Advancing Our Church

Published: September 20, 2022

We are currently experiencing the “Great Transfer of Wealth,” and over the next few decades, financial experts predict that between $40 trillion and $140 trillion will be passed from one generation to the next. Up to one-third of this wealth will be transferred to nonprofits through planned giving. We are joined today by Renée Underwood, CFRE, the Chief Development Officer for the Diocese of Fort Worth’s Advancement Foundation who will share advice and her experience with facilitating Planned Gifts for Parishes and her Diocese. This episode was recorded on July 29, 2022.

Pre-order the new book “The Generosity Crisis” by Authors Brian Crimmins, Nathan Chappell, and Michael Ashley on Amazon by clicking here. Send us a question about the new book, the Generosity Crisis for our upcoming interview with Brian Crimmins and Nathan Chappell by sending Jim Friend an email.

Join Jim Friend at the new Catholic Crypto Conference on November 17-18, 2022, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Join Changing Our World at the International Catholic Stewardship Conference on October 2-5, 2022, in Anaheim. Stop by our booth and visit with Jim Friend, Tom Farrell and Anna Vallez.

About Renée Underwood, CFRE, has served in stewardship, development, and Catholic foundation management roles for dioceses since 2009. As Chief Development Officer of the Diocese of Fort Worth Advancement Foundation, she has responsibility for annual and planned giving, endowment funds and capital campaigns. The current Region X Board Representative to the International Catholic Stewardship Council, Renée has extensive board experience for nonprofit organizations. She currently serves on the executive committees of Lone Star Council Charitable Gift Planners, Fort Worth Metro Chapter of Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Fort Worth Serra Club, and the Southwestern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Prior to her nonprofit career, Renée served in advertising, marketing and executive management roles. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University, an MBA from The University of Texas at Dallas and has completed additional graduate studies toward a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University New Orleans. Renée is a widow, a mother of two sons, a grandmother of three and a spiritual director.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: July 13, 2022

Today we are joined by the team of the Xavier Society for the Blind. Xavier provides the Word of God, Roman Catholic teaching, literature, spiritual and inspirational material to the blind and visually impaired. They provide these services to persons of any faith in whatever format best meets their needs at no charge. Xavier works to explore ways to make this material more accessible to the widest possible audience of those in need.

Changing Our World‘s Jim Friend is joined by Malachy Fallon, Executive Director and Aisling Redican, Fundraising and Communications Manager.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Cristofer Pereyra and Erin Monnin have authored the new book, Catholic Leadership for Civil Society, to provide a guide to authentic lay Catholic leadership. The book challenges the laity to take on leadership roles in the secular world. Join Changing Our World’s Jim Friend and his guests for this thoughtful conversation about the role of lay leadership in our Church today.

About the Book

Catholic Leadership is not meant to be lived out exclusively within the confines of the Catholic faith community. Instead, serves mainly as a guiding force that illuminates every aspect of secular society with the Truth of the Gospel. The book explains why lay Catholic professionals have a unique responsibility and privileged opportunity to influence the world for Christ. It’s not an optional prerogative, but their duty as baptized children of God. The authors explain that chance and coincidence are not compatible with the Catholic faith. If God has blessed some lay Catholics with a professional career, then their career must obligatorily become those Catholics’ field of mission. Ultimately, this book explores specific fields and concrete ways to carry out Catholic leadership for civil society.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: June 13, 2022

In late February, Vinea Research administered an online survey to a sample of more than 1,500 self-identified Catholics who went to Mass at least once per year. The results of the survey included both positive and negative outcomes for Catholics, with one of the significant negative outcomes being that in-person Mass attendance has decreased and is not expected to be back to pre-pandemic levels by the summer of 2022. Join Changing Our World‘s Jim Friend and his special guest, Hans Plate, the Founder and President of Vinea Research, as they discuss this important research and the implications for our Church.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: May 23, 2022

We are joined by Emmy Nominated Journalist Natalie Brunell a leading advocate for Bitcoin and the host of the popular podcast Coin Stories (YouTube link) where she interviews leaders in the Bitcoin space. Before turning her career towards Bitcoin full-time, Natalie was an Emmy-nominated senior news correspondent and investigative journalist. Natalie most recently hosted several panels and discussions at the 2022 Bitcoin conference in Miami. In this show, we talk about the origin of Bitcoin, what Natalie sees as the future, and why so many believe that we can fix our world by fixing the money. Today’s show is not intended to be financial advice. Follow Natalie on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram and find the Coin Stories podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

Additional Bitcoin resources suggested by Jim:

These are some additional resources that Jim Friend has used to learn more about Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency space.

Do you have a suggestion for a resource to share with our community? Drop a comment below.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: May 09, 2022

Are you looking for some expert Development advice as you begin your planning for the next fiscal year? Join us for this conversation on major/planned giving, annual fund, donor stewardship, and, much more. This Catholic Philanthropy Roundtable is hosted by Changing Our World‘s Jim Friend with special guests William M. McLean, Jr., Chief Development Officer, Archdiocese of Hartford and Interim Executive Director for The Hartford Bishops’ Foundation, David Mehr, MA, Special Ministry Campaign Director & Senior Executive Philanthropic Coach, Archdiocese of Denver, Mary Doorley Simboski ACFRE, Managing Director, Changing Our World, Fred J. Roberts, Director of Development for Catholic Education, Catholic Community Foundation of Cleveland, and Kelli Hirsch, Major Gifts Officer, Archdiocese of Denver.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: April 28, 2022

Mercy School For Special Learning joins AOC as we celebrate Autism Awareness Month. Mercy’s mission is unique as one of the few Catholic schools in our country that provides a Catholic education for children and young adults. The staff at Mercy afford their students the best opportunity to reach their utmost potential. Mercy’s mission is the embodiment of the Catholic Church’s doctrinal teaching on the Gospel and the sanctity of human life.

Jim Friend welcomes Beth Grys, Principal, Mark Napierkowski, Director of Development and Chris Birkhead, a longtime Mercy Board Member to this conversation. Learn more about Mercy by visiting their website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: April 11, 2022

Join us for a conversation with Kailash Duraiswami on the evolving landscape of using technology in the New Evangelization. Kailash is a technology entrepreneur, most recently in the Artificial Intelligence space as the founder of Pantenix. Pantenix is an artificial intelligence platform that automates manual data entry for financial services companies through computer vision. Pantenix was acquired by financial services software provider Orion Advisor Solution in Spring 2021.  He is now a co-founder of Fidei, a technology startup providing software for consumers with Catholic values starting with email. Learn more about Fidei. Join Changing Our World‘s Jim Friend for an informative conversation.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: March 30, 2022

Today we celebrate Catholic Sisters Week by hearing the vocation story of Sister Jane Wakahiu, LSOSF, Ph.D., the Associate Vice President, Program Operations, and Head of Catholic Sisters at the Conrad Hilton Foundation. Sr. Jane is a member of the Institute of the Little Sisters of Saint Francis, Kenya. She provides leadership and direction of the Hilton Foundation’s Program Department operations budget, contracts, consultant management, and policy implementation. She also contributes to the Foundation’s strategic planning.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Sr. Jane was the executive director of the African Sisters Education Collaborative (ASEC), where she implemented many programs by working closely with leadership conferences, major superiors, religious congregations and institutes, twenty-three partner colleges and universities in the United States and Africa, and major foundations. Sr. Jane has taught extensively at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has a breadth of teaching and administrative experience from leading a high school in Kenya and as a leader of women’s organizations. She is the author and editor of two books and serves as a contributing writer for the Global Sisters Report, and her peer-reviewed articles have been published in national and international journals. Sr. Jane holds a Ph.D. in human development from Marywood University, a Master of Arts degree from Saint Bonaventure University, and a Bachelor of Education from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.  Today we’re Celebrating Catholic Sisters Week, a national celebration of Catholic sisters because they shine a light on mission and spirituality while building community together. 

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

Published: March 16, 2022

Julianne Stanz joins Jim Friend to discuss her new book, Braving the THIN Places. A “thin place” is where God’s grace is waiting to happen. Your thin place might be an important threshold, a soul friend, a fresh chapter in your own life story, a painful secret or fear, or a time of hardship. Whatever the circumstance, a thin place is where God and humanity meet in a mysterious way. These moments open us to places of rawness and beauty. When we enter into a thin place, something seems to break open inside us, and words are inadequate to describe what we are experiencing. In these moments, we feel a sense of breakthrough as we break free of the ordinary and experience the extraordinary amid our daily lives. For more information about Julianne, her book, and where she will be presenting next, please visit her website.

Don’t miss Changing Our World’s FORGING FORWARD

Don’t miss the webinar series FORGING FORWARD, a virtual philanthropic conference designed to bring you nonprofit experts from around the country who are leading through the COVID-19 crisis.

Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin’s Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today’s Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin’s Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.