It is the only onsite facility without which the entire ministry could not exist.
The current Dining Hall is 62 years old, well above the typical life cycle for a facility which is so heavily used. While this is an outstanding testament to Glisson's stewardship of resources, the time has come to build for the future.

What Will The New Dining Hall Be Like?

The sharing of a common table is fundamental to building Christian community. By creating enough room for the entire Glisson community to break bread together, a new Dining Hall will heighten the sense of community that is at the heart of camp and retreat ministry. Features will include:

Seating capacity for a total of 450 people;
Flexible seating space that can be used as two smaller dining rooms or as one large dining area;
A lobby area that will accommodate up to 100 guests, adding much-needed space for group interaction and casual gatherings that build community;
A commercial kitchen with ample storage and a packout area to support the overnight camping component of the summer program;
A lower floor with space for the relocated camp store, a prayer chapel, a large meeting room, storage and casual gathering area.

The new Dining Hall will be located on the banks of Cane Creek adjacent to Sparrowwood Lodge, making it more accessible for campers who may have mobility challenges. The Dining Hall will more than double the existing dining space and will be built to withstand heavy usage and maximize functionality. To preserve the beloved tradition of Singing-on-the-Porch, the Dining Hall will have a large entry porch that will echo the design of the current Dining Hall.

Upon learning that a new Dining Hall is planned, many Glisson alumni quickly respond with concern about what might happen to the current Dining Hall and that porch we've all come to love so much. All can rest assured that the building currently serving as the Glisson Dining Hall will remain. Our Updated Master Plan calls for the current Dining Hall to be re-purposed into meeting space - in a future phase - similar to the renovation recently completed in Down Under. That beloved stone porch will remain as well.

What Other Projects Are Included?

Two additional components of our Updated Master Plan are also part of this campaign because they are directly tied to the Dining Hall construction:


1. A new entrance on the south side of the Glisson property will be necessary to allow large delivery trucks and other service vehicles to access the new Dining Hall. This will improve walkability around camp while enhancing the safety of our campers and guests by removing all large service vehicles and other traffic from the center of camp.		2. A new 30-person cabin will be built between Boys' Row and Girls' Row to replace the bed space lost when Prince and Gaston cabins are removed to make room for the new Dining Hall. This new "double cabin", which will be named in memory of former Glisson Director "Uncle Bob" Lanford, will house leadership staff during summer camp and will be used as a retreat lodge for small retreat groups the remainder of the year.

The Power Of A Pledge


	Pledge quickly and easily online

Please consider making a multi-year Pledge to the campaign as a way to make a more significant gift by spreading-out payments over multiple years. Now that we have claimed the full $500,000 matching gift which our anonymous donor offered last year, our next goal is to claim the very generous challenge gift of $750,000 which another friend of Glisson has offered. Here's how it works:

At this particular friend's request, the $750,000 challenge gift will be the "last dollars in", meaning we need the Glisson extended family to help us claim it.
Our overall campaign goal is $4.9 million. Once the level of funds commited to the campaign reaches the $4.15 million mark, we will be able to claim the full challenge and the $750,000 gift will get us to that magical goal of $4.9 million.
Pledges – not only outright gifts – count toward the challenge. If you pledge $3,000 to the campaign, with the intent of spreading-out your payments over the next two years or so, then the full amount of your $3,000 pledge is counted toward the dollars "committed" to the campaign. A gift of $1,000 will help us get closer, but a multi-year pledge of $3,000 gets us there even faster because the pledged amount counts toward the challenge.
Gifts are wonderful, and we're grateful for every single one, but a multi-year pledge now will help us get closer to breaking ground on this new Dining Hall even sooner.

Need more information first? Check out the video above or this Brochure. To fulfill your pledge, you can make online gifts securely at any point during your pledge period through our Donate Now feature. Gifts can be submitted as one-time gifts each time, or donors may set-up their gifts as recurring automatically on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Every member of the Glisson Board has submitted a three-year pledge. So have all members of our year-round staff and hundreds of individual Glisson donors and their families. We are now asking you to join us!

Gift Recognition Levels

Gift recognition levels are available beginning at $2,500. Recognition will appear in various designated locations within the new Dining Hall. Families, churches and fellowship groups (i.e. former Glisson summer staff groups, Sunday School classes or youth groups) are encouraged to combine their multi-year pledges to qualify for any of the recognition levels or naming opportunities listed below. For more on teaming up to raise more funds, check out: A Fun Way To Help Build The Dining Hall.

Campaign giving between $2,500 and $5,999 will qualify the individual, family, church or group's name to be included in a central location on the lower level of the Dining Hall
Campaign giving between $6,000 and $9,999 will be recognized in a central location on the Dining Hall porch
For gifts above $10,000, several Naming Opportunities are available.

Can I Make Gifts Of Stock?

Absolutely!. Outside of giving cash gifts, there are many ways of giving to Glisson - and therefore many ways to make payments toward a multi-year pledge. Gifting a specific number of stock shares is one of the more popular of the alternative methods for fulfilling a campaign pledge. Glisson's Gift Acceptance Policy states that shares of stock which are given to Glisson will be immediately sold.

The most tax-efficient method of making this type of gift is to donate the stock shares directly to the Georgia United Methodist Foundation on Glisson's behalf. The Foundation will immediately initiate a sale of the stock shares and forward the proceeds directly to Glisson. The donor then receives documentation from the Foundation regarding the stock sale transaction as well as official notification from Glisson of a charitable gift once the funds are received by Glisson.

For instructions to provide to your broker about how to initiate your gift of stock for Glisson, Email Phil Dodson or contact him at (706) 864-6181.

Honoring The Past ... Building For The Future

Glisson has served the children, youth and adults of North Georgia since 1925 - for 88 years now. In some families, four generations have experienced the transformation of Christ in their lives because of the vision shown by the leaders in the North Georgia Conference so long ago. Thousands of individuals have answered God's call on their lives in ministry as either lay or clergy leaders – in part because they were offered a place to meet Him face-to-face, in the midst of His Creation, where the demands of their everyday lives could be put aside for a period of time and they could be receptive to His still, small voice.

Village Opening Celebration 2011

The importance of the Serving Generations capital campaign on the future of Glisson's ministry cannot be overstated. Because of the magnitude of this campaign, and because this is the most ambitious undertaking in Glisson's history, every family impacted by Glisson over the years will need to be involved in order for the campaign to be successful. We ask that all families or individuals prayerfully consider how they can make a stretch pledge to the campaign and thereby help usher Glisson into the next 50 years of ministry and beyond.

If you have any questions about this campaign, or about how you can become involved in a meaningful way, please Email Phil Dodson or call (706) 864-6181.

690 Camp Glisson Road, Dahlonega, Georgia 30533 - 706 864-6181

A Ministry of the North Georgia Conference, United Methodist Church