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 Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

I'm often asked, “Why would I spend time and money to go meet donors for coffee when I can just send them an email or letter?”

Or, “Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to put a little time into grant writing, rather than meeting with people and hoping some o...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Have you ever had a donor call and thank you for thanking them so well?

Believe it or not, it does happen. It should be your goal to earn one of those calls this year.

Here is one simple, often-overlooked way to make it happen.

Just One Per Day

Th...

 By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

When a ministry starts to look at fundraising in a systematic, and dare I say disciplined way, one of the first steps is to develop a Case for Support, also known as a Case Statement. 

If you are embarking on a capital campaign or want to increase a...

One of the non-profits I worked for didn’t have a database; they had an Excel spreadsheet for their donor information. It wasn’t very organized, and I had no idea how accurate it was. 

There was information everywhere - on spreadsheets, in the executive director’s notebooks, and in the heads ...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

Latest Information on Giving Trends

Giving USA 2022: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2021 was released in June.  The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy researched and wrote the report. 

The following are highligh...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

Donor meetings can be intimidating to both new and experienced development professionals, but they also have the potential to be such fruitful blessings to our ministry.  In my years of fundraising, I've developed a series of steps that helps me prepare a...

By Mary Hernandez, Petrus Blog Contributor

Your year-end appeal is about to get to the final proofing stage, and thankfully, there is still time to edit with a critical eye and include your donors as a key player in your messaging. 

Your appeal likely includes these elements:

• Transformat...

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...

St. Benedict of Nursia

July 11, 480 - March 21, 547

When it comes to the virtue of temperance, there are few people throughout history that more clearly embody this than Saint Benedict of Nursia. The author of the Rule of St. Benedict and the “Father of Western Monasticism”, Saint Benedict was ...

By Andrew N. Robison, President of Petrus Development and Jason Shanks, President of OSV Institute

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” - Henry Ford 

Toss the ball. Grab some jacks. Move your piece here and chute down the ladder. Have you ever considered the fact that ...

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

Where I live, we can now attend Mass in a socially distant way. Attendance is less than half of what used to be “normal.” At the offertory, instead of a pew collection, the priest reminds us to please drop off our donation...