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Capital Campaign
by Bishop Raymond A. Lucker
First of all, the facts: - The purpose of the campaign was to build up the Pension Plan for Priests which was severely underfunded. We have a duty in justice to support our priests in retirement, but our retirement plan was only 42% funded. This campaign was to help the diocese and every parish fulfill its future responsibilities in this regard. - By the end of the campaign the total amount of money pledged is $4,223,979. What a magnificent response!! Over 5,175 households contributed to the campaign with an average gift of $825. In addition to that, there were a number of creative gifts on the part of families. Some gave wheat or soybeans; some gave hundreds or thousands of bushels of corn each year for five years; some donated pigs. There were several gifts of stock. - The campaign lasted seven months and was conducted with the help of Community Counselling Service (CCS), a firm which advises institutions and helps them conduct fundraising efforts. We agreed to pay CCS $126,000 plus campaign expenses (secretaries, computers, mailings, printing, etc.) of about $40,000 for a total of about $165,000. - The campaign was conducted in five phases: a priest phase, a bishop's phase, the major gift phase, an advance phase, and a special phase. - The priests of the diocese and especially the retired priests responded magnificently to the first phase. - The bishop's phase was supposed to ask for very large contributions from a relatively small group of people in the diocese. The bishop's phase did not seem to go over very well. We simply do not have a large number of people who are able to give big donations. I frankly thought the campaign was not going to make its goal. - The major phase was directed toward people who would be asked to consider gifts of between $1,000 - $5,000. When we entered into this phase the campaign really took off. People responded with unbelievable generosity. I was absolutely amazed. - Each parish was to identify a parish chairperson and several table hosts, if necessary, to make individual contacts during the major phase. By the time the reports were in, 750 donors contributed $1,305,103 to the major phase; an average gift of $1,740. - The advance and special phases were directed to all of the people of the diocese who either regularly use envelopes or who may not use envelopes. I sent a letter of appeal to all 26,000 households of the diocese. Almost 4,000 households responded with a total for this phase of $2,085,398, for an average of $522. - The overall campaign was under the chairmanship of Fr. Germain Rademacher and he was supported and guided by a Campaign Coordinating Committee made up of priests and pastoral administrators. What did I learn from the campaign? First of all I learned that the campaign's success came from the contributions of the many ordinary people who live in the diocese. I learned that if you give people a chance, present to them a clear need and goal, they will respond. I learned that people really appreciate the ministry of the priests of the diocese. I learned that we would not have been able to be successful without an outside consultant. I learned that people want information. I promise to share with you every detail of the campaign. I want to keep you up to date with the benefits of the campaign and to assure you that the assessments to parishes will be lowered as soon as the interest and dividends from campaign funds become available to apply to the priests retirement. In may ways only the first part of the campaign is complete: the pledges have been made and initial payments paid. It will take the people of the diocese three to five years to fulfill their pledges. I urge you to respond generously to the reminder letters that will be sent to you each month, quarter, or year, as you have requested. The priests, pastoral administrators, and people really came through in this campaign. I thank you from my heart. November, 1997
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