The most recent Parish-by-Parish Catholic Ministries Appeal results posted on dor.org are dated May 4. As of that point the diocese had received pledges totaling $4,832,060 against a total assessment of $5,294,734. In other words, total pledges are now at 91.3 % of total parish assessment.
New donors have tapered off
The number of new donors has continued to run at about 7 per day over the last 2 months and new pledges have averaged $183 during the same period. If these trends continue through the end of the drive on May 31, the 2008-09 CMA will wind up about $429,200 (or 8.1%) short of its goal.
Total number of donors still down significantly
The total number of CMA donors is now 33,691, over 3,300 short of last year's "more than 37,000." The difference in unemployment rates between the two years can account for roughly 1,000 of the missing donors but that still leaves 2,300 or more of last year's contributors inexplicably absent from this year's campaign.
Monroe County parishes that kept their schools continue to outperform those that lost schools
The Monroe County parishes that lost their schools last June continue to lag significantly behind those that kept theirs. Overall, the "Kept Schools" group has pledges running at 99.4% of CMA assessment while the "Lost Schools" group's pledges are at 84.5%. Were the latter group pledging at the same rate as the former their overall pledges would be about $114,500 higher than they actually are.
Individual MCCS parishes
Data for 10 of the 11 Monroe County parishes that kept their schools are being reported by DOR. (Peace of Christ Parish is conducting a combined CMA and parish fund drive and is not included.) Half of these parishes have reached their CMA assessments and pledges at all but 2 are at or above the diocesan average. In addition, only 1 of these parishes is currently $10,000 or more short of its assessment: Christ the King ($11,333 short).
12 of the 13 Monroe County parishes that lost their schools are still in existence. Only 2 of this group have reached their CMA assessments and all but 2 are below the diocesan average. Furthermore, 7 of these parishes are $10,000 or more short of their assessments. These parishes (and their shortages) are St. Margaret Mary ($10,065), St. Andrew ($10,782), Good Shepherd ($10,998), St. Theodore ($11,505), St. John the Evangelist ($11,863), Holy Trinity ($18,843) and St. John of Rochester ($24,122).
5 comments:
The Diocese only has 19 days to pad the numbers.
I plan on making one of the largest contributions to the CMA that I have ever made. Here's how I will accomplish this. Set aside the the money that I would have normally given to the CMA this year, as well as the next two years and put in a separate savings account. Once we get a new Bishop in a few years, I will take the money I did not contribute to the Bishop Clark's CMA appeal and I will contribute all of it to the new Bishop's CMA appeal. Think of it is a deferral of my contribution, but at least it will be sizeable.
RochChaCha,
I did something similar. Three months ago Fr. Wheeland at Holy Cross initiated what he called "The Pastor's Special Fund" for those who either would not or could not support the CMA this year (see here).
Not wanting to see the parish hit with a huge bill for coming up short on its CMA assessment many parishioners, myself included, have made contributions to this fund.
As of May 4 Holy Cross was officially $8,279 short of its assessment. However, the last I heard, the money in this fund will cover about 2/3 of that deficit.
We're doing the same thing, although our priest will not go along with it. We're just giving a check to the parish in the amount we ordinarily would have given.
CathMom
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