Christ The King Parish School
Christ the King Parish School is a Catholic kindergarten through eighth grade co-ed elementary school located in Milwaukie, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. Founded in 1964, the school serves 249 students and growing.
Highlights
- Christ the King Parish School led the way in 2004 to become the first Catholic elementary school in Oregon to offer Web-based donations using Auctionpay Online Payments.
- Since adding Online Payments, their overall giving every year has increased up to 25% overall on all gifts given to the school.
- They have an environmentally friendly solution for their two additional fundraising campaigns, The Endowment Fund and The Annual Fund; donors can submit donations online, making expensive paper pledge cards obsolete.
Challenge
Prior to using Auctionpay Online Payments in 2004, Christ the King had no way to take credit card donations except for the night of their annual live auction, where they utilized Auctionpay Event Payments terminals (in 2007, the school purchased Auctionpay Event Software to automate the event planning and execution process).
In addition to the annual auction, the school had two other fundraising campaigns, The Endowment Fund and The Annual Fund, which involved a large amount of work and wasteful paper pledge cards. Christ the King wanted to be able to take donations anytime for any amount to support these campaigns. And they wanted a solution that was cost-effective and easy for both their organization and donors to use.
Solution
Auctionpay Online Payments was the perfect solution for driving contributions to the school’s additional campaigns. Online Payments offered flexibility over the bank: no terminal was needed to process payments, no minimum monthly processing amount was required, there were no monthly equipment fees and Auctionpay offered significantly lower transaction processing rates than those offered by banks.
Auctionpay Online Payments also allowed donors more flexibility in the way they give. For example, many of Christ the King’s donors are retirees. Says Kellee Harris, Development Director at Christ the King, “These are grandparents with children attending the school that they like to visit. Online (Payments) allows them to get more benefits from their personal credit card, like accruing airline miles, well as supporting the school.” It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Tips from Christ The King Parish School
- You constantly have to remind donors that you have the online donation option. Christ the King will implement ongoing email campaigns in 2008 to inform donors about that option. Harris also includes the reminder and link in all her email communications, and on all their printed material.
- Harris also picked up a tip at a recent fundraising seminar – The best day of the year to email donors is December 31st. It’s a last minute chance to make a gift and earn a tax deduction.
Results
Now, in addition to the Auctionpay payment solution for their annual event, Christ the King also has an easy solution for fundraising throughout the year using the Web. By going online, they also can be more environmentally friendly by getting rid of paper pledge cards for their two additional fundraising campaigns, The Endowment Fund and The Annual Fund.
Harris credits Auctionpay Online Payments with increasing their overall giving by approximately 25%. An option they offer to encourage donors to give larger amounts is to spread their total donation into monthly payments. So someone who might not donate $250 if they have to write a check for the full amount can spread their payments over 10 months, making it easier to donate. “It just makes it easier to give, and is so easy to set up, and Auctionpay automatically collects the funds each month for us.” enthuses Harris.
In 2007, Christ The King decided to add Auctionpay Event Software to their group of fundraising tools. Their organization continues to lead the way for Catholic Schools in Oregon by embracing technology for their fundraising efforts.
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