For many fundraisers, summer feels different.

The calendar lightens. Donors travel. The frantic pace of spring gives way to something less intense. That slowdown can feel like lost ground when fundraising is measured by visible activity.

It doesn't have to be.

A quieter stretch is one of...

We’ve all been there. You’re brainstorming ideas for the next fundraiser and someone says, “What about a raffle?” It’s simple. It’s familiar. It feels like easy money.

Sure, raffles can bring in some quick funds and add a little fun to your fundraising calendar. But are they actually worth it?

If your Catholic nonprofit newsletter feels stale, expensive, or ineffective, the problem probably isn’t the format.

It’s the strategy.

In Catholic fundraising, your newsletter is not a report. It is a donor formation tool.

Done well, it strengthens donor identity, reinforces mission, and drives ...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Catholic nonprofits are quickly realizing that the future of their ministry relies on building a self-sustaining fundraising program.

In a time of shrinking Catholic demographics, relying on your budget to come from an organization like your diocese does n...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

“If a man has a 100 sheep and one of them goes astray,

will he not leave the 99 in the hills and go in search of the stray?”

(Matthew 18:12)

When the shepherd left the 99 sheep to go after the stray, he had confidence that the ones left behin...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

December is the time for the FUN part of FUNdraising! After getting the Christmas/Year-end appeal out,  grab a cup of hot chocolate, sit back, open the mail, and count up the donations! 

I hope you get to do lots of that, BUT there is still work to b...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing.  This post first appeared on the Bloomerang blog.

Phone-a-thons have been a tried-and-true fundraising staple for decades. Gather volunteers, have them call a long list of donors, and have them make a solicitation. With fewer people picking up their phone for...

Nobody goes to college to learn how to be a fundraiser. So many times, development professionals tend to end up in the field almost by accident.

Without that educational background, the best practices for raising substantial money for a nonprofit are not always obvious or intuitive.

Many ...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

Didn’t we all want to be superheroes when we were kids? Yet 20, 30, 40 or more years later, most of us live “ordinary” lives. We are spouses, parents, friends, and employees. We figure out how to pay our bills, watch the weather report to know when to mo...

By Mary Hernandez, Petrus Blog Contributor

Three Cheers for the Class Gift

The class gift tradition is widely recognized in educational circles. Schools have received benches, statues, fountains, trees, and other commemorative items from grateful grads. Many Catholic ministries have invited...

By Mary P. Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor & Local Charity Board Member

March Madness and Fundraising

March Madness is upon us! I love basketball and I love this time of year. Winning teams have different strategies, and I can’t help comparing them to fundraising practices.

Big Star Strate...

By Andrew N. Robison, President of Petrus Development

This week has been pretty intense. The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is wreaking havoc everywhere. We have seen college campuses cancel all classes and meetings for the remainder of the spring semester. We have seen states ban all gatherings of...