Catholic Charities of Dallas E-Efforts Raise $46,000 in Two Months

Since September, Catholic Charities of Dallas (CCD) has raised more than $46,000 through brand new e-mail and online efforts — exceeding its usual annual amount from direct mail, said Rosemary Tarangioli, assistant director of development and communications.

The organization sends out one direct mail appeal each year to about 8,500 recipients and raises between $25,000 and 40,000, she says.

The group has additionally begun some social networking initiatives.

The organization also raises money through individual parishes and events such as dinners and local house tours, she said.

All this got underway earlier this year after Steve Hatchell, CEO of the National Football Foundation and chairman emeritus of the CCD, “suggested we use e-mail to drive excitement and basically let people know what we’re doing,” said Tarangioli.

The organization also upgraded its Web site http://www.catholiccharitiesdallas.org/ to process donations instantaneously.

“We had a Web site before, but we were not doing instant processing of transactions,” she said. “We would do it in-house and now that we have done it this way there’s been an incredible growth,” she said.

The group reported 29 online donations in September and 66 in October.

CCD is also promoting at least one of its upcoming events, Catholic Charities Sunday, through Facebook and Twitter. Those channels tend to reach potential donors younger than the typically 40+ demographic of its direct mail contributors. “We’re just trying to hit all those various channels,” she says.

It also pays to think ahead.

“Maybe the younger generation isn’t quite able now to donate large sums, but we also want to talk to them and let them know we’re out there. We feel this is our chance to be able to do that, she says.

Just the same, the organization is not quite ready to abandon direct mail.

“We’re not giving up our old ways of mailing but we certainly do need to add these others to the mix,” she said.

Trinity Direct Marketing helped the organization develop and implement these programs.