Petrus Blog

In this episode, Andrew visits with Ryan Carney, Chief Advancement Officer of Society of St. Vincent de Paul. They discuss Ryan's journey with development and the challenges that he has experienced and conquered throughout his years with non-profits. They also discuss the work they are doing at St. Vincent de Paul and how he helped one local chapter back from a pretty bad case of mission creep. If you have ever dealt with mission creep or if you are struggling to identify your organizations true mission, you'll want to take notes. 

Show Notes:

Background

He fell into development by accident. He had been able to attend an event where a presentation by Catholic Charities took place and that is where the introduction to non-profits and development took route. He graduated from the Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University.

After graduation, he found himself working to Enterprise where he was able to Rent a car to the current executive...

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:

• Transformative faith experiences of one or more students
• A recap of the number and kind of students involved this year
• A summary of a particularly successful ministry outreach event or retreat 

These glory stories and positive growth statistics are important and good to share with the reader, and they will undoubtedly lift their spirits and be a cause for hope. Yet, it is essential to remember that appeals are about you [the donor] and us [the ministry]. Making the donor visible in your ministry’s story is critical to a successful appeal and strengthening donor engagement.  

I want to share some practical and real-life appeal examples with...

In this fourth episode of the Blueprint for Development series, we dive into Major Gifts. Tara Doyon, Director of Client Services and Josh Whelan, Vice President of Petrus Development, will take you through the first four areas to look at when building a fruitful and successful Major Gifts program. They also discuss the buzz word process of Moves-Management, what steps to take to get started and setting your mindset for building the Kingdom through development and evangelization. 

In case you missed the previous episodes in this series, you can find them here:

Blueprint for Development: Infrastructure

Blueprint for Development: Communications

Blueprint for Development: Annual Fund

Show Notes:

Major Gift fundraising all starts with relationships and having deep relationships with your benefactors. A common mistake is believing that fundraising is just going around and playing golf and taking people to happy hour and the money just rolls in. Unfortunately, there is no...

In this episode, the Blueprint for Development series is on it's third installment. Tara and Sarah are back with Annual Funds, also known as an operating budget or director's fund. How can you create a new or sustainable development program that doesn't depend solely on that one event or those 1-2 major donors? Tara and Sarah give some great starting tips on making that change from dependence to sustainable. 

If you missed the first two episodes in this series, you can find them here:

Blueprint for Development: Infrastructure

Blueprint for Development: Communications

Show Notes:

Tara and Sarah are back in this third installment of the "Blueprint for Development" series, discussing Annual Funds, aka operating budget or director's fund. 

This is your general operating funds that come in from donations. Funds that you can generally count on as part of your general budget. 

Due to 2020, there's a need to look more critically at annual funds. Parishes especially have...

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 Strategy in Basketball

Over the past two years, a team I followed recruited a REALLY GREAT player. The coaches designed their game strategy around this player. Other players tried to get him the ball and let him score. The team enjoyed a level of success for a while. Then the players who wanted a more active role transferred to other teams. Also, at times, the star player had an off game, or got injured. The rest of the team had trouble stepping up to win.

Big Star Strategy in Fundraising

What can this teach us about fundraising? Big Stars in fundraising have the means and interest in making gifts that can jumpstart or transform your ministry. Focusing on them is a great...

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 a monk who lived 1,500 years ago and yet still influences millions of people every day through his words and instruction on wisdom, moderation and humility. 

So who was Saint Benedict of Nursia?

Born in A.D. 480 to a wealthy Roman nobleman, Benedict spent his early years living in comfort with his parents and his twin sister, Scholastica. In his early teens, Benedict was sent to Rome to formally begin his studies. Disgusted by the immoral standards of Romans, Benedict left his studies in 500 and sought a life of solitude. He lived for three years in a cave on the side of a mountain outside of Subiaco, Italy. 

During this time, he spent his days...

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 life is a game? Do you ever feel like you are in a big game of checkers? Or Don’t Break the Ice? 

And what about other aspects of life? Is the world of business a game--with winners and losers? Is ministry a game? Were Saints Benedict and Dominic playing a game? Or Mary and Martha? 

In his book, The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek explains that we are all playing a game...in ministry, in business and in life. But what type of game are we playing? According to Sinek, there are two types of games: finite and infinite games. So what is the difference?

THE FINITE AND THE INFINITE GAME

Finite games, like football and chess, have winners and losers. The rules of the...

 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 donations as we leave. 

Right now, pastors and directors of ministry are really loving their monthly donors. THIS summer is the PERFECT time to “share the love” through appeals to grow your base and ask your current monthly donors to prayerfully consider increasing their gifts.

Your benefactors understand that cash flow can be the difference between thriving, surviving, or dying. If they haven’t experienced a loss of income, they know people who have. They’ve seen businesses and nonprofits in their communities struggle and even close their doors. Your benefactors do not want that to happen to your ministry. So—it’s time to share...

In this episode, Josh Whelan, Petrus Vice President, visits with Matt Bond, Director of Development at St. John's Catholic Student Center at Oklahoma State University. They discuss the current Capital Campaign that is taking place at St. John's Catholic Center. They will discuss the $25 million campaign to build a new Church and Student Center, expand the campus ministry team and establish an endowment.  They have raised over $15 million in gifts and pledges and will launch the campaign to the public in September. In this interview, you will learn steps to launching a campaign and get insight into what to expect. This interview originally took place during the Petrus Virtual Conference 2020.

Show Notes:

This will be a broad overlay of the campaign along with Matt’s unique viewpoints.

Matt Bond

Matt graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in business administration and a minor in accounting. After graduation he spent 2-3 years flipping and selling...

In this episode, Andrew speaks with Stan Guimont, Account Manager with Palmer Non-profit Communications, a commercial direct mail provider that works with the general non-profit world. Stan has been an account manager with Palmer since 2005. As an air force veteran, Stan began working in advertising in the mid eighties, then spent some time as a radio account executive. He then worked for a publishing company whose clients were mostly non-profits. Stan has found a fulfilling career with Palmer using his creativity and natural sales ability to help his clients. He demonstrates a deep and genuine care for his clients and their needs and provides a wealth of knowledge about direct mail best practices.

Show Notes: