Endowment Sunday returns for the fourth year on the weekend of May 17! It is an opportunity to educate your parish community about your endowment fund and secure the financial wellbeing of your parish now and in the future. Every parish and mission in the archdiocese has its own endowment fund. This initiative for all parishes to hold an Endowment Sunday has been endorsed by Archbishop Hartmayer.
How do I sign my parish up?
Please register using this short form by Wednesday, April 15, to let us know you are participating so we can help support you. By signing up to participate, your parish will be eligible for a drawing to receive a $500 donation to your parish endowment fund.
Although you can register after Wednesday, April 15, registering now gives you time to implement the suggested timeline and take advantage of all the resources provided.
Why should I tell my parish about our endowment fund?
Over half of the parishioners surveyed said they are likely or very likely to contribute to their parish endowment fund if they knew about it. This Endowment Sunday effort focuses on educating your parish communities about it, especially to plant the seed for a planned gift (a gift left in a will or estate plan). For current giving, you can also choose to run a second collection that weekend to help grow your endowment fund. In previous years, many parishes received gifts and were informed of planned gifts they did not know about through this effort.
What resources are there?
Ready to use Endowment Sunday toolkits are available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. The toolkit includes:
- Communications timeline
- Prewritten articles for bulletins and newsletters
- Graphics
- Sample script to use for a pulpit talk at Mass
- And more
The toolkit also includes an overview of endowment funds to help you understand them and be able to communicate their purpose to your parish. Endowment funds are a wonderful opportunity to provide stability and sustainability for your parish.
In addition to the toolkit, we have more resources available on the Endowment Sunday page on our website: cfnga.org/endowment-sunday. This includes sample Prayers of the Faithful for Endowment Sunday, a weekly breakdown of tasks from the toolkit and downloadable graphics in English and in Spanish. NEW THIS YEAR: the Catholic Legacy video, available on YouTube. Click here to watch it and consider using it in your promotions.
We would like to work with you to grow your parish endowment fund, and we would like to make it as easy as possible to do so. Designated distribution grants from your fund can be used for the general mission of the church, which may include capital needs, religious education, ministries and operations.
If you have any questions, please contact the Catholic Foundation at 404-497-9440 or contact a member of our staff:
Juliet Greco, VP of development and donor relations – jgreco@cfnga.org
Lisa McLean, senior philanthropic officer – emclean@cfnga.org
Angela O’Donoghue, communications manager – aodonoghue@cfnga.org