Our friends at the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation (CSAF) in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis had a big decision to make. They were planning this year's annual fundraising appeal, and the truth is, they were feeling discouraged by the results of videos they had put out in recent years.
Yen Fasano serves as Executive Board Member and Marketing Chair for CSAF. “This cycle year after year became increasingly frustrating and disappointing, especially because we wanted to share the good news in a way that's engaging to our audience. We tried different ways to rally our local faithful around the exciting things that are happening here in the Archdiocese. Still, ultimately our past attempts hadn't gone over as well as we had hoped.”
“We also felt the added pressure of wanting to make a good financial investment, and wanting [the video] to raise a proportionate amount of funds.”
“More than anything, we wanted the Holy Spirit to be present throughout the entire process, leading the Marketing Committee's efforts. After a few disappointing years, we came face-to-face with the reality that we might have the best ideas, utilize the best talent, but if the Holy Spirit wasn't moving through everything— it would fall flat.”
“My point of view as a mother of young children, striving to be a good Catholic, was that we needed a completely fresh approach. We needed something new.”
Kathy Schneeman also serves on the board for CSAF. She added, “We knew the videos weren't working as well as they could. We're really trying to focus our efforts toward reaching out to a younger audience with the appeal. We wanted to find a way to reach those people and others who have never really given before.”
It was right around this time that they discovered the Archdiocese of Denver's Archbishop's Catholic Appeal video from 2018. This video felt to Yen like an answer to prayer. She said that Jen, CSAF's Executive Director, showed the video to them as an example of what they could do.
Kathy personally started communicating with the Archdiocese of Denver to see whether they could use the same approach. “We were thrilled when we got their permission to use or replicate the video ourselves. After that, I just felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude. I was so excited that we could help each other out— the universal Church— in a way where we all could benefit from it.”
Yen said, “an approach like [the Archdiocese of Denver's video] felt risky. We had never attempted something like that before with the appeal here in our Archdiocese. I recognized that it was also the perfect opportunity to lead with lightheartedness, humor, and hopefully open people's hearts to receiving the message and retain the information as well.”
The team resolved to take a leap of faith.
Kathy explained, “Then the problem became, who do we have here locally that could actually produce the video? What could we do? Yen surprised us one day and said, ‘I reached out to Lux Lab, and they said they'd be interested.’ We were so excited about that!! We couldn't believe it. We never dreamed we could actually get [Lux Lab] to come out here and make the video again for us.”
“[Lux Lab] had the BEST attitudes, the easiest personalities to work with. They steered the boat through it all and helped us navigate all of our deadlines. That made it a lot easier for us because the video was just one aspect of the overall appeal. We still had to work a lot of other things out on our side of things.”
“All conversations (emails, phone calls) were so professional, we knew they understood our mission. It felt like ‘them and us’ working on this— a joint mission for the sake of this project. They worked so hard in tandem with us, and we appreciated that so much.”
“They were really willing to do whatever it took to make this the best it could be.”
CSAF's goals included making the appeal accessible to the Spanish-speaking communities throughout the Archdiocese. Our approach included collaboration with the Office of Latino ministries and, in particular, Frida Sonderegger. Frida assisted us with everything from translations of the English scripts to making sure the actors felt comfortable with both the English and Spanish lines necessary to pull off this joint effort. This enabled us to develop separate versions of the video that could be shown in-pew, according to each parish's specific needs.
“As far as I know, this was the first video from the Archdiocese with this kind of content specifically intended for this community. I think it was excellent because the Latino community is growing and fast.”
“As a member of this community myself, I've seen this type of advertisement here or there but only done in English, so this was really special.”
“I really think [this approach] is going to touch people. The way it was done is very well done, and I really think that the message speaks for itself: what the organization is and is doing and the help they need.”
“Anyone can understand the information— even though we present statistics and numbers, it's really clear to see the impact that their contributions and gifts can have. I think we succeeded in communicating that clearly.”
“I really appreciated the way the director worked with another (unfamiliar) language— really, the effort of everyone involved to accommodate this community. It was very pleasant to work with all of the crew. It would be easy to get discouraged and frustrated because they don't understand the language— but [Lux Lab] was very open to it and managed it well on set.”
Yen is really excited about the direction they are headed this year. More so than in previous years, they are really feeling some momentum heading into the in-pew presentation and the annual appeal.
“The in-pew appeal hasn’t happened yet, but I can already say that there is a lot of positive buzz surrounding it: our executive director has shown it in deanery meetings with our parish priests. They very much like it— even the Archbishop himself is excited about it.”
“Overall, there is an enthusiasm from the priests about showing it this year— or at the very least promoting it (even if just sharing a link to it in the bulletins)— which is a huge win for us. The leaders of parishes know about it, and this year the whole feeling surrounding it is just different.”
“Before, we were scrambling for a vision, a direction, and we were sweating it down to the wire to create a video we'd be proud to share. This year, it's much calmer and peaceful. We're all ready to go and just waiting for the launch. We're using the time leading up to it to prepare by praying now for those who will eventually see it. That the Holy Spirit opens their hearts and that they will resonate with it and be moved to share a gift within the Archdiocese.”
Our congratulations go out to our friends at the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. We are so excited to hear how the appeal goes this year, and we hope many lives will be blessed by the outstanding work you all are doing this year and beyond. Here's to your success!
Fiat Lux!
