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To: Pastors
From: Maureen Cully, Manager of Marketing and Communications, Catholic Foundation of North Georgia
Over the past several months, the Catholic Foundation conducted a parish survey to better understand parishioners’ awareness of your parish endowment fund and their interest in giving to it.
Key Learnings:
• Of those aware of the Catholic Foundation, 72% were not aware or unsure if the parish had an endowment fund, but 51% said they would be likely or very likely to contribute to it.
• In lieu of flowers at a funeral, 77% of all respondents said they would be likely or very likely to donate to the parish endowment fund.
The bottom line – if you communicate about your parish endowment fund, many of your parishioners will give to it. Also, if you include giving to the parish endowment fund in your funeral planning materials (in lieu of flowers), you are likely to receive additional gifts.
The Catholic Foundation collected 1,356 responses from 34 different parishes. The parishes with the highest response rates were St. John Newman (21%), St. Monica (17%), St. Thomas Moore (17%), St. Anna’s (8%) and Holy Cross (8%).
As you know, the purpose of your parish endowment fund is to financially sustain the mission of your parish long into the future. It is intended to last forever. Gifts to your parish endowment fund are never spent, but grow and produce interest and dividends. When your parish endowment fund reaches a certain level, it produces grants that benefit your parish.
If you would like to send the survey to your own parishioners, have questions regarding the survey or would like a full summary of the results, please email mcully@cfnga.org.
For questions about how to better market your parish endowment fund or planned giving, please contact Juliet Greco at jgreco@cfnga.org or 404-497-9440.