Catholic Club for Religious Vocations
Case for Support and Website Redesign
The Backstory
Vocations in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe have been on the decline. Over the next 15 years, 53 priests will retire, and the amount of new priests being ordained is not sufficient to fill the gaps.
The Catholic Club for Religious Vocations (CCRV) is a non-profit that offers support to seminarians for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in various ways. They came to us needing to redefine their objectives as they seek to create a deeper pool of support for men discerning the priesthood.
CCRV’s support of men in seminary formation and men in discernment, in close connection with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe Vocations Office, plays a vital role in replenishing the well of vocations in New Mexico.
The Challenge
- CCRV wanted to do more to support seminarians, and they were not raising enough money to help seminarians with the stipends that they needed.
- Staffing issues within CCRV and the Archdiocese Vocations Office made it difficult to dedicate time to fundraising efforts.
- The CCRV legacy website was difficult to find in a search, outdated, and not a source of current information for CCRV’s cause.
- They wanted to build a communications infrastructure, both to reach more discerners and more potential donors.
The Strategy
STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN TO SUPPORT VOCATIONS
- First, CCRV needed to determine their short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. We worked with them to lay out their needs and create a strategic plan to achieve them.
- Established a baseline of necessary funds in order to achieve these plans. Specific numbers are much more attractive to donors than general goals.
- Prepared CCRV to build relationships and make the ask by equipping them with powerful collateral to share with interested benefactors.
Branding
- Create an identity that’s attractive to benefactors, builds trust, confidence, and feels distinctly New Mexican.
- Clearly state the problem that CCRV is solving for benefactors and why they’re the right organization to support.
- Develop a logo suite that can easily be used across digital and print media. Build consistency.
- Inspire generosity by developing a narrative around the reasons why people love their priests and the connections the CCRV members have to them.
PRIMARY LOGO
PATTERN
Case for Support for Catholic Advancement
- A Case for Support is an essential part of the strategic plan for a non-profit like CCRV, highlighting its mission and goals.
- Together we created a beautiful piece of collateral to be shared with potential donors, especially donors who could be larger benefactors.
- The Case for Support lays out the specifics of CCRV’s strategic plan, bringing supporters on board who want to share in this mission.
- By combining storytelling, striking visuals, and their strategic plan, the CCRV Case for Support captures donors’ hearts and minds.
WEB DESIGN FOR NONPROFIT AND VOCATIONS OFFICE
- Updated the CCRV website with consistent messaging, easy navigation, and calls to action.
- As CCRV supports seminarians and men in discernment, they are in step with the needs of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe Vocations Office. So, part of their strategy was to fund the creation of a new standalone website for the Vocations Office. Their legacy site was connected to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and lacked depth. It was unappealing to the generation of young men currently discerning the priesthood.
CATHOLIC EMAIL MARKETING
- Develop email marketing strategy and campaigns to keep donors engaged. Share success stories, seminarian biographies, and create an overall sense of connection and pride between donors and seminarians.
- Send emails on a consistent basis to keep CCRV and the seminarians top-of-mind for donors.
- Give donors clear next steps to continue their support of CCRV, including forwarding emails to 3 friends who love their priests and want to support future priests, increase their monthly donations, and more.
The Results
Donations
Before
- CCRV wanted to do more to support seminarians, and they were not raising enough money to help seminarians with the stipends that they needed.
- Staffing issues within CCRV and the Archdiocese Vocations Office made it difficult to dedicate time to fundraising efforts.
After
- After the first two quarters of our partnership, CCRV has raised 25% of its total initial goal.
- Average donation is $100 a month.
- Seminarian stipends will increase to $300/month in the fall, with plans to increase to $350 in the spring.
Visibility & Outreach
Before
- A basic search for CCRV in Google was unsuccessful.
- Few people knew CCRV existed, let alone how great their need was, or how they could help CCRV thrive.
After
- Two beautiful new websites provide information, resources, and next steps for donors and discerners alike.
- CCRV can now be easily found on Google due to SEO improvements in the website.
Why it Works
CCRV is an essential organization for the life of the Church in New Mexico. Yet they were struggling to dream big because they did not have the funds, time, or people to make it happen. Digital Marketing strategy IS fundraising strategy. With the goal of raising money so that their mission can be realized, we got to work.
Getting their mission and specific goals on paper through their Case for Support has allowed large donors like the Knights of Columbus and individuals to see what they are about and help CCRV achieve their goals. It has helped them focus on their primary needs instead of getting caught up with the smaller ones.
Their attractive new website, as well as that of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe Vocations Office, is drawing new interest. The websites are helping men and women know with clarity the next steps they should take in their process of discernment.
The results of our partnership have been so positive for CCRV that we plan to begin email marketing to continue to share their mission and goals with potential donors and discerning men and women. We can’t wait to see all that God has in store for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe through this initiative.
