This week is no exception.
Let’s talk about Saint John Chrysostom.
His name in Greek means “golden-mouthed.” With a nickname as incredible as this, we know he’s wise.
In one of his homilies, Saint John discusses the 1st Letter to the Corinthians, which is foundational to my fundraising approach. Here’s what St John said that has helped me become an even better Catholic fundraiser.
I have an interesting question for you…
“Did Vatican II offer ideas on how to fundraise?”
The short answer is, yes. The Council Father’s wrote an excellent document titled, APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM.
This document offers insight on three essential areas of fundraising:
– the role of funds in your mission
– how God’s plan links with your funding plan
– how to achieve “maximum effectiveness” with fundraising
Yep, once again, our rich Catholic heritage offers you and me everything we need to be successful fundraisers.
Check it all out in this week’s article, Vatican II… the 3 principles of fundraising
About 8 years ago, I had my first major donor request. At the time, I had no idea how to ask for a large sum of money. I just wanted to help my diocese raise funds… never imagining awkward moments such as these.
At any rate, the donation request went well, and the donor generously said yes.
But the experience left a strong impression on me. I wanted to learn a better way to ask for large donations.
I wanted to learn a Catholic way.
Enter Saint Clement of Alexandria. He gave me the insight that I was looking for, and I want to share them with you.
When CatholicFundraiser.net launched in 2016, the focus was to take a CATHOLIC approach to asking for donations.
Here we are years later, and I am talking to you about Pope Benedict XV…
Success!
Benedict XV left us a treasure chest of letters, homilies, bulls, and encyclicals on how to grow in holiness. And… yes, how to fundraise properly as well.
Here are insights that I’ve learned from his Encyclical Sacra Propediem:
I’m a big believer in learning from the experts… I even tell my team that it’s all about learning from the best.
Who are these experts? They are the heroes of the Catholic Church. Take for example Saint Pope Pius X, who led the Church in the early 20th century.
In his encyclical, IL FERMO PROPOSITO, he offers us a blueprint for taking action. He explains that an apostolate must “enlarge its sphere and multiply its results.”
Often, this requires you to fundraise… and that’s what this week’s blog is all about.
Check it out:
I’m reading Abbot Jean-Baptiste Chautard, OCSO‘s classic book on the interior life, the Soul of the Apostolate.
This book is so good that it has been given the thumbs up by three popes: Pope Pius X (had a copy on his nightstand), Benedict XV (wrote a foreword for it), and Benedict XVI (cited it during his visit to Lourdes in 2008).
As a fundraiser, Dom Chautard’s guidance is priceless because he offers recommendations for being a “soldier of Christ” who takes “zealous action.”
Cistercians, like you and me, had to fundraise.
Here are three recommendations I have learned from Dom Chautard on fundraising correctly as a Catholic.
How much do you organize your day to day based on a saint’s life?
I’m not talking about when you pray at Mass, Adoration, or in your room… I’m talking about what to do in all those other moments in life… the day to day stuff… like asking people for donations.
Do you follow your gut?
Do you let things happen as they may?
Do you phone a friend?
None of these choices are necessarily wrong, but they could be the difference between getting that next big donation (and moving your mission forward) and missing it —> which then leads to frustration and feeling like you can’t help more people.
This past week, I picked up The Rule of Saint Benedict, and here is what he taught me about fundraising. Take a look: