You have to wonder what it takes to start a religious order from the ground up. You’ve got to be equipped with a lot of spiritual, mental, and physical resilience to handle all the ups and downs. It has to be quite similar to the path an entrepreneur takes. The definition of an entrepreneur is someone who “assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” How fitting is that for the description of a founder of any new Catholic cause?

Over a year ago, a friend sent me a copy of a fascinating biography on Saint Ignatius of Loyola. It was entitled, Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits. (Unfortunately, this book is out of print.) What struck me was that it took a different angle than most books about a saint. There was a chapter in the book named, Saint Ignatius as Fund-Raiser. The author of this chapter, Fr Thomas Clancy, researched the activities that Saint Ignatius took in the last 10 years of his life to build a sustainable foundation for the Society of Jesus.

As a fundraiser, this caught my attention immediately. There’s no magic solution that’s going to raise the money you need or guarantee your Catholic cause’s success. When you set out to build a new project or cause, you do so with the knowledge that many who have gone before you have failed.

That said, this biography of how Saint Ignatius was successful taught me that he focused on five rules which you too can cultivate that will significantly increase your chance of success in fundraising.

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Get your free e-book on how to fundraiser here: http://catholicfundraiser.net/

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My goal with this article is to convince you that there is a right and a wrong way to fundraise on Facebook. Will you believe me? Probably not, but let’s try anyway.

You probably use Facebook every day like everybody else. Therefore, it’s a no-brainer to use it in your next campaign, right? This article is to share with you what I’ve learned about how to actually raise money using Facebook.

I do want to warn you. I’m not writing as an authoritative expert on this subject. I’m writing based on what’s worked for me, and what’s worked for the Catholic causes that I’ve helped. I’m still learning how to use this massive social media platform because it is so influential. With so many Catholics using it every day, you’ve got to consider it a part of your fundraising.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://bit.ly/2F2BzPT

I’m so excited to announce the launch my second book, Pray Pray Pray Ask: The no-fluff manual on how to follow your vocation, raise funds, and spread the Gospel in the 21st century.Though I am stuck … I don’t know which of the four covers to use. Which do you like best?

Right now, you’re as good as your campaigns and no better. But your campaigns might not be very good because you haven’t taken a good approach to preparation. The thing is, it is almost impossible to have a good campaign, especially during Lent, unless someone gives you a good framework.

My job with the website is to give you a Catholic framework for fundraising. I also want to give it to you with such enthusiasm that you’ll take the necessary preparation to develop your own campaign, especially this Lent.

Let’s do that right now, sound good?

Let’s get serious because you wouldn’t be reading this if you were not looking for better ways to improve your fundraising. I want you to be successful and accomplish all you want with your mission. To do just that, I want you to take your fundraising to the professional level.

But before we talk about professionalism, I want to put this word into context with our Catholic faith. When we often talk about professionalizing anything in the Catholic Church, we can quickly think of suits, flow charts, graphs, colorful brochures, policies, and procedures. That’s not what I am talking about here.

When I say go ‘pro’ with your Catholic fundraising, I mean keeping your eyes on the bigger picture; Jesus Christ. I say this in all seriousness because there is a small but vital distinction to be made with your fundraising.

To be seen by Catholics, you need to share your mission and tell them what you are doing. But traveling from one parish and another is not enough. You must spread your reach by using digital platforms, and I can convince you for one simple reason: you will find the majority of your donors here.

Check out CatholicFundraiser.net for more helpful resources.

The first goal of any fundraiser (or mission) is to get someone's attention. If you do not have someone's attention, you can never ask them for a donation. And with attention, you must build trust with the person. Because if you do not have their trust, they will rarely suppor your cause.

This presentation walks you through the most exciting opportunity Catholic organizations have today, which is attracting people's attention ... for free.

We live in exciting times with countless opportunities. In fact, we have so many opportunities that many Catholic organizations are not recognizing them. As a result, they choose to stay in the past and hope the old ways of fundraising will still work.

This presentation explains how you must rethink your approach to fundraising and why it's never been a better time to start or grow your Catholic cause.

Most people have no idea about what the job of a fundraiser ACTUALLY does. If you ask the average person, “what does a fundraiser do?”, you will get the response: “they raise funds.”

If you ask, “how does a fundraiser raise funds?”, the answer will be: “they ask people for money.”

If you dig deeper and ask, “HOW DO YOU ASK PEOPLE FOR MONEY?”, you will likely get a blank stare.

In this keynote speech which I gave in Rome in front of 60 delegates from 22 different countries, I walk you through the ten habits that have helped me become a successful fundraiser. More importantly, these habits have helped me stay focus on what's important: the mission.