Become an Author

Original content: Petrus is looking for authors to submit original content that will educate readers on new lessons in development and refresh foundational principles. 

Word count: Posts should be between 600-1,200 words. Posts should have a main title and subheadings. Standard format of introduction, body, and conclusion should be followed.

Recommended Topics:

1. Fundraising best practices (Moves Management and Donor Visits)
2. Personal fundraising anecdotes (The Visit that Taught me Three Basic Principles of Development)
3. Capital campaign lessons
4. Fundraising trends (Is “Crisis Giving” an Effective Development Strategy)
5. Encouragement for fundraisers (Be Not Overwhelmed)
6. Innovation in development
7. Seasonal recommendations (Year-End Fundraising Checklist)
8. Catholic development (Fundraising in a Church in Crisis)
9. Spirituality of fundraising (A Spirituality of Fundraising)
10. Fundraising book reviews (Six Books for Any Catholic Fundraisers Christmas List)
11. HR issues in development (Hiring a Great Development Director)
12. Principles that support development (i.e. marketing, strategic planning, alumni relations, management, vision, etc)

Research and citations: Research and statistics are highly encouraged and sources should be cited in the article (i.e. “The most recent Giving USA Report stated that giving in the religious sector has increased by…”).

Voice and tone: Style of our blog is intended to be helpful and educational, not demeaning or preachy. Tone is somewhere between casual and academic with an emphasis being on actionable ideas that can help individuals and organizations be more successful in their development efforts.

Images: Author is expected to provide royalty-free or original images when they submit their articles. Petrus staff will create a “featured image” for the post which may include an image provided by author.

Sharing: Authors are encouraged and expected to share articles that they submit to Petrus to their personal and social networks. Links back to https://petrusdevelopment.com are required within the first 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, if an author chooses to republish their posts on their personal or institutional websites, they may share links to the republished articles.

Quality: Posts will be edited for spelling and grammar. Posts submitted with excessive typos will be returned for author to correct and resubmit. Posts will also be edited for voice, tone, and in some cases for content. Contributors will be given the chance to remove their articles from consideration after edits are made as well as given the chance to rewrite and resubmit.

Author links and bios: Authors are encouraged to submit a 2-3 line bio to be posted at the end of their posted articles. Bios may link back to a personal website, LinkedIn profile, or another social profile.

• Andrew N. Robison is President of Petrus Development. He has worked for over 12 years in development roles in Catholic campus ministry, higher education, and academic medicine. Andrew works with organizations of all sizes to build sustainable development programs that allow them to better serve their constituencies.
• Additional links within the website back to author websites and blogs should be kept to a minimum. Affiliate links are not permitted within articles submitted for the Petrus blog.

Timeline: Authors should expect to receive feedback on submitted articles within 48-72 hours. Posts submitted will be added to the communication queue for https://petrusdevelopment.com. Petrus cannot make any guarantees on when they will be posted.  

Submission: Please submit via email complete, unpublished articles only, intended strictly for the Petrus Blog, to Colleen Robison at [email protected]. Please no pitches, abstracts, outlines, press releases, or interview offers.

Compensation: Petrus wishes to compensate contributors for articles selected for the Petrus Blog. Authors will be paid $40 for each article selected and posted. Contributors will be paid as contract labor and will need to submit all necessary paperwork before payment is issued.

Questions: Any questions about the Petrus Blog Contributor Program may be submitted to [email protected]. 

Thank you and we look forward to reading your articles!