The Petrus Development Show

In this episode, Andrew visits with Liz Schriner, Director of Market Engagement & Special Gifts at Franciscan University of Steubenville. They discuss how to approach fundraising in new ways. From innovation and extension to Catholic impact investing and donor advice funds. They will also discuss how to step forward into this new era of current and post pandemic philanthropy.

Show Notes:

Liz Schriner is the Director of Market Engagement and Special Gifts at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is originally from New Zealand. She earned a degree in agriculture science and entered into public relations in that field. Her journey led her to America in her late 20s where she met and married her American husband. For the next 15 years they entered apostolate and pro-life work, traveling with their three children, living the camper life. Living the faith life. This led to grassroots work. After 15 years on the road, with their children growing too big for the camper, they settled in Northwest Ohio. Liz home-schooled her children while re-entering the workforce. She started a franchise in the publishing world but desired to take her missionary heart and meld it with her business head. Entering the advancement field at Franciscan was a new field but enabled her to combine the two.

Liz grew up Catholic in New Zealand, but during her teen years, her parents decided to focus on good citizenship rather than being involved in Vatican II. But her Nanna, an Irish Catholic, continued to pray for the family. When Liz was in her late 20s she was involved in a severe car accident, one which she should not have survived. She believes her Nanna's prayers and faith, played a role in saving her life that day. After the accident, Liz continued to live in her business head but now had a daily question of "what is the purpose of my life?" One year after her car accident, she found herself at the local evangelical church where she was brought back to her faith and it was this that led her to America. When God speaks to us, it will be in unexpected times.

During her 15 years on the road, they devoted themselves to serving the homeless, disenfranchised, immigrants, etc. They realized it was very personable, person to person work.

Her husband ran for President as an independent beginning in 1998. Due to this and him also being a reporter they were able to discuss social justice, catholic teachings, family life, average citizens doing more, with the media.

Franciscan University

Liz works in the spirituality of fundraising. In her role, she is there to process and facilitate gateways of fear and burst those fear bubbles. To build trust and ask for a call to prayer. It is then given to the Holy Spirit and benefactor.

She engages with new benefactors and through the Franciscan innovation and extension, looks five years down the road. So Liz finds benefactors for projects that are five years down the road.

Catholic Impact Investing

Matches men and women in their 30s-40s who are generous and have prosperity/wealth with ways to create ROI in their giving, launch apostolates and create sustainable funds for their philanthropic work.

Donor Advice Fund

Creating what is an excellent, philanthropic management tool. They have been working closely with the Knights of Columbus in this capacity.

Step in Faith Initiative

To help with those affected by the pandemic, especially financially, Franciscan University will be offering free tuition to all incoming freshmen students this Fall semester, helping online students with funding and flying all graduating seniors to the school for their graduation ceremony rescheduled for August. Fr. Dave says that you must step in faith with a boldness. While Franciscan University is doing this without expecting a return on investment.

Liz would give two pieces of advice to new development officers. The first is to be yourself. To carry the love of Jesus and to share the messy parts with those you're building relationships with. And second, to know your objective and to be mindful of that. Whether your objective is to build relationships, to make an ask or discuss a project. Be mindful of that when you're stepping into a meeting. And bonus, be all about trust, address the fear bubbles and build trust.

Personal

Liz is a mother, a walker and a gardener. She has made a garden in every home she's had. And she find comfort in silence. She'll use a quiet drive to pray a rosary and to be still in silence.

Lightening Round

If you could fund-raise for any organization at any time, what would it be?
Franciscan University or for the earthquake in Christ Church, New Zealand
If you could get a donor meeting with anybody dead or alive, who would it be
Whoever God puts in front of me
Is there enough money out there for everybody?
Yes, because God is not put in a box. There is enough for whatever God desires
Who are three people who have influenced you the most in the fundraising world?
Edith Stein, Pope John Paul II, Bernadette Hays and her team at Franciscan University
If you could go back in time, would you do it all over again?
Absolutely, for the right cause
If you would like to connect with Liz, she can be found at [email protected] or 419-792-9059

Andrew's Take-Aways:

Liz's explanation of the art of fundraising, don't be like anyone else but yourself.
The interesting idea of Catholic Impact Investing which treat grants as investments or loans. Very interested in seeing how that works.
Step in Faith initiative, courage to do the right thing even if we don't know how or if it will benefit us.
Action Item:

Write down or type 15 radical ideas for shifts or changes that you can make during this pandemic. Basically, 15 ways that you can step in faith. These can be institutional or personal. Write down 15 because the first 5 will be pretty obvious, it's once you get beyond the ones that are staring you in the face that you get to the good stuff.

If you have questions, or want to share a success story, email me at [email protected] or send us a Facebook message. We’re always happy to help. God bless.

Be bold and the Lord will provide. #thistooshallpass

Andrew visits with Sarah Rose, Consultant with Petrus Development. They discuss how to develop authentic and intentional relationships as a development officer. They also discuss how to develop skills and confidence in your work in the development world. And how to deal with distractions when they feel too important to your work to be labeled as a distraction. 

Show Notes:

Sarah Rose has been a Consultant with Petrus Development for almost 10 years. She earned her degree in Communications from St. Edwards University and her first job out of college was in marketing for a software company. While she did not enjoy her time in that career she was able to spend a lot of time with her young adult Catholic group in Austin. It was during that time that she realized that she wanted to explore working in development for a non-profit. She was encouraged to do informational interviews and that was when she met Peter de Keratry of Petrus Development.

Petrus Consultant

Sarah has been with Petrus for going on ten years and her first clients included Baylor University, Vanderbilt University and Tulane University. She had a big learning curve and was able to shadow a few consultants. She would shadow them making calls and doing on-site visits to donors. It was a mentorship. She also attended a week long development training program. It was baptism by fire; jump in and start doing it.

She tells a story of working on a feasibility study and having to share an office with her boss. She sat directly across from him and made phone calls while he sat there and watched. There was no getting out of making calls. It was an opportunity to grow.

Successful Clients

Development is an art and a science. Art is the authentic aspect. It's being an active listener, being vulnerable. Her most successful clients have a strong faith and prayer life and are able to pull back the curtain and be authentic with their donors.

Science is the purposeful and intentional aspect of development. It's the tracking and reporting part.

To be successful you need to be able to lean into being authentic and intentional. Our role in development is asking people for help. We need people to help, to walk with us.

Distractions

What are some distractions that development officers deal with?

In Jesus' ministry, he dealt with constant disruptions. As a mom of three, Sarah has many distractions. It's different for everyone. But there will always be an aspect of your job that you find uncomfortable and we allow ourselves to be distracted from that by other aspects of our job. Example, if writing is uncomfortable, we'll spend our time making calls or going to meetings or joining committees. All of which are good things for our job, but we need to be writing as well. So you need to address the uncomfortable and deal with it.

If you work at a church, there will be people coming by and multiple distractions. When you listen to the interruptions (lean in with intention) you can find a theme. Maybe the youth minister needs open office hours, etc. There is usually a need that's not being met when there are interruptions.

When Sarah works with her clients, she discusses this. What makes you uncomfortable and how can we resolve it. Do I need to stare at you while you make phone calls?

If you, as the development director, don't do it - nobody else is going to do it.

Donor Stories

There was one client who struggled with the authentic aspect. Once Sarah had made a script for calls and the client had more experience, she was able to be authentic. The more she did it, the more confident she grew.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Sarah describes her strengths as being optimistic, idealist, creative and dreaming up stuff. Her weakness is that she usually has her head in the clouds. The strategy that works for her, she's discovered, is that if she can take that dream and create a plan and break it down into obtainable steps, she can be successful. It helps with the hard part.

Good choice, bad choice, whatever, God will be with you. You just have to make a choice and act.

Gifted Writer

Her mom was a journalist, her sister an English major. She comes from a family of writers and readers. Writing is a concrete practice of intentional communication. Writing is a commitment.

Sarah encourages her clients to make a development specific journal. It encourages them to practice writing. It's a safe place to express your fears and successes in development.

A common piece of advice to new development directors is to push to think about what works for you. What is your style? Try it out and tweak it with intentional.

Find a system that fits for you that will set you up for long-term, replicate-able, sustainable success.

Personal

Sarah has the hobby of chaotic family! She has a 7, 5 and 3 year old. And is intentional with her family time. She loves to read and is currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter books with her kids. She loves to be outside and plans to hike Mt. Denali for her 10 year wedding anniversary.

Lightning Round

If you could fund-raise for any organization at any time, what would it be?
Something fun and colorful. Maybe a children's museum or children's book
If you could get a donor meeting with anybody dead or alive, who would it be?
Her favorite saints. St. Catherine of Siena
Is there enough money out there for everyone doing good work?
Yes. But is it good work?
If you could go back in time and offer yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
Be yourself. When she has been off the map has been when she hasn't been herself.
Who are three people who have influenced you the most in the fundraising world?
Her parents, a mentor from college, Pauline, the former director of family ministry at her church, Terry
Andrew's three takeaways

Loves how development has both an art side and a science side. While we've all probably heard that before, it was nice that Sarah gave names to the sides. It was helpful when Sarah compared that to her family dynamics, needing to have different relationships with her husband and her kids, but still has to be authentic and intentional with everyone, just in different ways.
We talked a lot about distractions. Even Jesus had distractions in His ministry. The important thing is to know what your goals are and always go back to what your personal and institutional mission statement tell you to focus on.
Writing exercises can make us better with words and more equipped in our conversations with donors.
BONUS: What are your feelings about money? How does that inform your experience as a development officer or as a ministry leader? We all have feelings about money in some way, but we need to understand what those are and insure that they don't corrupt your message to your donor.
Action Item

Find a journal or something to write in, and spend a few minutes to write down why you love about development work and how you feel about money. You can start by answering these three questions:

Do I feel like I'm wealth or poor?
Does the idea of having more money motivate me to work harder or just makes me feel selfish and greedy?
When I meet someone new, a donor perhaps, do I form an opinion of who they are based on my perceptions of their wealth.
You can write about anything you want, but hopefully these questions get you started.

If you want to connect with Sarah, you can email her at [email protected] or send her a text or call at 512-845-1096.

If you have questions, or want to share a success story, email me at [email protected] or send us a Facebook message. We’re always happy to help. God bless.

Be bold and the Lord will provide.

On Day 14 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus, Bishop Mike Sis of the Diocese of San Angelo, TX joined to talk about the call to holiness in light of the pandemic.

Some of the points discussed include:

•Be serious and sincere, but don’t give in to panic or fear
•Stay informed, but don’t overindulge in news and information
•Don’t just endure this struggle – embrace it, appreciate it, and live it
•Search for celebratory moments
•Find activities to enjoy that encourage well-being
•Appreciate the things that we are missing now
•Savor the Liturgy of the Hours or the Psalms
•Use our silent time to ask God what He wants us to do
•Reflect on the nation of Israel in the time of the Babylonian Camptivity and Jesus and his 40 days in the wilderness
•Keep our eyes on Jesus Christ

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"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/

Carlos de Quesada of of VeraCruz Advisory Group joined Andrew to discuss what nonprofit organizations need to know about the recent CARES Act that was recently signed into law to provide relief funding for individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Day 13 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus Valerie Villarreal, project manager at Instagram, discussed utilizing social media content for your ministry in this time of crisis.

Some of the points discussed include:

•Being vulnerable to build trust
•Providing inspiration and hope through content
•Building group connection with online tools to combat isolation
•Scalable resourcing – growing capacity for gaining resources to scale ministry, finding ways to communicate at scale
•Right now we have a grace period for lower quality production, it resonates with everybody who is working from home in their pajamas right now. Don’t have stage fright, just get the content out

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"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/

On Day 12 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus Brenda Cannella, CFO for the Archdiocese of Denver, shared from his experience in budgeting and planning in a time of crisis.

Brenda discussed her experience in assessing fundraising results from the midst of the 2008 financial crisis and applying those lessons to development planning during her time with FOCUS.

She also talks about budgeting and forecasting, assessing vulnerabilities to stress test budgets, utilizing “rainy day” funds when rainy days like this arrive, and considerations for taking advantage of the CARES act for small business loans as part of the recent federal stimulus plan.

---

"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/

On Day 11 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus, Debra Richmond from the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Houston shared 3 best practices for designing online giving pages and driving traffic.

Next, Rhen Hoehn from St. Albert the Great University Parish at Michigan Tech University told about his experience building a monthly giving program and gave tips for stewarding current monthly donors while adding new monthly donors.

3 Best Practices for Online Giving
-Make your site easy to find, especially in Google, and make your donation page easy to find on your site
-Make your donation page easy to use, simple, and reduce clutter
-Make it easy for the donor to contact you

Tips for Adding and Stewarding Monthly Donors
-Always include monthly giving as an option in appeals, and try tailoring appeals and matching gift challenges toward encouraging monthly donations
-Get to know your monthly donors – thank you calls, face-to-face meetings, etc
-Don’t be afraid to ask: leave monthly donors on appeal mailing lists, consider using an appeal or matching challenge to ask existing monthly donors to increase their gift size



"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/

Day 10 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus was an open question and answer session. A number of live polls were taken among the call participants to get a better sense of the Catholic development landscape during the pandemic.

Some of the many topics discussed included the eligibility of nonprofits for stimulus funds, the impact of check-in calls and other communications with our donors right now, the changes and struggles we are dealing with as fundraisers right now, and suggestions for coping with stress in this tough time.

"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/

On Day 9 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus, Larry Massey from the Scanlan Foundation shared from his experience in grant writing and grant making and offered a list of 6 tips for securing more grants.

Use this slow time to clean up your database.
Don't Xerox last year's proposal and send it again. You must innovate and adapt.
Send proper thank yous.
Get to know foundation trustees and build relationships when possible.
Create a Nifty Fifty. This is a list of 50 people that you would like to meet. Share the Nifty 50 List with colleagues, committee members and friends to open some doors.
Be a professional 24/7. Embrace the difficult job of Catholic fundraising and celebrate your gift.

People come first
Diversity matters. Ensure diversity at the tables of decision-making.
Be decisive and confident (“Go ahead and do things. The bigger the better if your intentions are sound.” – John Raskob)
Remain truthful and positive. Keep perspective- immediate and near future.
Communicate with consistency and frequency. Communicate solutions, not only problems. Highlight positive stories.
Leaders: Care for personnel. Care for constituencies (mission). Care for finances and operations.
Live out of mission in adaptable ways. Be nimble. Practice innovation and creativity.
Lead with core values
Out of suffering springs new life (Paschal Mystery)

"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/

On Day 8 of the COVID-19 & Fundraising Virtual Summit by Petrus, Kerry Robinson, Global Ambassador from the Leadership Roundtable shared lessons she has learned and maxims she has development about leadership in a crisis. Her 9 maxims include:

People come first
Diversity matters. Ensure diversity at the tables of decision-making.
Be decisive and confident (“Go ahead and do things. The bigger the better if your intentions are sound.” – John Raskob)
Remain truthful and positive. Keep perspective- immediate and near future.
Communicate with consistency and frequency. Communicate solutions, not only problems. Highlight positive stories.
Leaders: Care for personnel. Care for constituencies (mission). Care for finances and operations.
Live out of mission in adaptable ways. Be nimble. Practice innovation and creativity.
Lead with core values
Out of suffering springs new life (Paschal Mystery)

"Over the past week, it seems like so much has changed. With thousands of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S., it seems like every hour another group is announcing a closure or cancellation. The question on our minds today is how will this affect our ministries? Regardless of who you serve, there will be shifts and changes that we have to be mindful of and adapt to.

At Petrus, we are committed to continuing to serve our clients and the nonprofit community now as much as ever. While this may be a scary time, it does not and should not be a time of inaction. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the Lord “has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power and self-control.” Let us continue to work together on behalf of our ministries and our benefactors to build the Kingdom of God.

Join us for our FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT every day from MARCH 17 - APRIL 3 for conversations and presentations about topics relevant to fundraising during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Links & Resources:
https://www.petrusdevelopment.com/virtual-summit
https://www.facebook.com/petrusdevelopmentpage
https://www.facebook.com/groups/petrusdevelopment
Video Recording of Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCUcssQJBzQ-Gy-aQMSR0pg/