The Annual Fund is one of the most powerful and most underutilized tools in a Catholic school's advancement program. When done well, it creates a sustainable, year-round culture of giving that supports the school's mission, strengthens donor relationships, and reduces reliance on exhausting transactional fundraising. When done poorly, it becomes a patchwork of one-off appeals with little connective tissue between them.
Whether you're building an Annual Fund from scratch or refining a program that's already underway, these ten strategies can help your school raise more, engage more donors, and better serve its mission.
Before you can build a strong Annual Fund, you need to understand what it is and what it isn't.
Annual giving is a broad category that includes any fundraising aimed at securing gifts for current operations: events, tax credit programs, memorial giving, and more. The Annual Fund is a specific vehicle within that category. It runs over a 12-month period aligned with your fiscal year, involves multiple appeals to multiple constituency groups, and includes some combination of personal solicitations, direct mail, phone, and online giving.
Your Golf Tournament and Gala are part of annual giving. Your Annual Fund is something different. It's internally planned, externally executed, and built to grow year over year.
Annual Fund gifts should be repeatable, replaceable, and predictable. If your current donors disappeared tomorrow, would you have a system to replace them? That's the mindset that builds long-term sustainability.
One essential step often overlooked: eliminate transactional fundraising. Bake sales, discount cards, car washes, candy bar sales. A well-run Annual Fund can replace all of it, and your community deserves a more dignified ask than a coupon book.
Failing to plan is planning to fail. A strong Annual Fund isn't a single appeal in December. It's a year-round strategy with clear phases, goals, and a calendar that keeps your team organized and your donors engaged.
At minimum, your plan should include a budgeted goal and a stretch goal, participation benchmarks by constituency (board, faculty, parents, alumni), a month-by-month calendar of appeals and stewardship activities, and prior-year totals as a baseline for realistic projections.
Industry benchmarks suggest Annual Fund revenue typically represents 5 to 10% of a school's total budget, alongside 70 to 80% from tuition and 5 to 10% from endowment. Tracking against those numbers gives you a realistic picture of your program's health over time.
You need the right people and the right resources. A dedicated Annual Fund director or development officer as the primary driver is essential, supported by volunteers and part-time help. Budget adequately, and then spend it. Underfunding your Annual Fund is one of the fastest ways to limit its growth.
Volunteers are especially powerful in a Catholic school context. They're strategic advocates, peer voices, and community links. A volunteer who makes their own gift and then personally calls a friend is more persuasive than any direct mail piece you'll ever send. Recruit them intentionally, equip them well, and think of your own role as a traffic officer: coordinating and directing, not trying to drive every car yourself.
"If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." That quote from Zig Ziglar hangs over a lot of underpowered Annual Funds.
Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Rather than "raise more money," set targets like: raise $500,000 by June 30 (stretch goal: $525,000), secure 900 donors, achieve 16% alumni participation, achieve 70% parent participation, and average 20 meaningful personal visits per month.
Aim to have 65 to 75% of your goal in hand by December 31. That pace gives your team confidence and your program momentum heading into the final months.
Your database drives your strategy. Whether you use Raiser's Edge, Donor Perfect, Little Green Light, or Facts Giving, the quality of your data determines the quality of your outreach. Clean data means better segmentation, more accurate ask amounts, and stronger donor relationships.
Update your records constantly. Use reunion committees, alumni update forms, AlumniFinder.com, and social media searches to keep contact information current. A gift can't reach a donor you can't find.
Give your Annual Fund a name and an identity. "The Irish Fund." "The Saints Fund." "The Crusader Fund." A distinctive brand with consistent letterhead, a named giving society, and a clear visual identity makes every communication feel deliberate. It signals to donors that this program is organized and worth their investment.
Not all donors are the same, and your appeals shouldn't treat them as though they are. Segmenting by constituency group (board, faculty, staff, current parents, current grandparents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents of alumni, friends) lets you personalize your message, your tone, and your ask amount for each audience.
Ask yourself honestly: are you sending the same letter to a leadership donor, a 25-year-old alumnus, and a current grandparent? Are you acknowledging how each person actually relates to your school? Personalization improves response rates in a measurable way, and it shows donors that you see them as individuals.
This is arguably the most valuable piece of advice in this entire post.
Renewals (LYBUNTs, or Last Year But Unfortunately Not This) are donors who gave last year but haven't given yet this year. These are your most loyal donors. Solicit them four to five times a year, acknowledge their previous gift, and ask them to consider a modest increase. A message like "Thank you for your previous gift of $100 to last year's Annual Fund. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of $125 to this year's Saints Fund?" is simple, personal, and effective. A 70% recapture rate is a reasonable goal.
Lapsed donors (SYBUNTs, or Some Year But Unfortunately Not This) gave two, three, four, or five years ago but not recently. Don't write them off. Re-engage them with a warm acknowledgment of their history with the school, and aim for a 20% recapture rate.
Both groups represent some of the highest return on investment in your entire program. They already know your school. They've given before. Prioritize them.
Fundraising at a Catholic school is a ministry. Henri Nouwen wrote that fundraising is "a way of announcing our vision and inviting other people into our mission." That spirit belongs in every appeal you send.
The most effective asks follow a clear hierarchy. Face-to-face personal visits carry the most weight, followed by personal phone calls, personalized letters, personalized emails, and then broader digital outreach. Work down that ladder, but always make the ask as personal as the situation allows.
The Annual Fund runs all 12 months. Start early. Ask often. December and June are typically your strongest months, so plan for them, but don't wait until then to start building relationships.
One-day and two-day giving events like Giving Tuesday or a Week of Giving can be effective accelerators when planned well. Set clear goals, secure challenge gifts and matches in advance, enlist student and faculty ambassadors, and build social media momentum early. Follow-up matters too. A "we missed you" email or phone call to non-donors after a giving day often produces gifts that the event itself didn't.
Stewardship isn't the final step in the donor cycle. It's the first. How you treat donors after they give determines whether they give again and whether they give more.
The numbers are worth knowing: 95% of donors would appreciate a thank-you call within a day or two of making their gift. Among donors who receive a meaningful thank-you call, 85% say they would make another gift, and 86% say they would make a larger one. Donors who receive a thank-you call give an average of 42% more than comparable donors who don't.
Make a real fuss about first-time gifts. Recognize consecutive years of giving. Acknowledge increases. And don't forget to report back: donors want to know their gift accomplished something.
The Pareto Principle holds in Catholic school fundraising. The top 10% of your donors typically produce about 60% of your revenue. The next 20% produce around 25%. The remaining 70% cover the last 15%.
That's not a reason to ignore smaller donors, but it is a reason to invest disproportionate time and energy in your leadership donors. Identify who they are early. Build genuine relationships over time. Create a formal leadership giving program with a compelling name, defined giving levels, real donor benefits, and consistent messaging. The way you invite a leadership gift often matters more than the ask itself.
Donors who gave $500 to $999 in any of the past three years, donors who have given consecutively for seven or more years, and those with planned gifts are all prime candidates. You may be surprised how often a personal invitation to join a leadership society results in a new member.
An Annual Fund done well builds something larger than a revenue line. Over time, it creates a community of people who feel genuinely connected to your school's mission and who return year after year because they believe in what you're doing.
That doesn't happen by accident. It takes a plan, the right staff and volunteers, clean data, and a consistent commitment to treating donors as partners rather than sources. If you're ready to strengthen your Annual Fund and build a more sustainable advancement program, contact us to learn how Partners in Mission can help.
Kim Dunne and Greg Markiton are advancement consultants at Partners in Mission, a Catholic school consulting firm dedicated to helping Catholic schools and organizations lead with confidence and thrive in mission.