The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Foundation has years of expertise in fundraising for religious causes. In particular, the staff can provide guidance and support for offertory enhancement and capital campaigns. Executive Director Patrick Grace and three Relationship Managers can work directly with the parishes and serves as a liaison to other offices of the Foundation that can provide assistance. Please make your initial contact with Patrick Grace at (216) 696-6525, ext. 5750, and he will work with you and the appropriate staff member to ensure that the necessary service is provided to your parish.

Parishes We Serve

The 227 parishes and pastoral centers of the Diocese serve people of many different backgrounds and cultures. They range in size from the largest parishes that serve 5,000 households to small communities that serve 100 households. The Foundation has created programs to assist your parish with fundraising, offertory enhancement and capital campaigns.

A listing of some of the parishes we have served, Is Available HERE...

Offertory Enhancement Program 

The Foundation has created a comprehensive fund-development manual, which includes a section on parish offertory enhancement programs. An increased offertory campaign is a vital program that can boost ongoing parish support, create important stewardship opportunities for parishioners and help the parish family grow and prosper together.

The most common offertory enhancement program involves a direct mail campaign coupled with pulpit and bulletin announcements. The manual includes complete instructions along with sample letters and announcements, a detailed timeline and other useful information. The Foundation staff are also available for consultation.

Capital Campaign Management

A capital campaign is one of the most ambitious fundraising activities that a parish can undertake. It is often urgent, time-consuming and unfamiliar. For a parish that has not previously been in a capital campaign, it can be an intimidating challenge without professional help.

The Foundation can supply fundraising assistance that removes many of the unknown elements from capital campaign planning and execution. The Foundation staff has been involved in numerous successful campaigns and can offer services ranging from assistance with planning to direct campaign counsel and oversight.

Parishes that are considering a capital campaign are urged to contact the Foundation during the preliminary planning stages to ensure that parish campaigns will not be in direct competition with other major Diocesan fundraisers.

Endowment Fund Development and Endowment Campaign Management

Ensuring the future financial viability of the parish begins with understanding how and why creating a parish endowment fund can successfully engage parishioners and families in developing long-lasting support for their parish. Pastors who wish to build a parish endowment primarily through various philanthropic gift options can access the fund-development services of the Foundation in two ways: consultation supporting major gift solicitation basics or, parish endowment campaign management and coordination.

Donor Cultivation and Communications

Educating existing and potential donors about the activities of the Diocese of Cleveland is critical to making donors and prospects feel like they are truly part of the work of the Church. Utilizing the resources of the Diocese, the Foundation is able to develop and disperse communication materials that are specific to a particular Diocesan entity or about the work of the Church in general.

Grantseeking and Proposal Development

The Foundation offers a broad range of proposal development and grant management services with the goal of producing high-quality solicitations to the funding community. These services include:

• Identifying and cultivating funding prospects
• Writing, editing and/or assembling proposals
• Managing grants
• Providing grantsmanship training

For more information, contact Terri Preskar, Director of Grants Administration, at (216) 696-6525, ext. 5090, or by e-mail at tpreskar@cdcf.org.

Fund-Development Resource Center

The Fund-Development Resource Center of the Foundation provides a variety of technical assistance activities in support of fundraising activities of the Diocese. These include coordinating major studies of the needs and assets of neighborhoods in the Diocese and the economic value of Diocesan services, performing prospect research, presenting a workshop series, maintaining a research library, preparing a number of technical assistance publications for Diocesan entities, and working with Diocesan entities in specialized fund-development research activities.

Prospect Research/Management

The staff of the Foundation can assemble a large volume of helpful information on potential donors that the department can then use to better understand the individual donors and their philanthropic needs and interests. This enables the Foundation to identify the best match between program needs and donor interests. Information available includes donor history, personal profile and additional demographic information.

The Foundation can coordinate the solicitation of prospective donors on behalf of the respective Diocesan entity. Centralized prospect management assures that potential donors are not asked multiple times for competing gifts. The Foundation records and tracks each personal solicitation of major gift prospects. This information is used in determining appropriate solicitation levels and approaches.

Wills and Estate Planning Program Development

The staff at the Foundation has developed a Wills and Estate Planning Program to educate existing and potential donors about estate- and gift-planning opportunities. The Foundation has developed comprehensive materials that illustrate estate-planning techniques that benefit the donor and their families, while providing significant gift income to charitable causes, including their parishes. This program includes seminar materials, sample bulletin announcements and other vital information to assist parishes in conducting programs tailored to their parishioners. In addition, the Foundation makes and maintains personal contact with donors and potential donors throughout the Diocese.

As well as the services outlined above, the Foundation continually updates resource manuals which currently cover Parish Fund Development, Parish Stewardship, Grantseeking and Proposal Development, and Development Basics for Catholic Schools.

Our Commitment

Ultimately, the Foundation is a philanthropic planning organization. Philanthropy rarely happens overnight. Just as personal financial goals must be carefully tended over a period of years, philanthropy must be cultivated with the same care. A plan that is thoughtfully crafted ensures that the donor's intentions are strictly observed and that the beneficiaries are well served.

In this way, the Foundation's commitment to building, enabling and serving enhances the mission of the Diocese. The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Foundation gives donors the opportunity to put their faith and values into practice. Through strategic and responsive philanthropy, our community of faith flourishes as a community centered in service to the Church.

Staff Contact: Patrick Grace, (216) 696-6525, ext. 5750