St. Matthew’s enthusiastically tackled campaign to raise money, faith

Enthusiasm. Faith. Knowledge. Listening. Implementation. Success.

These are some of the words that describe the Re-Igniting Our Faith (ROF) campaign at St. Matthew’s Church in Voorhees­ville. How else can you explain the church going 158 percent over its stated goal?

It also helps that the church utilized the combined efforts of three talented and committed people: Rev. Christopher DeGiovine and the campaign co-chairs Mary Gay Wood and J. Michael Brennan. Father DeGiovine used to work at The College of St. Rose as the dean of spiritual life and is well-versed in fundraising, as are Wood and Brennan. 

“I spent 25 years at (The College of St. Rose), I am not afraid of campaigns,” Father DeGiovine said. “If you are excited about what you are asking for, then you can transfer your excitement to people and they’ll be excited and they will be willing to give.”

Father DeGiovine decided when the ROF campaign started, he wanted to get down to business right away and Brennan, who had worked on fundraising at the church before, was the first person he asked. “And he asked Mary Gay and that was the best decision that Mike made,” Father DeGiovine said.

“There was no question about it,” Brennan added. “I will tell you my rationale was that we have done this together and if you don’t do something that (appeals to both sexes), you are making a mistake and you need support and other people’s ideas.”

The committee’s case would be based on four faith pillars: 1. Youth and faith formation. 2. Upgrading the facility. 3. Social outreach. Giving out grant money to par­ishes or nonprofits in need. 4. Legacy. Ensuring the life of the church through endow­ments.

Father DeGiovine, the co-chairs and the committee came up with ideas and then took them to a select group of people in the community. They listened and these ideas were sharpened.

“The best thing that happened is the first meeting that we had … people didn’t think we were clear enough on, ‘What are you asking for?’” Father DeGiovine said, so the plan was tweaked to make things much more specific.

During this early part of the campaign — the active campaign ran from August of 2018 to February of 2019 — St. Matthew’s ran a silent phase. Before going to the parishioners en masse, the church selected 30 people, from their own data, and met with them.

“I had always been taught at St. Rose (that) you need to get 95 percent of your goal from major donors before you go public,” Father DeGiovine said. “We picked two neighborhoods in our (area) and we invited people and we had receptions and conversations and we made it clear that we are still learning and you talk to us and help us be a success. 

“But it was from those groups I wanted to get 95 percent of our goal. I think we got 65 percent ... and the people from the Diocese that run the campaign said, ‘That is really excellent.’ From there we went to the general public.”

Brennan said when the number (of what they wanted to raise) was brought up at Mass, there was a “gasp” from the parishioners. But little did the parishioners know, the committee had already raised nearly three-quarters of its campaign’s goal.

“The first time we announced (the amount we wanted to raise) at the Mass, there was an audible gasp but it was doable,” Father DeGiovine said. “But the fact that we went so far over makes me gasp, the generosity of people was just overwhelming.

“What I wanted to do was after announcing to the gasp … was (to then) go and say now we are going to open it up to the community after the silent phase and we are already at (this figure). We were shy of that but we were able to say (we are close), and then you got another little gasp, ‘Oh my gosh, how did you raise that money?’ ”

The money — through the generosity of the parishioners — is already being used as the church purchased a new van for faith formation and updated its ancient boiler system. Brennan points to Father DeGiovine as one of the main reasons for the success.

“If you don’t have a good relationship (with the priest) or the parish community doesn’t have a good relationship and love the guy, then you can’t be successful,” Brennan said. “Here we have been very fortunate ... (Father DeGiovine) is the right guy for this sort of thing. ... It’s a lovefest around here for this guy, seriously. So it goes down from there to the community and the parishioners.”

And any advice for other parishes?

“There’s a lot of bad news out there and we had to overcome that right away; we said this is about us,” Brennan said. “Not about what’s been and what’s happened. This is about us and we need to focus on that … I think that is what every parish needs to do.”

And don’t forget the positivity.

“It’s all about enthusiasm; if you believe in this. That was the first lesson that I learned,” Father DeGiovine said.

“I didn’t want to do fundraising even when I went to St. Rose. We had a development person that said fundraising is the easiest thing in the world and it’s loads of fun, if you believe in what you are asking money for. If you believe in it, people are going to catch your excitement and they will help you.”