National Catholic Schools Week was the back drop for the Many Gifts, One Nation: A Day of Giving to Catholic Schools.
The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), this year introduced a unique fundraising event to coincide with the 44th National Catholic Schools Week (CSW), January 28 – February 3, 2018. As a new and different model for fundraising, the Many Gifts, One Nation: A Day of Giving to Catholic Schools was a 24-hour opportunity for Catholic schools to fundraise and a way for anyone wanting to celebrate their Catholic school education to give back to the Catholic school of their choice.
“The Day of Giving was a huge success,” said Dr. Thomas Burnford, NCEA president/CEO. “For an inaugural campaign, we are thrilled at the number of donors and that Catholic schools were able to have this opportunity to test a new fundraising idea and benefit from it. Our partnership with FACTS Management helped make this idea a reality for Catholic schools. What a terrific example of the strength of Catholic schools and the generosity of the people who have been impacted by them.”
From 9 AM on January 30 through 9 AM on January 31, nearly 7,000 donations were made to 539 schools. The generous support of FACTS Management, made it possible for Catholic schools and arch/dioceses to have their own customized giving pages and to participate in the online giving platform and campaign. In addition to the funds raised through the individual school’s giving pages, some Catholic schools reported an additional $105,751 was raised outside the portal. Some NCEA member schools pulled out all the stops making sure their school communities and parishes, local businesses and alumni, parents and students and friends were aware of the inaugural fundraising event.
Most excited about the one-day event are the top three schools — in terms of total gift amounts received: Blessed Trinity Catholic High School, Roswell, GA raised $26,332; Holy Cross Academy, Fredericksburg, VA raised $22,280; and Andrean High School, Merrillville, IN raised $17,344.
By leveraging social media, this national day of philanthropy and camaraderie invited all people, across the country, impacted by Catholic school education in ways big and small, to financially donate at a local level. Donors were able to search an online directory page for the institutions to which they wanted to give. NCEA hopes this inaugural campaign will help schools develop new donor connections and foster existing relationships.
Since August 2017, NCEA has facilitated fundraising for Catholic schools by directly and indirectly raising a total of more than $1.4 million between the Student to Student campaign (more than $685,000 raised by more than 800 Catholic schools) for hurricane and wild fire relief and the Many Gifts, One Nation: A Day of Giving to Catholic Schools, which helped raise more than $800,000 in 24 hours.
