Thank you to all who participated in the “Generous Hearts” Campaign. We had 204 responses (about 20%) indicating a forecast of $45,763 of an annual increase in our Offertory giving….a wonderful example of people working together to make a difference! Some questions came up along the way and this seemed like a good time to review your concerns regarding the differences between “Generous Hearts” and “Project 2017”.
1) Didn’t we just do a capital campaign? Yes, we had a very successful capital campaign called “Project 2017”. We have pledges over a 3 year period in excess of 2 million dollars. These funds are restricted to the church renovation project and future capital improvements/repairs. “Generous Hearts” is directed toward the other side of our financial picture – our weekly offertory, which supports our day to day operating costs. About 400 families gave to Project 2017 so we knew that there were other parishioners (of our 975 parish families) who might want to donate in another way.
2) Why now? Couldn’t this have waited? Fr. Jim was required to do a 4 step presentation to the Archdiocese Planning Commission for approval for our church renovation project. While the financial component of this committee was impressed with our Project 2017 fundraising, they had concerns regarding our parish budget as we have run into a deficit (ranging from approximately $30,000 to $80,000) over the past 3 years. They strongly urged us to address the situation sooner than later. In addition, a company called LPI was running a pilot program for churches in our Archdiocese. We were offered a special rate of $5 per household to conduct the “Generous Hearts” campaign which included the design of all of the marketing pieces, addressing, 3 mailings, postage, printing, website, and tabulating (we could not have done it for that price on our own). And, last but not least, our Finance Committee had a valid concern that “Project 2017” could negatively affect our offertory giving and we couldn’t afford to have it go downward.
3) Why couldn’t you just take some of the extra money from Project 2017 and put it toward the budget so that we wouldn’t have a deficit? The Project 2017 funds are restricted to capital improvements. We anticipate having a minimum of $300,000 after the renovation which will be put into a fund for future repairs for our church and school. Even if we COULD move over the money, it would only be a band-aid and wouldn’t really fix the underlying issue…that our expenses exceeded our income. Our Parish Staff and Finance Committee have worked hard to control our expenses; we needed to increase our income.
4) Why haven’t we had this kind of campaign in the past? The last time SFDS officially ran a Stewardship campaign was in 2007 with Fr. Terry…almost 10 years ago! Our recently formed Stewardship Committee worked on some communication areas that needed attention before we could proceed with a campaign, including conducting a survey to clear up the database, working with a professional team to design a new website, creating a new parishioner welcome packet, establishing on line giving, designing a new branding logo, planning an e-newsletter, and recording an email database. Typically parishes hold a stewardship campaign on a yearly basis to create awareness of time, talent, and treasure and we plan to do that in the future now that everything is in place.
5) Why didn’t the donation numbers on the mailing match what I have been giving? The company that we were working with extrapolated the data to reflect only your offertory giving, so if you had given to any specific fund like the Angel Fund, Capital Fund, or Human Concerns, for example, those weren’t included in your total.
6) Can I still give to the “Generous Hearts” Campaign? While the “Generous Hearts” Campaign is technically over, our ongoing needs will always be there. If you didn’t respond to our campaign but have prayerfully considered increasing your weekly, monthly, or annual donation, your help will be greatly appreciated! If you aren’t able to give at this time, your prayers for our parish are equally appreciated. If you aren’t here every week, please consider signing up for on-line giving through our website to help maintain a consistent income for our parish. Thank you to all who have helped in some way to tremendously strengthen the financial future of St. Francis de Sales Parish over this past year!