by Jeanne Gorman
Special to The Leaven
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When Bill Maloney relinquished his duties as director of the archdiocesan office of stewardship and development on May 6, it was not for the well-deserved retirement one might have expected.
For in May, it was announced that the office would be divided into two separate ones.
The stewardship office will continue to oversee and administer the Archbishop’s Call to Share, parish stewardship initiatives, special appeals for the archbishop and any capital campaigns the archdiocese conducts. Lisa McKelvey succeeded Maloney as the new director of that department and will continue on with those stewardship duties.
Maloney, on the other hand, will continue to serve full time as executive director of the Catholic Foundation of Northeast Kansas (CFNEK) but in a separate office devoted exclusively to that. He will now be focused solely on the work of the foundation as an employee of CFNEK and will report to its board of directors.
While working in his former post, Maloney began reimagining how the stewardship and foundation sides of the office might both benefit from structural administrative changes. Consequently, about 18 months ago, the CFNEK board engaged a national fundraising firm to conduct a study for the foundation, which manages and provides assistance to the parishes, schools and affiliated organizations within the archdiocese, which have their own endowment, scholarship and other funds.
Among other things, the firm interviewed top donors to the archdiocesan affiliates and concluded there exists a substantial number of planned gifts that will be flowing into the various archdiocesan entities for their use in the future. But, perhaps more importantly, there is potential for additional gifts that will greatly benefit these organizations in ways directed by the individual recipients.
Armed with this information, the CFNEK board concluded that CFNEK needed to direct more effort toward assisting these entities with soliciting such gifts — which required additional staff.
To do so, it hired two new employees as gift-planning consultants for — and to work alongside of — parishes, schools, other affiliated organizations and donors to educate and seek potential donations. The staff has now grown to eight people.
The new focus couldn’t be more on mission.
“I’m excited about furthering the mission of the CFNEK,” said president Ben Clouse, “which is to promote the spiritual mission of the Catholic Church by encouraging stewardship in collaboration with parishes, schools and other affiliated entities in the diocese.”
CFNEK’s consultant provided a road map for the foundation’s efforts to raise funds for Catholic causes within the archdiocese. To date, staff has been organizing monthly meetings at parish sites in which speakers present information about the foundation and how individuals can leave planned gifts for the benefit of their parish endowment and other funds in their wills and trusts. Such gifts can greatly impact the parishes in many ways that Sunday collections and parish fundraisers alone cannot.
Recently, one Johnson County parish hosted such a meeting that was attended by 35 people. Buoyed by that success, the parish scheduled another gathering for the fall.
After a presentation at a Wyandotte County parish, a prospective donor contacted CFNEK about leaving his home as an estate gift.
CFNEK sees these gatherings and its greater work as helping to assist archdiocesan schools, parishes and related entities raise additional resources for their needs.
The endowment funds are controlled by the individual parishes, schools and entities for investment and allocation of funds. They are given three investment options from which to choose and receive semiannual income distributions. The funds are restricted for use solely by the individual fundholders.
CFNEK provides quarterly reports to each fundholder for whom it manages funds to keep them apprised of the performance of their funds. CFNEK charges a modest asset-based fee to support the services it provides to the archdiocesan entities.
While their efforts are paying dividends, additional hands were needed.
“CFNEK staff,” said Maloney, “is growing to better serve and collaborate with all stakeholders and donors to try to maximize the potential for both current and future gifts for the entities.”
