St. Thomas More Center

St. Thomas More Center in Panora, Iowa, has served as home of Catholic Youth Camp for over 60 years. Children and teens from across the Diocese of Des Moines and beyond attend the fun and faith-filled summer camp at the center. The center also hosts retreats and other events throughout the year. The center’s high-quality programs flourished. But the facilities were showing their age, jeopardizing the camp’s long-term sustainability. Lack of updates, decades of camper use and deferred maintenance created a backlog of renovation and construction projects. The center’s leadership knew improvements were essential. The center hired the Steier Group for a campaign assessment that showed strong support for the camp but revealed funding challenges: the center lacked an existing donor base and many prospective donors already had financial commitments to their local parishes and Catholic schools. The Steier Group tailored just the right appeal plan. The firm started with strategic approaches to a handful of prospective lead donors about sponsoring new cabins in exchange for naming rights. That approach, coupled with donor cultivation events and networking with parish leaders, succeeded. The campaign has far surpassed projections, raising over $2 million to ensure that campers will be enjoying summers at the center for many years to come.