Parish Follow-up Methods & Label Sets

Many parishes have realized the benefit of contacting households who have not responded to the Annual Catholic Appeal. People who have been donors in the past years should be contacted first in your follow-up efforts. The follow-up to these households is fairly easy to accomplish. Follow-up often provides the parish with useful information about their members and it increases the refund which the parish receives (at least 25% of funds raised through the parish efforts).

The personal contact of telephone follow-up is not only a great way to get responses to the Appeal, it provides parishes with a link to parishioners. People will often share news of an illness or family situation over the phone which can then be passed along to the priest or pastoral minister for a phone call or a pastoral visit.

Label Instructions

Labels in the Left Column

Using the parish label set is the first step in the follow-up effort. The labels in the left column are the “control” labels. These labels should have been removed when a response was received from the household. When the “control” label has been removed there is no need for follow-up.

Labels in the Right Column

The labels in the right column are for mail follow-up and include the name and address of the household. Most parishes that follow-up by mail do so about two weeks after Appeal Weekend. When writing to parishioners who have yet to respond, include a pledge envelope (the same ones used in the pew on Appeal Weekend), and a letter from the pastor or the parish Appeal Chair on parish stationery (which looks great if personalized and hand-signed).

Labels for Telephone Follow-up

To help you utilize your volunteers more efficiently, we would like to provide you with the most up to date information by providing labels only at your request. Please contact us to request labels.

Some important reasons for using telephone follow-up include:

  • It is personal – people are more likely to give when they have personal contact.
  • Easy to organize.
  • Volunteers find the calls enjoyable and rewarding.
  • Parishioners have the opportunity for community building while making the calls.
  • A gift or pledge can be made immediately.
  • Telephone is less expensive than mail follow-up.

A sample script for telephone follow-up is provided below.

Sample Phone Label

The above is a sample of the telephone follow-up label that could be ordered and be placed on a pledge slip to facilitate call prioritizing and call-backs when necessary. The top right will indicate if the person is a past DONOR, NONDONOR or REFUSAL.

Follow-up by Mail

Please feel free to copy and modify the following sample letter to suit your needs:

Date
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Dear ____________:

In early February, you were asked to contribute to the Annual Catholic Appeal. Today I am writing to ask that you prayerfully consider a gift to the Appeal and return the enclosed pledge slip.

Funds raised through the Appeal help support many needed services and programs across our Archdiocese. Additionally, your gift can directly help our parish’s education and faith formation. We receive at least 25% of all gifts made through our parish.

At this time we have received responses from _______ (fill in % or number of households who have responded) of our parishioners. Our goal is to contact all members of our parish and ask for their participation and financial support.

I invite you to consider a pledge which can be paid over an 8 month period. Enclosed with the pledge slip is an information sheet about the ministries and services which our Archdiocese is able to support because of your gift to the Annual Catholic Appeal.
Please prayerfully consider how you can help. A donation to the Appeal is one of the ways you can Share God’s Gifts with others.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor

Follow-up by Phone

Steps for organizing telephone follow-ups:

  1. Arrange for a facility:
    • Reserve an office with multiple phone lines for the chosen evening (parish office, real estate office, brokerage house, or another office environment).
    • Schedule calling from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
    • Remember that family schedules may catch people in the middle of dinner or other events and callers should have some idea of when call-backs can be made.
  2. Recruiting volunteers to make calls:
    • Ask people who are very involved in the parish to make the calls, since they will be able to answer questions which inevitably arise.
    • Limit the commitment for calling on two separate occasions.
    • Arrange for one volunteer per available phone line.
  3. Order telephone follow-up labels:
    • The telephone follow up labels will be sent to those parishes requesting them.
    • Please allow 2 weeks for delivery of the labels to your parish.
    • Place the telephone follow-up labels over the name and address lines on the pledge slip.
    • We suggest you sort the pledge slips into three categories:
      • those who are donors.
      • those who are non-donors.
      • those who have refused (R).
    • Call those with a giving history first, then those with no contribution history.
  4. Prepare the volunteers:
    • Give an Appeal brochure or bulletin insert to each volunteer.
    • Run though the script
    • Answer questions that volunteers have and let them know that if a question arises that they cannot answer, someone will call the person back when the answer is found.
    • Allow volunteers to select which people they would like to call.

Sample Calling Script

Please copy and adapt to suit your parish's needs.

“Hello, my name is _____________ and I am calling on behalf of (your parish). May I speak with (First and Last Name), please? (If married ask for either.)

Hello, (preferred name). We are contacting fellow parishioners about this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal.

If no:

“When would be a good time to call back?” (Note date and time on slip.)
“Thank you and have a nice evening”.

If yes but parishioner did not give last year (no amount listed on label):

“Our parish would like to hear from every household and meet our goal of $________ for this year. We are encouraging each of our parishioners to participate. Can we count on your participation to assist our Parish in meeting our goal?”

If yes and parishioner gave last year (amount located on the label):

“I would like to thank you for your generous gift of $_______ to last year’s appeal. Your leadership in giving truly makes a difference for the ministries of the Archdiocese. Our parish would like to hear from every household this year and meet our goal of $_______. Can we count on your gift of the same amount this year?”

If a parishioner has questions: Answer the questions to the best of your ability. If you don’t know the answer, call them back once you know the answer, or refer the question to someone who could provide the answer. Your parish office and the Appeal Office can both be good sources of information.

If a pledge or gift is made: Thank the person and let them know that you’ll make a note of the gift. Reminders can be mailed (starting in May). If the person wishes, they can make the payment with a credit card. The information on the back of the form needs to be completed including the date and the name of the person you spoke with on the signature line.

If a parishioner decides not to give, or is unable to give: Mark zero on the total contribution line and ask the person to pray for the Archdiocese and its ministries.