24. Annual Fund: Telling Your Story

About the Workshop

In this episode, Changing Our World’s, Jim Friend delivers a workshop to the Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Jim begins by discussing the importance of telling your story as part of the Annual Fund. How we tell our story can have a huge impact on our donors. 

Jim continues the workshop describing the essential components of creating a compelling Annual Fund and discussing how to increase annual gifts every year. The Annual Fund is the heart of any development program. Getting donors in the habit of annual giving to your Catholic School creates a solid foundation. This can lead to future major gifts or planned giving programs.  Additionally, Jim covers these topics:

  • Structuring your Annual Fund
  • Developing your donor database
  • Creating your Annual Fund Letter
  • Managing your gifts and thanking your donors

Although this workshop is focused on Catholic Schools, many of the concepts discussed can be applied to any nonprofit setting. If you would like to download a PDF of this workshop, please click here.

In part two of this podcast, we will discuss some advanced tactics for increasing your annual fund results. Part two of this workshop will be released very soon. Please subscribe to our podcast to receive regular updates about new episodes.

A little about Jim’s Catholic School Experience:

Five years ago, Jim was recruited by the Faith in the Future Foundation as its first Chief Development Officer. In 2012, the Faith in the Future Foundation was created with a unique mission to assume operational responsibility for its 17 high schools and four schools of special education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. At Faith in the Future, Jim led the growth of high school fundraising from $13.1 million to $25.1 million. Simultaneously, he built a development program from the ground up. In his last year he raised over $5 million for a total impact of nearly $31 million for the schools. 

Feel free to contact Jim Friend with any questions or for more information about this presentation.

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