Innovation Challenge - Interview with Jason Shanks on the Petrus Development Show
In this episode, Andrew visits with Jason Shanks, President of Our Sunday Visitor Institute. Andrew and Jason discuss his personal and professional background and the path that brought him to Our Sunday Visitor. They also discuss how OSV is taking steps to bring innovation and growth into fundraising. They discuss the OSV Challenge and the new ideas that are coming from the endeavor.
Show Notes:
Andrew and Jason met in Ohio years ago when, for them, fundraising started with bingo!
Background:
Jason is a convert to the Catholic Church. He went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where he studied Education and Political Science. He converted from Campus Crusade for Christ in college to Catholicism and attended RCIA after graduation.
He taught High School history for three years and became involved in youth ministry, even starting a youth summer camp.
After teaching he attended The Josephinum Seminary for 1 year while discerning the priesthood. After leaving seminary he completed...
"Just Don't Let Me Look Like an Idiot, Lord" : Interview with Andrew Robison on the Petrus Development Show
In this episode, we flip the mic and interview the host, Andrew Robison. Andrew shares about his background, some of the successes and failures that he has experienced after 15 years in this business and that time that he was in a plane crash and nearly died (spoiler...he lived but missed his catering job the next day).
Show Notes:
- Andrew grew up in Texas. After his sophomore year of college, he decided to take a year off of school. He spent a year and a half living and working in Colorado - summer camp, waiting tables, moved back to Texas in 2002 to finish his degree in History at Texas A&M University.
- Faith was important but attending Mass had stalled. Invitation to girl in CO reignited passion for church.
- Attended Aggie Awakening and built community. Met Cheryl.
- Worked at St Marys doing a lot of jobs under Greg Gorman.
- Earned MA in Philanthropy and Development from St Marys University in Minnesota. Left to work at St Thomas More Newman Center at Ohio...
Path to My Salvation: Interview with Jason Simon on The Petrus Development Show
Jason Simon, President of Evangelical Catholic
Evangelical Catholic has been forming missionary disciples since the early 1990s. The Evangelical Catholic works nationally to support dioceses parishes and university campus ministries to lead self-sustaining evangelization movements through their customized coaching service and online learning management system. Evangelical Catholic currently works with over 100 Catholic ministries across the nation. Jason Simon is the President of Evangelical Catholic. In this episode he discusses his journey through Evangelical Catholic, his faith journey, and how that relates not just to fundraising but to running an organization.
Show Notes:
From Wisconsin
Grew up protestant
His wife was Catholic and he tried to convert her when they were dating. Her efforts and the mentorship of the founder of Evangelical Catholic, Tim Cruz, made an impact on him and lead to his conversion.
Married for 21 years. He and his wife have 6 kids.
When Jason began...
Continuing the Legacy: Interview with David Pederson on The Petrus Development Show
David Pederson has been the Director of Development for the Catholic Community Foundation for the Diocese of Phoenix since 2013. He has worked in development for over ten years at multiple Catholic campus ministries and the Diocese of Phoenix. In this episode, Andrew and David explore the basics of planned giving: What is it? What types of gifts are made in this type of giving? As well as how to approach donors about planned giving and how to begin a program like that at the Catholic Community Foundation for the Diocese of Phoenix. David offers practical advice for the development professional wanting to explore planned giving as an option for future growth of their ministry.
Show Notes:
- David Grew up in Minnesota. Non Catholic. Went to Minnesota State University in Mancato. Met his wife, who was Catholic and asked him to come to Mass with her.
- Not a big enough space in the Newman Center for Mass. Got involved at the Newman Center and he started talking with the priest...
Wisdom For Every Generation: Interview with Mary Hernandez on The Petrus Development Show
Mary Hernandez is the Executive Director of Advancement for Our Lady of Wisdom Church and Student Center at the University of Louisiana – Lafayette. Mary is an alum of UL and was a member of the parish prior to receiving an invitation by Fr. Bryce Sibley to help with a fundraising project. Mary accepted and turned a temporary assignment into a full-time position running communications and eventually the development program. In their conversation, Mary and Andrew discuss how the growth of the ministry really spurred growth in their development efforts and how a long-term vision for serving the students of UL has led them to launch a $22M capital campaign to build a new student center.
Show Notes:
- Mary’s first job after graduating from University of Louisiana – Lafayette was as a high school teacher. She left that job and went to work for the university in recruitment and orientation. Mary left the job so she could stay home with her children but went back to...
Case Study: St. Al’s Living Faith Society
By Sarah Rose, Petrus Development Consultant
St. Albert the Great’s monthly giving program is living! I don’t mean their monthly giving program is called the “Living Faith Society,” but it is actually living. It is growing and bringing life into their development program. And yours can too!
St. Albert the Great University Parish is an active and vibrant parish that is home to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of Michigan Technological University, Finlandia University, and Gogebic Community College.
A recurring monthly giving program is hugely beneficial to both your ministry and your donors.
For example, a donor can provide a larger gift spread over twelve monthly installments than he or she would be able to provide in one or two larger donations within the year. St. Al’s Living Faith Society average gift size is $57.78 a month, ranging from $10 to $300 a month.
With the Living Faith Society, St. Al’s has a predictable cash flow...
One Overarching Goal: Interview with Kate Sell on The Petrus Development Show
Kate Sell, Founder and Managing Partner, Mission Advancement Partners
In this episode, Andrew visits with Kate Sell, founder and Managing Partner of Mission Advancement Partners. MAP is a collaborative team of individuals who work with Catholic parishes, dioceses and ministries to help them look at their own organizational strengths and weaknesses and develop short- and long-term strategies to better fulfill their mission. In this conversation they discuss how the vision, the team and fundraising go hand in hand to help an organization grow.
Show Notes:
- Kate began her career by helping to establish Catholic radio stations across the United States.
- The Bible scripture that gives Kate inspiration was the story of Jesus turning water into wine. The servants of the wedding played a critical role in the miracle. They trusted Jesus and were willing to follow instructions to allow the miracle to take place. Kate sees her role in the Church as similar to the servants.
- ...
Are you tracking? The real power of Metrics…
By Andrew Robison and Jamie Cappetta, President of Our Savior Parish and Caruso Catholic Center at the University of Southern California
In the business world, setting goals, creating metrics and tracking progress is the name of the game if you want to succeed. Imagine if a Fortune 500 CEO was asked to discuss his or her goals for the upcoming fiscal year. What would the response be if they answered,
“We’ll probably sell more than we did last year. But I don’t really know how many we sold last year, so I can’t tell you how many we need to sell this year. And I don’t really know what we did that worked well this year, so I can’t tell you what we’re going to do better this year to sell more. And to be honest, why we did those things that I think worked well is a bit of a mystery to me, so I can’t tell you why we’re going to do those activities that I think helped us sell more.”
It sounds a bit ridiculous, and...
Selling the Sizzle: Interview with Frank Shannon on The Petrus Development Show
Frank Shannon, Executive Director of Development at St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University
In this episode, Andrew visits with Frank Shannon, Executive Director of Development at St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University. Frank and Andrew covered a variety of topics, including Frank’s career before St. Mary’s, how he transitioned from 25 years in higher ed to a Catholic ministry and how the current campaign at St. Mary’s is going.
Show Notes:
- Frank’s first job out of college was as a loan officer for the Stephenville Savings and Loan but left the S&L business to became a development officer at Texas A&M after a call from Bob Walker, Vice President for Development at the Texas A&M Foundation.
- Frank’s training at Texas A&M mostly came from going on donor calls with Bob Walker and other senior development officers. It was during a meeting with Pat Zachry, long-time donor for A&M,...
Hiring a Great Development Director
By John Flynn, Vice President of Philanthropy
Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS)
Good development people are hard to come by. Great development people are even tougher to find. We often talk to leaders who are quick to share their true feelings about their experience of hiring a Development Director. Those conversations commonly begin with statements such as these:
• “We hired a development director, now we can get back to our real jobs.”
• “We hired a development director, but he/she didn’t even raise her own salary the first year so we let him/her go.”
• “Development people expect you to do their jobs for them. It isn’t my job go out and visit with people about making gifts.”
When working in the Church or a small non-profit, we expect to find that ideal candidate that will raise all the money required to balance the budget, work long hours with little recognition and get compensated nominally for...
