Increased Offertory Program

Cathedral Corporation’s Increased Offertory Program (IOP) will have an immediate, positive impact on your church’s offertory income while also reducing staff time and effort. The IOP provides a meaningful and convenient method for ongoing, yearly renewal, and can be coordinated with effective offering envelope choices. While the full integrated program has proven most practical and effective in general application, we’d be happy to advise and quote you on special needs, uses and/or modification of the elements in our Increased Offertory Program.

Cathedral's Increased Offertory Program combines the best and most widely proven influences in sound, effective giving development and fosters the ideal of giving as a way of life:

• The Spiritual—Scripturally-based influences and techniques are authentically combined and presented within the framework of the 1992 US Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship—A Disciple's Response
• The Personal—Use of confidential, personalized mailings allows you to privately "speak" to your parishioners in the context of their actual giving habits and records
• The Traditional—Effective new use of offering and envelopes system options tailored for your parish and designed to reinforce and support the renewal of increased giving

Cathedral’s IOP Consists of the Following:

• Appeal Mailing
• Follow-up Mailings
• Thank-you Letter

All of Cathedral's Increased Offertory Letters Feature:

• Duplication of your letterhead with a custom stewardship design
• Highest quality laser imaging on 60 lb. laser bond stationery
• Imprinting of actual furnished signature(s)
• PerfectMerge incorporation of your parish records within appropriate version of text to show name/address and formal or informal salutation and specific individual giving data and/or general history
• PerfectMatch inserting of letter and enclosures in printed and addressed, closed-face mailing envelopes
• PerfectMail on-time mailing and delivery from your post office or ours—with non-profit or first class postage stamp affixing optional

What you will be asked to do:

• Following Cathedral guidelines, select dates and finalize calendar
• Review furnished selection of model letters and—with Cathedral assistance as needed—finalize and approve copy for each mailing
• Provide Cathedral with your parish file for use in preparation of personalized mailing pieces
• Review suggestions and initiate any needed changes in offering (envelope) systems and effective follow-through program

What Cathedral will do for you:

• Recommend, draft and finalize your renewal calendar
• Provide proven models for, and special help with, all letters
• Furnish model bulletin and pulpit announcements and inserts
• Prepare private, signed and fully personalized mailing pieces for each name in your parish file—merging individual giving history
• Directly mail pre-stamped (first class or non-profit rate) mailings for entry in your local post office
• Coordinate possible changes and improvements in your envelope system and offer other options to complement and follow up your renewal

The Elements of Cathedral's Increased Offertory Program:

• Appeal Mailing-One of five personalized letter versions keyed to the following donor support categories:
  1. For parishioners with year-to-date average weekly giving $1 and up—cites actual giving
  2. Some record of giving—treated in an encouraging way and invites your infrequent giver to contribute on a more regular basis
  3. No formal record of giving—treated in an encouraging way
  4. "Excused" Letter—for those who cannot be fairly expected or asked to consider increasing their giving
  5. Large Donor Letter—acknowledging the sacrificial effort of your best givers
• Special Covenant Response envelope enclosed with each letter
• Follow-Up Letter(s) of positive encouragement sent to all non-respondents each week following appeal mailing also includes another Covenant Response envelope
• Thank-You Letter personalized and sent immediately to all who respond at program's end