AskGenius

A powerful tool that helps you set personalized ask amounts for thousands of donors at a time.

AutomateGenius

Fundraising automations to delight your donors, streamline gift processing, and save time.

Catholic Social Media

A social media management platform exclusively for Catholic parishes and dioceses.

Stay informed with the latest nonprofit fundraising research and tips.

Our Diocesan Services

Prenger Solutions Group is proud to serve more than half of all dioceses in the United States.

Fundraising Consulting

Modernize your diocesan annual appeal with help from PSG’s fundraising, communications and technology experts.

Database Administration

We’ll get your donor database clean and organized. We can even manage it for you full-time.

Digital Communications

Our social media tools help dioceses and parishes thrive in this new, digital world.

Stay informed with the latest nonprofit fundraising research and tips.

Resources to help Catholic Parish and Diocesan Leaders.

Our Team

Our fundraising professionals, database experts and technology specialists.

Careers

Interested in joining our team? Learn more about how to apply.

Contact

Request more information, send us an email, or follow us on social media.

Stay informed with the latest nonprofit fundraising research and tips.

Webinars

Designed for today’s nonprofit, fundraising experts.

Fundraising Insights

Fundraising research, stories, and strategies to improve your fundraising expertise.

Downloads

Templates and Guides developed by our experts to help you achieve your fundraising potential.

Stay informed with the latest nonprofit fundraising research and tips.

Life After Your Diocesan Newspaper

In the old days, dioceses would write, edit, print, and mail a weekly newspaper to every Catholic household in the diocese.  Those days are gone. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because new technologies allow dioceses to reach more people and communicate more effectively at a fraction of the cost.

In fact, diocesan leaders across the country are seizing this opportunity to modernize the way they communicate, evangelize, and support their parishes.

In this fast-paced, practical webinar the team from Prenger Solutions Group will talk through:

  • The latest diocesan communication and technology trends
  • How to replace or supplement your diocesan newspaper
  • Case studies from the Archdiocese of Boston and the Diocese of Lansing
  • Creative ideas to support pastors and parish staff who are stretched thin
  • The impact of parish clustering on your diocesan communications strategy
  • New resources and training to help your parishes

Resources to Help Catholic Parish and Diocesan Leaders

All Educational Content

Seek not happiness, but glory.

Seek not happiness, but glory.

This past week, I was going through various Catholic content online, and I was struck by some interesting realizations. Many were willing to talk about praying for the dead, but they refused to say the word ...
Does Your Parish Need a Hashtag?

Does Your Parish Need a Hashtag?

We get this question a lot - "The church down the street has its own hashtag. It seems to be everywhere. Should we be doing the same?" In short...yes! Like a parish mission statement, logo, website address, or ...
Forming Habits of Prayer in Your Family

Forming Habits of Prayer in Your Family

The story goes that the young man was sky-diving for the first time. He was quite nervous about the entire thing, but he had heard good things about the company he was diving with and their track-record. As he sat ...
Analyze Your Easter Collection

Analyze Your Easter Collection

After the busyness of Holy Week, it can be difficult to muster to enthusiasm to analyze your Easter collection. But there is a lot to be learned from spending ten minutes with the summary of the offertory from ...
Is That Dirt on Your Forehead?

Is That Dirt on Your Forehead?

Mardi Gras and Lent are fast approaching, and Ash Wednesday kicks things off. Father gets to rub ashes on your forehead and offer the words calling you to repentance. The ashes symbolize repentance, mortality and ...
What Are You Going to Do About That?

What Are You Going to Do About That?

I have the pleasure of knowing a priest who is the king of empowering his parishioners to improve the local Church. He doesn't do it through particularly excellent preaching (though he's good!), and he's not the ...
2019 Diocesan Benchmarking Report

2019 Diocesan Benchmarking Report

Download the Benchmarking Report Want a custom presentation of these findings? Contact Nic Prenger to schedule a live presentation of these findings to your clergy, parish staff or diocesan leadership team. Then, ...
Scan like a Pro

Scan like a Pro

We have all had that moment - you have a pile of paper documents in front of you and you want to scan them, turn them into a PDF, and move on with your life. Thankfully, in the age of smartphone technology, this is ...
Sunday Reclaimed

Sunday Reclaimed

If there's one strange benefit to the coronavirus pandemic, it has caused us all to slow down a bit. Many parishioners are still out of work, spending more time at home, or just rethinking their weekly schedule in ...
If This Then That

If This Then That

We live in the age of Web 2.0, an Internet culture dominated by two things: social media and apps. However, apps don't always play nicely with each other. But you can force them to through the use of...you guessed ...
The Discernment of Spirits

The Discernment of Spirits

The phrase "discernment of spirits" refers to what St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, calls "the motions of the soul." These motions are felt by all of us - thoughts, images, feelings, desires, and ...
Eliminate Role-Based Email Addresses

Eliminate Role-Based Email Addresses

Some years ago, it was popular to create role-based email addresses at companies and non-profits, addresses like info[at]yourparishname.org or admin[at]yourparishname.org. However, since these sorts of addresses ...
Rest and Retreat

Rest and Retreat

We've been living in a new era of ministry - the coronavirus epoch - since early March of this year. Maybe you're still energized, learning new skills, and re-shaping your ministry in amazing ways. But maybe you're ...
Remove Backgrounds with Photo Scissors

Remove Backgrounds with Photo Scissors

If you've ever needed to remove a background from a photo but didn't quite know the best way to do it, we'd suggest a free online tool that our team uses all the time: Photo Scissors. All you have to do is upload ...
Fathers in the Church

Fathers in the Church

By now, most of us are familiar with the study that shows that the greatest single factor in a children's practice of the faith as an adult is whether or not their father practiced Catholicism. In certain corners ...
Perfect Your Parish’s Instagram Profile

Perfect Your Parish’s Instagram Profile

Having an Instagram profile that matches your parish can do wonders for your church. Instagram is more popular know than it ever has been and has over one billion registered users with around half of them estimated ...
Archiving Parish Livestreams?

Archiving Parish Livestreams?

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit America in February 2020, almost every parish in the country has livestreamed or pre-recorded Masses. Several months into our "new normal," the question is coming up more and ...
Works of Mercy at the Parish

Works of Mercy at the Parish

Each parish is called to be the People of God, enfleshed in a particular geographic location. And just as we are called to prayer, we are called to works of charity. No doubt your parish partners with one or more ...
Parish Cost-Benefit Analysis

Parish Cost-Benefit Analysis

As a parish, we are concerned with human persons, and yet so often we have tasks on our to-do list that keep us away from people. Since summer can be a little slower for most parishes, now is the perfect time to ...
The Creaster Opportunity

The Creaster Opportunity

Christmas represents an incredible opportunity to minister to "Creasters," those nominal Catholics that only attend Mass during Christmas and Easter. But there is no "one size fits all" ministry answer to how to ...
Spiritual Directors Spiritual Friends

Spiritual Directors Spiritual Friends

You've heard it time and time again from your parishioners: "Where can I find a good spiritual director so I can grow in my prayer?" And the answer is the same at almost every parish - there just aren't enough ...
How Spammy Is Your Parish Email?

How Spammy Is Your Parish Email?

We are sending more emails than ever, and billions of messages crisscross the globe each day. For every legitimate message that needs to get somewhere, there's probably 3-4 that are scams, viruses, or unwanted ...
Who and How We Support

Who and How We Support

Months into the coronavirus pandemic, it's clear how much damage has been done across the globe. The consequences are physical, emotional, spiritual, and economic. In light of all of this, many people are ...
Publishing Parish Reports

Publishing Parish Reports

A few weeks ago, this parish report, delivered via YouTube from a pastor in Oklahoma, caught our team's attention. It's a textbook case of what publishing parish reports should be: It opens with an attitude of ...
Virtual Coffee and Doughnuts

Virtual Coffee and Doughnuts

Even several months into the pandemic, some of us can abuse Facebook. After all, it's not a communications tool like Flocknote, Constant Contact, or Mailchimp. It's a social media platform, and as we hear in Oz, ...
Mass times are published elsewhere

Mass times are published elsewhere

A few days ago we shared advice on how and where to update your Christmas Mass times (see here). But did you know there are a growing number of third-party Internet sites that advertise the Mass and confession ...
Update Your Mass Times

Update Your Mass Times

Advent is almost upon us , which means it's time to publish your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Mass times...everywhere. This is important because many nominal Catholics start searching for Mass times to help ...
The Need for Speed

The Need for Speed

We have all found ourselves frustrated at some point about a web page not loading as fast as we would like. In our world speed matters. Your parishioners shouldn’t have to wait to find the information they are ...
Honest Questions, Honest Answers

Honest Questions, Honest Answers

This article by freelance writer Christina Capecchi got my attention a few weeks ago. The lessons Cappechi teaches are universal, but they apply in particular to ministry in the Church. They are about honest ...
Returning to Old Posts

Returning to Old Posts

Our director, John, recently had an interesting conversation with a Catholic Social Media subscriber in Nebraska. Her question was this: How can our parish return to old posts or initiatives and provide updates in ...
COVID-19 and Parish Communications

COVID-19 and Parish Communications

You have learned a lot about how parishioners engage with the parish over the last several months. Social distancing has allowed you to contact loyal parishioners in new ways. It has also (hopefully) provided you ...
If It’s Free, You’re the Product

If It’s Free, You’re the Product

Your eyes have likely glazed over at the number of "free offers" you're receiving right now. The pandemic's effect on the worldwide economy has led to thousands of businesses peddling all kinds of products and ...
A Return to Normalcy?

A Return to Normalcy?

Is a return to normalcy coming soon? Even while social distancing continues around the world, it's time to begin thinking about the first normal day back at the parish, perhaps once a vaccine is available. No doubt ...
Reasons for Hope

Reasons for Hope

The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to do harm to our society in a myriad of ways, but there are some reasons to be hopeful. The crisis is causing parishes around the world to adapt and continue their ministry. ...
What Can Continue at the Parish?

What Can Continue at the Parish?

What can continue at the parish? In short, most events and meetings on a parish calendar can continue this autumn. We just need to continue to be creative in how we go about these. Here are a few ideas if you're ...
Bonfires, Community, and Confession

Bonfires, Community, and Confession

I love fall – the foliage, football, and (bon)fires. By the first of October, I hope that I’ve already sat around multiple bonfires, stuffed myself and my kids with s’mores and successfully picked all the hay out ...
Google Trends at the Parish

Google Trends at the Parish

Google Trends is an incredible resource - an up-to-the-minute look at what people are typing into the most popular search engine in the world. And you can stay on top of things with Google Trends at the parish. One ...
The Mark of Our Work is Prayer

The Mark of Our Work is Prayer

In the face of global pandemic, the day-to-day work of a parish employee may seem pointless. After all, what can one person or one church do in the face of so much suffering. The answer? Prayer. The act of ...
Should We Pray Digitally?

Should We Pray Digitally?

Smartphones have forever changed the way we live, and more than 90% of people in North America are now carrying around what are essentially ultra-compact, Internet-connected computers. It's also impacting the way ...
Livestreaming Mass is Essential

Livestreaming Mass is Essential

With “shelter at home” orders issued around the country this last spring, many parishes are continuing livestream Masses, prayers, reflections,  and other events. Pastors, staff, and volunteers are being very ...
Growing Your Following

Growing Your Following

As social distancing and shelter in place orders began to take effect across North America this past spring, our analytics team took a look at traffic on parish Facebook pages. The week over week numbers from March ...
Facebook Groups and Ministry

Facebook Groups and Ministry

If this past spring you were scrambling to move your ministries online for the foreseeable future, there are dozens of tools available. But one tool, in particular, is a godsend for the way you're already ...
Picture Frames and Pinned Posts

Picture Frames and Pinned Posts

With public Masses suspended across the United States, this past spring charitable contributions were in freefall at many parishes. The churches that are thriving right now did triage quickly in the spring, using ...
The Basics of Working From Home

The Basics of Working From Home

If some or all of your parish staff need to continue or restart working from home this fall, you might be scrambling to figure out what needs to be done. Here's a quick checklist to the basics of working from ...
Livestreaming Mass Right Now

Livestreaming Mass Right Now

As we move into month six of the coronavirus pandemic, some parishes are wondering, "Should we just direct people to the daily Mass on EWTN and shut down our livestream?" Other parishes have made the decision to ...
The Beginner’s Guide To…

The Beginner’s Guide To…

I've written in this space before about how every Catholic thinks every other Catholic is an expert at prayer when in truth, most of us have never been taught how to pray. The same goes for devotions such as the ...
Getting in Touch

Getting in Touch

If you're watching the news about the further spread of coronavirus and wondering, "What are some ways we can be prepared this time around?" remember that the most overlooked items are the lines of communication. ...
Post Program Surveys

Post Program Surveys

High school teachers, college professors, and even fitness program instructors have started implementing post-course surveys. The moment a class is over, students are asked to complete a short assessment of the ...
Talking About Money at the Parish

Talking About Money at the Parish

Even as I typed the headline, I thought I might lose a few readers. Let’s face it, money is a difficult thing to discuss, and whether you’re talking money matters with family, staff, or parishioners, it usually ...
Spring Cleaning Emails

Spring Cleaning Emails

Keeping your organization’s contact information current and clean is a never-ending process. We’ve talked about it before in this space (remember Email Hippo?), and we’ll continue to talk about it because it’s so ...
Who Should Send the Email?

Who Should Send the Email?

People receive around 100 emails per day, a mind-bending mix of work-related communications, solicitations from different organizations, personal bills and spam. The average person is constantly sifting through the ...
Using Parishioner Spotlights

Using Parishioner Spotlights

Ever wonder about that new family two pews down from you? They have been attending Mass regularly, but you never see them stay for coffee and donuts. I wonder where they are from. Why did they join our parish? Are ...
Using AmazonSmile at Your Parish

Using AmazonSmile at Your Parish

According to Statista, there will be a projected 2.14 billion online shoppers by 2021. With these kinds of numbers, it's safe to say that many of your parishioners shop online. Amazon has created an incentive to ...
Parish Planned Giving Seminars

Parish Planned Giving Seminars

It is no secret that the largest transfer of wealth in human history is starting to take place between Baby Boomers and Millennials. Over the next 30 years, an estimated $68 trillion will be transferred between the ...
A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

In the past, I've touched on the importance of bullet points and numbered lists. But even more effective than good writing is a good visual! Our brains can process and retain information through visual means more ...
Best Email Platforms For your Parish

Best Email Platforms For your Parish

Statista estimates that there are about 244.5 million email users in the country. These statistics underline the invaluable nature of email as a mass communication tool. As a parish, you can leverage the email ...
Families and the Collection Basket

Families and the Collection Basket

As a kid, I was always really excited for the part of Mass when Mom and Dad gave me money to put in the collection basket. I do not know why exactly, but my guess is that it had to do with being able to move around ...
Social Media Management Tools

Social Media Management Tools

Do you find it challenging to keep up with the activity on your parish Facebook page? Has your parish Twitter page stopped tweeting? Does your Instagram seem more like a telegram? Thankfully, there are some social ...
4 Ways To Use Facebook For Your Parish

4 Ways To Use Facebook For Your Parish

Social media is one of the most effective ways to expand your parish outreach programs. With over 2.6 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant and ideal social media platform for parishes who need to ...
Praying with the Universal Church

Praying with the Universal Church

As a parish employee, you likely know about the Liturgy of the Hours and maybe pray this universal prayer of the Catholic Church yourself. But is your parish a "school of prayer" where the Liturgy of the Hours is ...
WP Theme Detector to Analyze Sites

WP Theme Detector to Analyze Sites

Do you like the way that website you're browsing looks? There's a decent chance some portion of it is run through Wordpress, the design and hosting service that makes up the structure of roughly 75 million active ...
Parish Men are Lonely

Parish Men are Lonely

Two and a half years ago, Billy Baker's article in Boston Globe magazine about middle-aged men and the loneliness they face touched a nerve in American culture. In plain English, Baker summed up what researchers ...
Audits for your Website

Audits for your Website

The dream scenario for any parish is that when people type its name into Google, the parish website is the first result. The nightmare is the reverse - despite your best attempts, you can't seem to get your church ...
Committing to Child Care

Committing to Child Care

If you're looking to make your parish more family-friendly, the next best thing is not free parenting classes or Dave Ramsey money management classes. It's committing to child care. That's it. The number one ...
Using Facebook’s Profanity Filter

Using Facebook’s Profanity Filter

Every now and again, someone will wander onto your parish's Facebook page, disparaging the Church or people of faith more generally. Luckily you can mute them, but if you're looking for an easier way to intercept ...
Pray for them now

Pray for them now

How many times has a parishioner or visitor asked you to pray for them or someone they love? I bet you get prayer requests on a weekly, if not daily basis. What's the most common response to a prayer request? "I'll ...
Register as a charity on Facebook

Register as a charity on Facebook

Ever spotted one of those "Birthday Fundraisers" on Facebook? You know, your friend Helen says she'd like people to donate $250 to the local animal shelter in honor of her big day. Have you ever thought of doing ...
Hiring like the church next door

Hiring like the church next door

With 2019 almost in the books and 2020 around the corner, it's likely you have some positions you are thinking of posting. You should plan to make 2020 the year of great hiring. How do you do that? By operating ...
Running an effective meeting

Running an effective meeting

Do you ever walk out of a meeting and find yourself thinking, “Did we actually accomplish anything in there?” Meetings can be a point of contention in any workplace – what are we meeting about? Why are we meeting ...
Slide shows on Facebook

Slide shows on Facebook

Facebook is always adding new types of posts that can help you increase your reach and engagement. One type that you may have not used before is the slideshow. Simply upload a few photos, choose your transition ...
Appeals, campaigns, and events

Appeals, campaigns, and events

Not all fundraising activities are created equal. All parish and school fundraising opportunities are unique and while your leaders likely have a firm grasp on how they differ, it’s important to let your ...
Saint Dymphna’s Playbook Podcast

Saint Dymphna’s Playbook Podcast

Parish clergy and staff are often on the frontlines, dealing with mental health issues, and we know it can be a challenge. After all, you provide spiritual care, not necessarily psychological care - though the two ...
Worst Fundraising Ideas Ever

Worst Fundraising Ideas Ever

Magazine subscriptions. Chocolate sales. Caramel corn delivery services. We've all participated in these sorts of gimmicky fundraising schemes, hawked by companies that claim their particular product will raise ...
Get Professional Email Addresses

Get Professional Email Addresses

Did you know the first email was sent 48 years ago? Every year we work with dozens of parishes that appear to be holding on to some of their original and, in many instances, outdated, unprofessional, though ...
The Power of Personal Invitation

The Power of Personal Invitation

You're getting bombarded with new programs every week - ministry programs that claim to lead hundreds into RCIA, pack the pews, invigorate the young people in your church and so on. It's a sign of the times. We all ...
Should Your Parish Offer WiFi?

Should Your Parish Offer WiFi?

Every year we are drawing closer to the moment when every man, woman, and child has an internet-enabled device on them at all times. Love it or hate it, that's the way the culture is going. All of this begs the ...
You Get What You Ask For

You Get What You Ask For

The CSM team often works with pastors and staff that say, “We wish parishioners would increase their financial support." The response that we offer, though simple, often comes as a surprise to many. We ask in ...
Use Bullets and Numbered Lists

Use Bullets and Numbered Lists

Your pastor is busy. Your committee chairs have day jobs. Your volunteers are being pulled in a million different directions and the only difference between you hosting a successful parish event and overseeing a ...
Start Your Meetings on Time

Start Your Meetings on Time

For years I sat on the finance committee of St. Leo’s parish in Omaha, Nebraska. And, unlike many parish meetings that I’ve attended over the years, these meetings always started on time. What was the secret? ...
Writing a Great Email

Writing a Great Email

We use emails for everything. We use email to ask questions, to delegate tasks, to confirm plans and to provide information to people who need it. If parish staff are the engine that runs a parish, emails are the ...
Revisit Novo Millennio Ineunte

Revisit Novo Millennio Ineunte

On the Feast of the Epiphany, 2001, Pope Saint John Paul II published "Novo Millenio Ineunte," or "At the Dawn of the New Millenium," his strategy for the Church in 2001 and beyond. (See here for the full text.) As ...
The New Digital Evangelization

The New Digital Evangelization

Ever since Pope Saint John Paul II coined the phrase, the Church has been laser-focused on the New Evangelization. He promised this would bring about a new springtime for the Body of Christ. And there are a lot of ...
Gather Digital Prayer Requests

Gather Digital Prayer Requests

There is an entire universe of priests who are active on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. In addition to their own local duties, they minister to people online, evangelizing, catechizing, and ...
Get Website Alerts

Get Website Alerts

Today I’m going to share some information about a great free tool out there that we use all the time in our office.  It’s called Distill and here’s how it works. It lets you get website alerts - whenever a ...
The Church’s Response to Loneliness

The Church’s Response to Loneliness

Many clergy, theologians, and lay ministers have been thinking about the Church's response to loneliness. Study after study has shown that there's an epidemic of loneliness in modern life. Life in Christ is the ...
Internal Linking

Internal Linking

If you've ever wondered why your parish's website isn't getting better search engine results, take a look at your use of internal links. An internal link is a link from one page on your parish’s website to another ...
The School of Prayer

The School of Prayer

Many Christians - Catholics and Protestants alike - think they are bad at prayer and are embarrassed about it. And generations of Catholic catechesis and education has assumed that everyone knows how to pray and ...
Verifying Email Addresses

Verifying Email Addresses

We all have old email addresses we're not proud of. Sure, there was a time when emailing your friends from "hockeydude83@aol.com" was perfectly acceptable. But there comes a time when we all bid farewell to our ...
Check Out Great Catholic Preaching

Check Out Great Catholic Preaching

Catholicism isn't necessarily known for its rousing homilies (at least in this day and age), but we are blessed with numerous gifted preachers in our Church. One resource that highlights many of these deacons, ...
The ColorPick Eyedropper

The ColorPick Eyedropper

If you or someone else in the parish office is doing graphic design, you know that matching colors can be extremely difficult. Luckily, there's a free tool you can use to match colors whenever you're working with ...
Stewardship a Disciple’s Response

Stewardship a Disciple’s Response

December 31 is just nine short months away, and with it will come year-end giving decisions for many of your parishioners. In addition to reminding them of the tax benefits and various ways they can support the ...
Other Benefits of Facebook Live

Other Benefits of Facebook Live

Facebook Live is a powerful tool that parishes and schools can use to share live video from events, ceremonies, and speakers. One major benefit to using Facebook Live is that Facebook will track which people watch ...
Introduce Parishioners to the Saints

Introduce Parishioners to the Saints

There are just so many saints. Everyone has their patrons, their favorites, and the ones they don't understand. There's an easy way to systematically introduce parishioners to lesser-known saints or saints with a ...
Put Limits on Screen Time

Put Limits on Screen Time

St. Simon Sylites is one of the strangest saints we have. He lived on top of a pillar in the middle of a city for decades so he could be "in the world, but not of the world." He basically had it all - all the joys ...
Radical Community at Your Parish

Radical Community at Your Parish

We are living in a time where community bonds are growing weaker, with churches and membership-based organizations losing members at an alarming rate. But Christ has called us to be a Church, a visible community of ...
Find Broken Links on Your Website

Find Broken Links on Your Website

It's a website admin's worst nightmare: old broken links that frustrate your site's visitors, but that you don't know about. Every day, people are making judgments about your parish community based on your website, ...
Online Giving Beyond Sunday

Online Giving Beyond Sunday

At CSM we are always encouraging our clients to optimize technology. Part of the optimization we recommend to our clients is having an easy-to-use, donor-centric way to allow your parishioners and supporters to ...
Overcoming the Sunday to Monday Gap

Overcoming the Sunday to Monday Gap

Every Catholic has experienced the Sunday to Monday gap. You hear a soul-stirring homily on Sunday that edifies and challenges you, and then Monday morning rolls around and you go back to your normal life. So, what ...
Protect Your Parish Brand

Protect Your Parish Brand

By now, most Catholic churches have staked out their territory online and claimed a catchy web address and Facebook username (for example, "SaintMaryDallas" for a church in Texas). But don’t stop at your website ...
Generational Barriers to Faith

Generational Barriers to Faith

This era of big data can be overwhelming, but surveys and polls can help your parish in its evangelization efforts. One of the best religious research organizations in America is the Barna Group, which regularly ...
Your Communications and Your Mission

Your Communications and Your Mission

In a previous post, I discussed the 8:1 communications rule - share eight pieces of good news for every one request you make of your parishioners. But this alone won't fix all your communications problems. Another ...
Financial Transparency at the Parish

Financial Transparency at the Parish

For centuries religious institutions were some of the most trusted organizations in most cultures. But in the modern era, suspicion of all authority figures and public institutions is on the rise. The "Me Too" era ...
Publishing Mass Times on Facebook

Publishing Mass Times on Facebook

Earlier this month I mentioned that 95% of your website visitors are just looking for Mass times. The same is true for people who search for your church on Facebook. Are you publishing Mass times on Facebook? The ...
Bishop Barron meets Jordan Peterson

Bishop Barron meets Jordan Peterson

Have you heard the latest - Bishop Barron meets Jordan Peterson? In the last few years, Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson has risen to fame, particularly among young men in the United States and Canada, for ...
Publish Your Mass Times Everywhere

Publish Your Mass Times Everywhere

What are 95% of the visitors to your parish website looking for? Mass times. That's it. This was brought home to our staff this week when we spotted this Tweet by Catholic evangelist Meg Hunter-Kilmer (see below). ...
Using ABOUT on Facebook

Using ABOUT on Facebook

Facebook followers are often your most faithful parishioners. They not only fill the pews each week, but they are also looking to stay connected outside of Mass. Facebook contains information about these ...
YouTube is More than Cat Videos

YouTube is More than Cat Videos

We are all guilty of visiting YouTube to check out a video a friend said we simply "had to see." Perhaps you watched a music video from your childhood, viewed the newest movie trailer, or got your fix of adorable ...
Equipping Parents to Equip Children

Equipping Parents to Equip Children

In 2018, St. Mary's Press shocked the Church in North America when it published its research project, Going, Going Gone: Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics.  The report showed that most young Catholics ...
A Future Without Bulletins?

A Future Without Bulletins?

The Sunday bulletin has been a staple of Catholic life in North America for more than 75 years. But as almost all areas of life become digital, a paper bulletin may soon become a thing of the past (and maybe you're ...
Giving Frequent Blessings

Giving Frequent Blessings

The Book of Blessings, used in almost every Catholic church since the 1980s, is full of ritual blessings for everything from rosaries to fishing gear (seriously, there's a blessing for fishing gear in there). As ...
Incentivize Your Church Census

Incentivize Your Church Census

Even though it's deep winter, no doubt your calendar is already filling up with all the parish activities you're planning for next year. At the same time, certain areas of the country could be headed for lockdowns, ...
The Value of an Email Address

The Value of an Email Address

When our team conducted a national research project focused on giving trends in Catholic parishes, we asked parishes how many registered households had an email address on file with the parish. Churches that had ...
Using Personal Testimonials

Using Personal Testimonials

As the church in North America continues to change, many parishes are moving from organizations focused on maintaining the status quo to communities focused on missionary discipleship. One of the easiest ways to ...
A Magic Wand for Excel

A Magic Wand for Excel

There are only a small number of events in your life that are so meaningful and powerful that the memories stay with you forever. For me, those memories include my wedding day, the days that my three children were ...
Responding to Church Scandals

Responding to Church Scandals

A year after the clergy abuse crisis came to light again, news reports continue to come out that can disturb and frighten Catholics. If you, your pastor, or a parishioner are seeking healthy, healing ways to ...
Using Task Management Systems

Using Task Management Systems

If you’re having a hard time keeping track of all the daily, weekly and monthly tasks required to keep your parish running smoothly, try using one of the many great software programs designed to help people stay ...
Implementing Welcome Teams

Implementing Welcome Teams

Hopefully it's easy for new parishioners to register at your parish. What happens after a new household registers is just as important as the registration itself. An increasing number of parishes in North America ...
User Friendly Online Forms

User Friendly Online Forms

By now, most parishes have transitioned to online forms for event sign-ups, registrations, ticket sales and donations. If your parish is still using paper forms, it's time to start moving over to user friendly ...
Using Intercessory Prayer Teams

Using Intercessory Prayer Teams

Saint James writes in his epistle that "the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful" (Jsa 5:13). We have all seen the power of prayer at work in our parish communities. This is the reason that the ...
Scheduling Meetings at Your Parish

Scheduling Meetings at Your Parish

Ever had trouble scheduling meetings at your parish? Scheduling parish council meetings, ministry activities or special event planning meetings can be a huge drain on your time and energy. It seems impossible at ...
Follow CARA at Georgetown University

Follow CARA at Georgetown University

Last month we included a post about the number of people entering the Catholic Church in the United States and around the world. That information came from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), ...
Using Facebook Business Manager

Using Facebook Business Manager

Are you using Facebook Business Manager? Most parishes manage their Facebook page from the personal account of a pastor, staff member, or volunteer. And that's not a bad way to go. But if more than one person is ...
Shorten Links Easily with Bit.ly

Shorten Links Easily with Bit.ly

Your parish website is likely a simple, concise variation of your church name and/or city, and therefore it is easy for you to direct parishioners and visitors to your main page. But how easy is it for you to guide ...
Use Video to Promote Special Events

Use Video to Promote Special Events

When it comes to standing out on social media, video is king. The next time you are promoting a special event at your parish, consider going beyond the standard text or graphic design post and use a personal video ...
Claim Your Church’s Vanity URL

Claim Your Church’s Vanity URL

In recent years, Facebook has added a "vanity URL" or "username" feature to all Pages, including your parish page. This is a unique set of characters preceded by the @ symbol that can be used to make your parish ...
The General Social Survey and Religion

The General Social Survey and Religion

Do you know about the "General Social Survey" and religion? In the April edition of First Things, Mark L. Movsesian writes that the rise of the "nones," also known as "spiritual but not religious," in America isn't ...
First Impressions and Profile Pictures

First Impressions and Profile Pictures

First impressions and profile pictures are funny things. We all know by now that first impressions matter just as much online as they do in person, so making sure your parish's Facebook page looks good is extremely ...
Selling Tickets to Parish Events

Selling Tickets to Parish Events

Have you ever experienced headaches while selling tickets to parish events? Most parishes have 5-10 annual events for which they need to sell tickets. Such events might include your Cana Dinner, men's retreat ...
Using Listicles to Communicate

Using Listicles to Communicate

One of the most popular types of writing to come out of the Internet age is the listicle, which is a numbered list with enough content to qualify as an article. These range from high-quality top 25 lists to ...
Use the Newsfeed for Good

Use the Newsfeed for Good

Ever wondered how the Facebook newsfeed works? As of 2019, it takes into account millions of factors when determining what appears in your parishioners' feeds. But the three most important factors are still 1) ...
Taking Prayer Requests Online

Taking Prayer Requests Online

Maybe you take prayer requests at your Catholic parish, but have you ever considered taking prayer requests online? In our work with we promote clean, simple online giving forms. Today, consider adding just one ...
Parish Facebook Categories Matter

Parish Facebook Categories Matter

Facebook categorizes all organization pages into different groups. However, if your parish's Facebook page was set up years ago, you might not be in any categories! Parish Facebook categories matter. They help in ...
Try Out Ringless Voicemails

Try Out Ringless Voicemails

There are dozens of ways you can connect to your parishioners these days. These include e-newsletters, emails, direct mail, and social media. And don't forget that tried and true communications workhorse, the ...
Every Knee Shall Bow

Every Knee Shall Bow

We are all called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. However, we are often at a loss as to how we can do that well. Enter Every Knee Shall Bow (EKSB), a new podcast from Ascension Press. Every Knee Shall Bow ...
Fundraising Letters or Emails?

Fundraising Letters or Emails?

It's an age-old question: fundraising letters or emails? If you’re responsible for your church's annual stewardship drive, you’re probably wondering whether this is the year you should move from regular mail and ...
Parish Entry Point Giving

Parish Entry Point Giving

Parish entry point giving is a topic rarely discussed in Catholic churches. This week, take a few minutes to review your parish's online gift portal. When someone makes a first-time gift online, is the "Amount of ...
Social Media’s 80/20 Rule

Social Media’s 80/20 Rule

Do you know social media's 80/20 rule? It's the same as the 80/20 rule in other areas of Catholic parish life. If you review your parish finances, it's highly likely that 80 percent of your offertory comes from 20 ...
Count Your Blessings at the Parish

Count Your Blessings at the Parish

When's the last time you took a moment to count your blessings at the parish? We've all heard it before: an "attitude of gratitude" can make all the difference in someone's life. But how do you practice gratitude ...
Know Your Social Media Genres

Know Your Social Media Genres

Know your social media genres! It can be a challenge to manage multiple social media accounts. If your Catholic parish is active on other social media platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat, consider ...
Thanking Parishioners Well

Thanking Parishioners Well

With everything going on at your Catholic parish, it can be easy to forget that thanking parishioners well is one of them most important tasks. One of our CSM employees once asked a major donor at a local church: ...
Offertory and Online Giving

Offertory and Online Giving

Our team is always looking at ways to make giving to the local parish more convenient. For most people, that means making a sustaining monthly gift online. But these online givers still need to be included in the ...
Achieve Inbox Zero Easily

Achieve Inbox Zero Easily

You can achieve inbox zero easily - a mythical state when you have NO emails in your inbox. Email is a blessing and a curse. It allows instant communication with anyone in your parish, but at the same time, it's ...
Choose See First in Facebook

Choose See First in Facebook

You’re working hard to expand your parish’s social media presence; the easiest way is to teach your followers to choose see first in Facebook. When someone decides to “follow” your page, they are presented with a ...
Online Surveys at the Parish

Online Surveys at the Parish

Whether you’re planning a change in the Mass schedule or gauging interest in a new program, you can use online surveys at the parish to learn what your people are thinking, build consensus, and take action: Here's ...
The Forming Intentional Disciples Forum

The Forming Intentional Disciples Forum

Sherry Weddel, director of the Catherine of Siena Institute, took the ministry world by storm with her revolutionary book, Forming Intentional Disciples. The book has sold over 150,000 copies since 2012. One of ...
Celebrating Baptisms in a New Way

Celebrating Baptisms in a New Way

How is your parish celebrating baptisms? Outside of the sacrament itself, there are lots of ways to commemorate a new life claimed in Christ. Here are just a few thoughts: Start a program where each newly ...
Celebrating Clergy Anniversaries

Celebrating Clergy Anniversaries

If you thought finding an anniversary gift for your spouse was hard, try celebrating clergy anniversaries. To help them celebrate the important moments in their lives, here are a few tips: Research the dates ...
Improve Your Parish’s Online Giving Form

Improve Your Parish’s Online Giving Form

Your parishioners’ time is precious, and you want to make it easy for them to give; the number one way to do this is to improve your parish's online giving form. This week, evaluate your online giving form: ...
The 8:1 Communications Rule

The 8:1 Communications Rule

Catholic Social Media's research shows that nonprofits should be striving for a good communications-to-request ratio, otherwise known as the 8:1 communications rule. To put it another way, your parish should be ...

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