Last November the forecast for the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s annual fundraising campaign was that up to 25 per cent of usual donations would dry up.
Instead it rained, thanks to the generosity of Catholics across the archdiocese.
Miro Bezjak, annual giving coordinator in the archdiocese’s Development Office, said despite the pandemic, the Project Advance campaign ended 2020 only 8.7 per cent lower than the year before.
“Obviously within the current climate, that’s an accomplishment,” said Bezjak. “A lot of charities have taken a hit this year with their giving numbers,” so finishing the year so impressively “was a real positive.”
That’s especially so considering Project Advance started slowly in 2020. The scheduled April launch was delayed until June, parish goals were slashed in half in anticipation of tough times ahead, and the focus was moved to COVID-19 crisis response and away from capital projects.
Since the campaign was launched, no more than 50 people have been allowed to participate in Mass at any given time, while for six Sundays and Christmas the churches were closed entirely. Yet, people kept on giving.
It shows “parishioners still want to support the Church, even when they’re not able to be there,” Bezjak said.
That’s not the only surprising development. It was also a “record year for parish rebates,” said Bezjak, referring to donations over and above the parish fundraising targets set by the archdiocese. Parishes can channel those additional funds toward their own parish goals, and in 2020, 57 out of 76 participating parishes received higher rebates than the year before.
Star of the Sea Parish in Surrey raised 25 per cent more and attracted 31 more donors than in 2019. Pastor Father Glen Dion believes promoting the appeal in a compassionate way resonated with the community.
“We didn’t want anybody to feel in any way obliged because they were adversely affected by the pandemic. We weren’t asking for people to try no matter what,” he said.
Instead he wrote a letter to parishioners inviting only those who were able to donate to do so. Promotion focused on the beneficiaries of the appeal, including a free meal program called All Were Filled and tuition assistance for struggling families in the parish school.
At Corpus Christi in Vancouver, Father Bruce-John Hamilton said the parish did “quite well,” despite the pandemic. The parish is building an elementary school and parish centre, and parishioners are accustomed to pulpit appeals to be generous to the capital campaign and regular collections. By year-end, parishioners had raised their third-highest total in parish history, surpassing the previous year $41,000 and attracting 28 more donors.
Still, job losses and financial insecurity did affect the appeal. In parishes like Immaculate Conception in Delta, the number of Project Advance donors dropped by 67 as fewer people felt they could contribute.
“There is a certain percentage of parishioners who have been financially impacted, who have been giving for many years,” said Denzil Desa, chairperson for the appeal. When the parish set its campaign goal at $100,000, he believed “it would be a stretch to reach it.”
Instead they exceeded it and beat their 2019 total, all with fewer donors.
“Somehow as a community everybody came together and we still achieved the results that we were hoping to,” Desa said.
Bezjak noticed a similar trend in other parishes with fewer donors making larger gifts.
Most parishioners likely heard extensively from their parish through the pandemic, he said, receiving newsletters, emails, livestream services, as well as direct support when visiting the church for Mass or confession. “I think at year-end, typically parishioners think ‘how do I give back and support the parish that supported me?’”
There were also a few exceptions to the overall positive numbers, with some parishes falling short of their targets and previous records.
Some parishes may have focused more on promoting regular Sunday giving, he said. Parish offertories were projected to end the year 20 to 25 per cent lower due to the closing of churches to Mass. Overall archdiocesan totals weren’t available at press time.
