Fundraising and development best practices

Mar 17 2022

Embracing stewardship during Lent and Easter

We sometimes hear of a “stewardship parish.” Perhaps your church sees itself that way. Yet there is no one definition of a stewardship parish. You’ll find many descriptions. But the central theme is the belief that everything we have – whether time, talent or treasure – is a gift from God, and we are called to give back to God a portion of our gifts in gratitude. We give because we are grateful for what we have been given. Understanding this, embracing the joy of stewardship, is what creates in us a “need” to give. We give not first and…

Feb 23 2022

Henri Nouwen and Nathan Ball, right, kitchen at L'Arche Trosly-Breuil.

The Courage to Fundraise with Nathan Ball

By Jim Steier podcast, Steier Tips

The Steier Group is proud to debut our new podcast, Twelve Wicker Baskets with Christopher Beaudet. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast app. In the Gospel, Jesus fed 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. After the crowd was satisfied, there were 12 wicker baskets left over. God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, we will explore, with pastoral leaders and development professionals, all the many ways God meets the spiritual and temporal needs of our parish communities, our Catholic schools and the diocesan church. And not only meets those needs but provides in abundance. The…

Feb 22 2022

Use planned giving to ensure long-term nonprofit sustainability

By Jim Steier Steier Tips

Most nonprofit organizations have a life span. The goal is to extend that life span and mission beyond immediate needs. This can be accomplished through strong yearly giving, productive capital campaigns and endowments. But those aren’t the only options. A focus on planned gifts can set an organization up for sustained success and a brighter future. Bequests, planned gifts and estate gifts can be used to build up your endowment. They may also be donated as restricted funds (like buildings and maintenance, scholarships, operations or specific programs) or unrestricted funds to be used at the discretion of the organization’s leadership….

Jan 12 2022

What is the state of fundraising in 2022?

By Jim Steier Steier Tips

Although the past few years have been tumultuous, data shows that donors have been as generous as ever. The state of fundraising in 2022 looks strong. In November, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project released its data on the first two quarters in 2021, showing an increase over 2020. FEP did see slowdown in the second quarter, but overall fundraising was still up. The slowdown in the second quarter could be due to the abnormally strong growth in quarter one. A few other notes from this data: The rise in number of donors was small (.7%) but total funds raised were up…

Dec 11 2021

Boost year-end fundraising with a focus on stewardship

By Jim Steier Steier Tips

As 2021 ends, nonprofits are discussing how best to solicit end-of-year gifts. Most often, the discussion centers on methods of giving such as taxes and retirement accounts. But, during the Christmas season, we believe a focus on stewardship – the heart of giving – serves to enhance year-end fundraising. The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops unveiled four tenets that define stewards: Our lives, and all that we have, are gifts from our loving God. As stewards of God’s gifts, we take care of what we have and generously share it with others. Seeing everything before us as gift –…

Nov 09 2021

Endowment campaign strategies that work

By Jim Steier Steier Tips

For many nonprofits, raising money for an endowment is the ultimate dream. To have the resources and support necessary to increase an endowment beyond an organization’s operating needs seems like a challenging, yet desirable goal. When you think of an endowment campaign, you might generally think of large nonprofits with endowment funds in the hundreds of millions. While those large institutions are often the most prolific endowment fundraisers, more modest sized nonprofits can and should raise endowment dollars when they are able. Small nonprofits, those raising $5 million per year or less, should generally focus on expanding their general and…

Sep 08 2021

Despite challenges of pandemic, parishioners propelled dioceses to campaign success

By Jim Steier Steier Wire

Strong parishes, strong diocese. This mantra, from the Most Reverend Douglas Crosby, Bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton, during its capital campaign, sums up the benefit of a diocesan-wide capital campaign. When the Catholic faithful of a diocese comes together to support one another and the Church as a whole, a rising tide truly lifts all boats. Never was this truer than during the pandemic. In addition to the usual challenges of a diocesan campaign, dioceses faced navigating the rough waters of lockdowns, virtual Mass, social distancing and economic hardship. By following capital campaign best practices and adjusting to pandemic…

Sep 08 2021

Finding fundraising success during a crisis

By Jim Steier Steier Wire

In addition to our diocesan partners, the Steier Group helped churches, schools, Newman Centers and Catholic Charities across North America weather the pandemic storm. Many of these organizations stayed the course even as lockdowns occurred. Thanks to nimble adjustments, changes in strategy and tailoring fundraising goals to the new state of the world, each found fundraising success. Here are a few campaigns that were successful in 2020: ST. ANNE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN HOUSTON In late 2019, St. Anne engaged the Steier Group to direct the final wave of their Generations of Faith Capital Campaign. At that point, the campaign had…

Sep 08 2021

Meet Christopher Beaudet, President of Diocesan Services

By Jim Steier Steier Wire

In March 2021, after more than six years of experience managing campaigns for a variety of Catholic high schools, parishes and dioceses, the Steier Group promoted Christopher Beaudet to President of Diocesan Services. Chiefly responsible for engaging diocesan leaders across the United States and Canada, Christopher gains familiarity with the unique pastoral context of each diocese, assists in identifying and defining their funding needs, and then orchestrates the Steier Group’s design and implementation of planning studies and capital campaigns to address them. He serves in a leadership capacity for all Steier Group diocesan campaigns. Before joining the Steier Group, Christopher…

Sep 08 2021

The state of fundraising in 2021

By Jim Steier Steier Wire

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of life as we know it. And had a big impact on fundraising. But, despite economic hardships and social changes, fundraising performed well in 2020 with a bright future on the horizon. In this issue of Steier Wire, we’ve explored the ins and outs of successful campaigns for our clients. Now we can look at the bigger picture. According to Blackbaud’s Charitable Giving Report, giving grew by 2% in 2020. Which is good news, considering the financial upheaval that came with the pandemic. Also, Blackbaud found that online giving grew by 20.7% compared to…

Fundraising and development best practices

News & Resources Topics

Follow Us