Three Religious Organizations Join Forces to Promote Holiday Contributions

The Lutheran Community Foundation, in Minneapolis, and the Catholic Community Foundation, in

St. Paul, have joined with the local Jewish Community Foundation in an unusual effort to promote year-end contributions.

The three charities are splitting the $95,000 cost of a marketing campaign called “Give With Faith,” a series of billboard, radio, and print advertisements that seek to increase donations to all religious organizations, regardless of denomination.

But just as important to the three charities is another goal of the campaign: creating a one-stop resource for financial advisers, stock brokers, and other professionals who can refer charity-minded clients to the foundation that matches their religious affiliation.

To that end, Give With Faith will sponsor events that financial advisers can attend, and representatives from the three groups will also appear together at conferences attended by such professionals.

“It’s an emerging national trend, that more people are aligning their giving with their values and with their faith, instead of with the most convenient geographical community foundation,” says Chris Andersen, president of the Lutheran Foundation.

He says that, in addition to promoting gifts to the three foundations, Give With Faith could lead the charities to pool donations and expand their grant making to causes not regarded as religious issues.

For example, Mr. Andersen says, domestic violence is not often viewed as a religious issue, but faith-based organizations could provide counseling or other resources with a spiritual component to victims.

Setting up Give With Faith did take some negotiation, says Sally F. Friedman, president of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.

Given Minnesota’s demographics, the Jewish group is much smaller than the others, so it put up only $15,000. The largest foundation, the Lutheran fund, provided $50,000, and the Catholic foundation paid the remaining $30,000.

Religious differences came up during the planning stages, too, but the groups decided to emphasize their common elements, says Ms. Friedman.

“We tried not to have references to the Bible, and tried not to refer to God,” she says. “But ‘faith’ was an integral part of all of our lives.”

So far, the program is centered in the Twin Cities, but the organizations hope for a larger, national campaign in coming years, according to Mr. Andersen. At the very least, they plan to continue their local collaboration.

“On some level we’ll always work together,” he says. “It’s just a question of how robust that will be.”