Will Parishes Need Public-Broadcasting-Style Pledge Drives?

by Dan Masterton

NCR’s Brian Fraga recently reported on the state of Catholic parishes as we move into this next phase of the pandemic. Read the full article to gather the whole picture, but here’s a few notes that stuck out to me:

First, online giving is increasing. This is great! It’s tough to let go of the romance and routine of dropping an envelope into the basket – as recently as 2013, I used to withdraw certain increments of cash from the bank teller in order to properly stock my weekly envelopes. However, online giving is simpler for parish bookkeeping, likely leads to more consistent contributions, and helps parishes plan better. So a shift in this direction is a positive.

Second, in some places where giving decreased during the pandemic, many donors increased their recurring donation or gave large gifts to offset the downturn. This is heartening, as the pandemic created a weird dichotomy of great struggle for some and growth of stability and wealth for others. Hopefully these large gifts were the recognition from those few folks that their improved situation warranted increased charity.

Third, many older donors were giving plenty, but as they pass on, they are not being succeeded by equivalently generous young people. There are many factors here, including the bumpy landscape for Millennials and Gen-Z’ers in the workforce, housing market, student debts, and other areas of the economy, especially when compared to our parents’ generations. Overall, we often don’t have great financial flexibility from which to give. But also cultural, social trends among these generations are challenging. And this is what pinballed most in my head.

Anecdotally, we Millennials (born 1981-1996 ish) just aren’t as likely to stick in one job, or even in one career, and are more likely to rent and move than to buy and settle down (at least at first). When I look at the post-grad life of my 15 closest family and friends who are Millennials, only two of the group have lived in the same place since finishing undergrad, and only one of the group has worked the same job that whole time. This has largely meant that we are less likely to find and commit to communities; we might make some friends or become fond of a favorite bar or restaurant, but we’re slower to develop loyalty and sink roots. I would imagine this impacts our rates of belonging to Catholic parishes, too.

I prefer the times when Millennials and Z'ers
find ourselves on the same team.
(But there are lots of times when Z'ers drive me bananas.)

Among GenZ, I’ve read – because I’m eight years older than the oldest Z’ers and feel like a bitter old man already – that there’s a more endemic sense of non-affiliation. In a few listening session webinars and some conversations with Z’ers through work, it seems there’s a generationally strong desire to agitate for needed social change but an inconsistent willingness to pre-commit to particular paths, organizations, or actions to accomplish it. Rather, the preference is to consume and engage with the world in spontaneous and curated ways, rising to meet moments when they come. Generally, Z’ers are content with the way technology, social media, and some in-person socializing nourish them, and there’s less concrete hunger to find a formal community and belong to it. Again, I imagine this is impacting or will greatly impact the formal belonging at Catholic parishes.

I’ve learned that Catholic schools and parishes, and many non-profits, have to identify both ordinary and extraordinary fundraising to sustain their work. For ordinary means, parishes depend on the collection basket and religious education tuition while schools depend on tuition, fees, and planned giving from alumni and benefactors; additionally, though, capital improvements have to happen at points (new roof, replacing a heating system, tuckpointing the buildings, etc.) and have to funded by extraordinary projects like campaigns, balls, galas, auctions, special giving days, and more. Extraordinary giving occasions have to be limited so as not to cause donor fatigue, and even then only pitched with great detail and specificity so people know that if they reach deeper to give extra that it’s going to something absolutely necessary.

So here’s the tricky part – how do parishes survive if the ordinary donor base and the degree to which it’s giving is shrinking?

First of all, I’ll admit my ignorance in effective parish-based evangelization strategies. And, at the end of the day, the ultimate parish goal is the development of individuals’ relationships with Jesus Christ, our belonging to the Body of Christ, and our eternal life together with Christ and one another. So what follows is a bit cold and analytical, and just one component, complementary to that central and essential element.

Anywho, let’s confront crowdfunding (ex: GoFundMe). Realistically, it could actually pick up some of the slack. Effective online campaigns can reach far beyond the smaller boundaries of conventional campaigns and perhaps engage a wider base than was previously available. However, crowdfunding is more of an extraordinary pathway. It’s tough to imagine someone giving to the same crowdfund on a regular basis; on the other hand, it’s conceivable that folks would respond to an occasional appeal for major parish projects akin to how folks will stake someone’s passion project or entrepreneurial ambitions. But this likely isn’t viable to sustain day-by-day expenses.

What are the alternatives then?

One outcome that must be avoided is requiring people to give in order to take part in parish life. We cannot reach a point where only those who donate can come through the doors for Mass and Sacraments. We can expect and encourage the giving of time, talent, and treasure, but we cannot require it or make it a precondition of participation. That’s not even a last resort – it’s a violation of what the Church is.

A model that feels comparable is pledge drives on public radio and television. Basically, our times (or so) a year, regular programming is frequently interrupted by appeals for giving. They look for both one-time gifts and recurring monthly gifts, usually with raffle prizes, matching funds that incentivize giving during particular periods, and little tokens for all recurring giving. This style of fundraising sort of splits the difference between ordinary fundraising (monthly contributions that pay the bills) and extraordinary fundraising (large gifts that can seed capital campaigns and major projects), but is probably best suited to serve the former.

Would love to use the Bernie meme for this,
but I can already hear the socialism accusations...

What are our thoughts on tote bags?

I could imagine a pair of parish weekends during each quarter or so. Special signs are posted around the church; greeters have special pamphlets; the pastor and staff offer a specific plea before Mass, after communion, and in videos on the website and social channels; special raffles are set for new and old donors; and little keepsakes are available as enticements or affirmations. Many parishes have a very watered-down version of this once a year in which dense spreadsheets are stuffed in the bulletin and the pastor offers an austere and sometimes chilling address on the parish finances. A pledge-drive approach certainly could feel tacky or extraneous, but it might be one of the more appropriate, malleable, and effective ways to reimagine confronting this challenge.

On a practical level, one consideration could be reorganizing diocesan offices a bit, perhaps away from ministerial direction roles (such as “Director of Young Adult Ministry”) toward more positions in institutional advancement and development. Truth be told, I’ve always found the central offices for ministry-focused things to be a little confusing. At their best, they’re a clearing house that can collect and disseminate all information to all ministers and sustain a network, but at their worst, they seem to be bureaucratic, titular bloat that often appear not to be serving anyone in particular. With some office-power shifted to development, perhaps a team of professionals could deploy from the diocesan office to help parishes review budgets and facilities, identify and prioritize needs, and build out a marketing-communications-fundraising plan for when and how to improve donations for both ordinary and extraordinary needs.

More locally, the inconvenient truth for us parishioners is that many of us just don’t give very much. Some traditions challenge their adherents to tithe 10% of their income, sometimes even mandating it. Modern Catholicism doesn’t establish any hard norms, leaving us to make conscientious choices, which is ideal. In reality, the choices we make are mixed, and fall short of the level of support parishes largely need (America Media and USCatholic each tried to collect sentiment on this question a few years back).

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that our family contributions to the parish don’t quite add up to 1% of our family gross income, though our other charitable giving (usually to Catholic nonprofits) pushes us over that number. I think my family struggles to set those budgetary ranges and limits and stick to them, so we set lower recurring donation amounts a bit artificially low and try to fill the gap in other ways. Yet the whole of our commitment falls short of what we should seek to do.

And so it brings me, and us, and the generations of Millennials and Gen Z, back to the tough questions. How can parish giving and belonging evolve? How can we gain a stronger generational sense of the importance of belonging, commitment, and participation? How can parishes and the Church engage our generations more fully? How can the person of Jesus Christ and the grace of our Church and Sacraments animate this engagement?

And practically speaking, how can parishes, dioceses, and the Church become better at doing the sort of internal community life, charity and justice outreach, and catechesis and formation if they lack the funding to improve upon their staff and education, training, and formation? It will take a lot of prayer and action.