Church: 9633 East State Route 37 | Office: 801 West Cherry Street Suite 120 | Sunbury, Ohio 43074 | Phone: 740.965.1358

Fundraising Guidelines

It is the hope of the parish that most parish groups are self-supportive. There are some groups that will need to engage the community to help support their activities and our local community.

As a parish, St. John Neumann supports many worthy charitable programs and projects through a variety of collections, fundraising events, materials collections and goods sales. The support benefits our parish ministries and outreaches, local community material assistance, national and international Catholic missionary and charitable work. The below guidelines have been established for the benefit of parish staff, groups and individuals, as we all work together to try to support various needs without "over-taxing" our parishioners.

There are only three requests for funds that will come from Fr. Dave from the pulpit: Annual Offertory (annual parish operational expense funding), Capital Campaigns (debt reduction or future facility building funding), and the Bishop's Annual Appeal (Annual support of our diocese). These are the three areas that we ask all our parishioners to pledge support on a regular basis.

As a faith community that is called by Jesus to love and serve others, our outreach often extends beyond the church to local, national and international needs and social justice issues. There are countless "good causes," but resources are limited.

Second Collections: These are set by the Diocese. Envelopes are provided monthly (Envelope Givers) or quarterly (EFT givers) to all parishioners. Typically, there are one or two special collections a month. Periodically, world and U.S. Bishops request parish collections for disaster relief. Those that benefit are usually national and international. Parishioners can choose to participate or not, according to their means and according to their consciences.

Local Support: Parish groups such as SCRIP, Flea Market Committee, Knights of Columbus, Men's Club, Women's Club and Youth Group are asked to limit their fundraising to only those areas that support our parish family and build community within our parish. Although the Youth Group facilitates that Giving Tree during Christmas, which helps needy families in one of our diocesan inter-city parishes.

St. Vincent de Paul, Respect Life, Big Walnut Friends Who Share, The Giving Tree, Join and the Knights of Columbus offer support to local community outreaches for social justice. The St. Vincent de Paul has an after-Mass collection for money on the first weekend of each month. The other groups collect goods to distribute to the poor/needy or raise funds by selling goods.

Faith-Filled Women is a local ecumenical group that holds periodic lunches to bring Christian Women of all faiths together. They sell wreaths/garlands to support their activities.

Again, parishioners are asked to support these groups according to their means and their consciences.

For a listing of collections, events, and goods sales for support of parish, local, national and international causes, please see the below list.

How funds are raised

Event/Community Builders: The Flea Market, Texas Hold'em Tournaments (fall and winter), Fall Festival, Spaghetti Dinners, Lenten Fish Fry, Pancake Breakfasts. These are wonderful activities that build community while raising funds. These types of events are encouraged as long as groups do not interfere/conflict with each other on the calendar. Proper planning is important, including enough human resources to implement, the event should be self-funded so it will not be a financial burden on the parish, church and community events should be coordinated and promoted to get good attendance.

Raffles: Women's Club, Fall Festival, Knights of Columbus. These are limited to ONE weekend of selling after Mass. Raffles can also be sold at their corresponding event or other parish events (if permission by the sponsoring group is approved).

Pass the Basket/Collect Money: St. Vincent de Paul collects the first weekend each month after Mass. Periodically, the Bishop asks to collect funds for disaster relief. Once a year there is a the national Mission Cooperative Appeal. No other groups should be collecting money! Other parish groups can collect goods to distribute to the poor/needy, or raise funds by selling goods at a profit to fund their activities.

Selling of Products: The Youth Group, Grounds Maintenance, OWLS, Women's Club, Knights and other groups annually or periodically sell products (religious articles, mulch, flowers, etc) to support their activities or to raise money for projects. Often times this is a service to our parishioners as well as a fundraiser for the group. These must be coordinated as to not overlap.

Collection of Products: The Giving Tree, school supplies, detergent /paper products, blankets and candles for the poor and struggling of our community. PSR classes sometimes do these types of collections as well. These are non-invasive was of asking for support as we assist others in our local community.

Timing of fundraisers/collections/Events: For the success of fundraisers/collections/events and as to not bombard or "over-tax" our parishioners, events needs to be coordinated with the parish calendar and other parish group events. Proposed events may also have to be limited. The parish staff does Master Calendar Planning for the fiscal year (July 1-Jun 30) at their June meeting. Submit your proposals for each fundraiser/collection/event by May 30 for the coming fiscal year. We will work together to address conflicts of schedules. Requests received after May 30 will be evaluated based on other fundraisers/collections/events already scheduled.

Proposals should include: Who you are raising $ for, who is the targeted ask/event for (PSR students, youth, men, and women, the parish as a whole), how you are raising money/what you are collecting? Preferred date(s), alternative date(s), ranking with other proposals (i.e., if you could only do one of your requests per year...which is the most important).

Reviewing the Gathering Space Solicitation Guidelines approved 9-18-07. (please see these guidelines for the full text).

A maximum of two (2) groups are allowed for "soliciting" for support. It also states: There should be no more than two (2) groups handing out information, one of these being the Greeters handing out the Parish Bulletin.

One purpose of these guidelines is to support parish and diocesan operational, diocesan collections, parish collections, parish activities, parish and established community charities.

Another is to provide guidance to groups requesting donations from St. John Neumann, by directing them to an established group working together for social justice or common purpose.

Finally the goal of establishing a calendar for planned giving - groups will need to prioritize these activities limiting the frequency to once or twice yearly.

Listing of Parish Collections, Fundraisers and Sales - 2008

Parish - Operational - Necessary 

  • Offertory
  • Debt Reduction
  • Future Fundraisers for facility building

Diocese - Operational - Necessary

  • Bishop's Annual Appeal (BAA) 

Diocesan-National-World Collections - "Second Collections"

  • Diocesan Charities - JOIN - Ash Wednesday
  • Propagation of the Faith - January
  • Black and Indian Missions - February
  • Catholic Times - February
  • Catholic Relief Services - March
  • Good Friday - Holy Lands - March/April
  • Mission Cooperative Appeal - April
  • Central & Eastern Europe - April
  • Bishop's Annual Appeal - May
  • Catholic Communication Campaign - May
  • Catholic Home Missions - June
  • Holy Father - Peter's Pence - June
  • Latin America - August
  • World Mission Sunday - October
  • Campaign for Human Development - November
  • Diocesan Charities - December
  • Religious Retirement Fund - December

Parish Collections

  • PSR - annual tuition for PSR parents
  • SCRIP - weekly
  • SVDP - monthly
  • BWFWS - Easter collection with the Edge Service Project - March/April
  • BWFWS - School supplies - August/September
  • BWFWS- Lion's Club Fundraiser - August
  • BWFWS- Christmas Collection - November/December
  • Faith Filled Women - wreath, garland sale - November
  • Flea Market - May and September
  • JOIN - Sr. Julie - blankets and candles - October through March - six months
  • Landscape Fundraiser - May
  • Respect Life - January/February - Dispatch signature campaign and baby bottle boomerang for the Core center
  • Respect Life - April/May - BIHAA
  • Respect Life - September/October - baskets for seniors
  • Women's Club - October/November - Quilt raffle and Holiday Bazaar
  • Youth Group - Flowers and Sacramental sale - April
  • Youth Group - Flood Response - September
  • Youth Group - Giving Tree - November/December
  • Christmas and Easter memorial flowers

Parish Community Events with Fundraising Activities

  • Flea Market
  • Texas Hold'em
  • Summer Picnic
  • Fall Festival
  • Men's Club - spaghetti dinner
  • Men's Club - Lenten Fish Fry
  • K of C - pancake breakfasts
  • K of C - annual raffle ticket sale
  • K of C - sub sale

Parish Charities 

  • SVDP
  • Respect Life

Community Charities 

  • BWFWS
  • Faith Filled Women
  • Giving Tree
  • Disaster Relief

Time and Talent