Petrus Blog

In this episode, Andrew visits with Matt Bond, former director of development at the St. John Catholic Student Center at Oklahoma State University.  (Matt changed positions between when this podcast was recorded and when it was published!)  Andrew and Matt chat about Matt’s introduction to becoming a fundraising professional, his work on St. John’s $25 million capital campaign, and his strategies for growing an organization’s donor list.    

Show Notes

Background

Matt served as the director of development at the St. John Catholic Center for over 5 years, and during his tenure there, he led a successful $25+ million capital campaign to build a new student center for the campus.  Matt is currently the executive director for the Santa Fe Family Life Center, and he is also a co-host for Holy Donors, another Petrus podcast.  (Check out Holy Donors here!)

Introduction to Fundraising

When Matt was serving as a youth minister...

Has your ministry been sending out the same old year-end appeal letter, year after year?

Is your appeal just a shot in the dark? You spend time getting the wording and layout just right, but you don't really know if it is moving the people who read it.

Is your letter even getting read by its recipients, or are most of them just dropping the envelope straight into the kitchen garbage can?

It's time to have confidence that you can design and send year-end appeals that bring your mission to your prospects and motivate them to participate by their financial support.

Let the Experts Show You the Way

On Tuesday, October 18, Petrus is bringing together three great experts to unpack the do's and don't's of appeal letters from every angle:

• Stan Guimont, Account Manager at Palmer Non-Profit Communications on how to produce a profitable appeal letter
• Michelle Sutton, Development Director at the Duke Catholic Center on how to use segmentation to make your letters feel more personalized and get...

In this episode, Andrew welcomes Dennis Gerber, president of the Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund, to the podcast.  Andrew and Dennis discuss donor-advised funds and current trends in fundraising.  They chat about Dennis’s work at the Knights of Columbus Charitable (KCCF), and Dennis outlines how Catholic donors can benefit from a fund that aligns with their Catholic values.  

Show Notes

Background

Ever since Dennis was a young child, he had a passion for asking for money to help those in need.  Dennis was a bold fundraiser in his youth.  When he was seven, he walked his street asking neighbors for money for the poor; and when he was a college senior, he raised money to rebuild his frat house.  His success raising money for his fraternity led to a post-college development job with his fraternity’s national office, and that position kicked off Dennis's career as a professional fundraiser.   

Catholic Fundraising

After...

By Jamie Cappetta, President, USC Caruso Catholic Center and Petrus Consultant

Like many development professionals, I didn’t start my career aspiring to be a fundraiser, but rather my aspiration was that of a professional baseball player. However, when I did not get drafted my senior year in college having played all four years at the University of Richmond, I decided to scratch the itch of the priesthood that had been ruminating in my heart for several years. The first step in that exploration was as a youth minister in South Boston for two years, followed by a year of discernment. During that discernment year, I worked at the Catholic Worker House in Philadelphia, the Christian Appalachian Project in Kentucky, and finally made a solo, three-month pilgrimage to Europe with one question in mind: “Lord, am I called to be a priest?” 

Returning from that trip in May 2000, I confidently knew God was not calling me to the priesthood, but my heart...

In this episode, Andrew visits with Jared Zimmerer, the senior director of the Word on Fire Institute.  Andrew and Jared chat about the Catholic presence on social media and how we can use social media as an important tool for evangelization.  Jared also shares about Word on Fire’s exciting new project with the University of St. Thomas’s MAX Studios.  

Show Notes

Background

Prior to working for Word on Fire, Jared’s Catholic evangelization efforts focused on the cross-section of faith and fitness, and he often spoke to high school athletes about Catholicism and Catholic masculinity in general.  Jared very much believes we can use the culture of sports to start connecting with younger generations, and it was during his talks on the subject that he met Fr. Robert Barron (now Bishop Barron!) and learned about Word on Fire.

Word on Fire Institute

The Word on Fire Institute is a digital online institute that provides courses in...

In this episode, Andrew visits with Craig Miller, the president of FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.  Together, Andrew and Craig talk about FOCUS, its ministry to college students, and the organization’s unique fundraising challenges.  They also discuss the tremendous growth of campus ministry in recent decades and note how that important trajectory might continue in the future.  

Show Notes

Background

Before entering the world of Catholic fundraising and becoming president at FOCUS, Craig worked in the tech industry in California.  He and his family left California and moved to Colorado where, at a parish event, Craig first learned about FOCUS’s ministry.  Craig soon changed careers and joined FOCUS in its ministry to Catholic college students.

FOCUS in 2022

FOCUS currently serves nearly 200 college campuses with physical teams of missionaries on campus.  They also have digital teams ministering to another...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

One of my favorite Bible stores is that of Queen Esther. Her uncle urged her to go before her husband, the king, to plead for the lives of her people. Also, because she went to the king without being summoned, she risked being executed herself. Talk about a lot of pressure in that “ask!” To prepare, Esther, her maids, and her people fasted and prayed for three days. 

While the work we do in development is vital to the life of the Church, I don’t think any of us have risked our lives to meet our financial goals. And unlike Queen Esther, we probably didn’t humble ourselves with dung and ashes on our heads either! Yet, Esther’s story teaches us that a good cause alone, one that God no doubt supports, may not be enough to bring about his will. If we want to harness the power of God, the Bible tells us that prayer, fasting, and action are “tools” that impact outcomes. 

These tools...

By Stephanie Mahoney, OSV Institute for Catholic Innovation
Originally published on www.osvinstitute.com on February 1, 2022

Describing the Catholic Church today, in this post-modern world of 2022, is to tell the story of the body of Christ being fully alive and under incredible adversity all at the same time.

We talk about the life of the Church in terms of what it is going through, but rarely through the lens of how we are responding to it in an intentional way.

Terms like never settle, ideate or iterate aren’t commonly used in ministry strategy conversations and on a smaller scale, we don’t even embrace every day opportunities to talk about Jesus with friends who we know aren’t religious. And perhaps it’s time we should.

Why Now?

Catholics are staggering out of a pandemic that closed churches on the cusp of Pew Research numbers that told us young people are leaving in droves faster than we can count. At the same time, it seems like there...

By Mary Hernandez, Petrus Blog Contributor

The newest release of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) annual Compensation and Benefits Study is timed perfectly for organizations creating a strategic plan to start or grow their development team in the new year. We've limited the scope of the 178-page report to look at key findings from the United States in religious, higher education, and human services sectors.

The data takes some of the mystery out navigating compensation for development professionals, who are integral to making your development program successful. By looking holistically at professional compensation relative to organization budget, team size, geographic region, and several other data points, you will better understand how growing your team may impact your budget. 

Organizations should be mindful that statistics and numbers only tell a part of the story. These data points do not measure the intangible qualities that ultimately make a...

In this episode, Andrew visits with Dr. Matt Smith, Director of Strategic Alliances at OSV Institute for Catholic Innovation. Andrew and Matt discuss the OSV Innovation Challenge that was launched in 2020 which is now accepting applications for its 2021 Challenge. Through this Challenge, OSV is “building up Catholic innovators by offering contestants opportunities for personal development, professional guidance, and idea incubation — and a shot at one of three $100,000 project prizes.” 

If you want to learn more or apply for your shot at a $100,000 prize, go to www.OSVchallenge.com for more information. 

Show Notes:

Our Sunday Visitor was founded in 1915. 

Rebranded in 2021 to the OSV Institute for Catholic Innovation. Which felt like it supported their vision in a clearer way. The 2021 Challenge opened to applications on February 1, 2021.

Innovation Challenge

2020 was the first year of the Challenge and it was highly...