In recent years, many dioceses have reported a significant increase in their proceeds to The Catholic Relief Services Collection (CRSC). One outstanding example of this success is the Diocese of Cleveland through the efforts of its Catholic Charities Diocesan Social Action Office under the direction of Deacon Rocky Ortiz. With the assistance of a small promotional grant of $1,500 from the CRSC and a significant commitment of its own resources, the Diocese of Cleveland has developed a highly effective education and promotion plan to increase awareness and support of the CRSC among the Catholic laity and clergy of the diocese.

As a result of their strategy, the Diocese of Cleveland was able to increase their collection result by 23 percent in 2006.

Following are highlights of the strategic elements of their plan that may help you in your capacity as CRSC diocesan director as you plan your own activities for the 2007 collection.

Diocese of Cleveland CRS Collection Results

2005 CRS COLLECTION RESULTS	$ 99,708
2006 CRS COLLECTION GOAL	$ 125,000
2006 CRS COLLECTION RESULTS	$ 129,770
PERCENTAGE INCREASE (2005 vs. 2006 ACTUAL RESULTS)	23%

What were the diocese's objectives?

The Cleveland diocese established several strategic objectives for promoting the collection and increasing parish giving:

• To elicit pastor support for the collection, to include preaching about the collection on Collection Sunday.
• To encourage parishioners to use the CRS Collection contribution envelope and have the collection mentioned from the pulpit and in bulletin announcements in every parish.
• To incorporate the CRS Collection work and appeal into the promotion of the Diocesan Lenten Lecture Series entitled, The Church: A Sign of Hope in the Holy Land.

Below are the key activities that were carried out in support of these objectives that directly impacted the success of the 2006 collection:

• Hired a part-time collection coordinator to assist with targeted parish contacts and develop an e-mail database for Just Faith members in the diocese.
• Sent a personalized letter from the bishop to all pastors three weeks prior to the collection.
• Sent a fax broadcast reminder to all parishes a week before the collection.
• Contacted fifty pastors or parish assistants by phone.
• Sent a memo to the Clergy Personnel and Diaconate Offices to retired priests and deacons seeking potential speakers.
• Provided information about homily helps available on the CRSC web site to pastors and deacons.
• Placed two advertisements in the diocesan newspaper with collection results and an advertisement in an Islamic newspaper as well.
• Facilitated distribution of bulletin inserts and appeal materials for the parishes.
• Placed a 'thank you' notice in the diocesan newspaper with collection results.
• Incorporated the collection into the Lenten Lecture Series (28 forums) and utilized sign-in rosters to recruit potential advocates and supporters.

Given the outstanding success of the 2006 CRS Collection, the Cleveland diocese plans to repeat and build upon these strategies as it approaches the 2007 collection. Deacon Ortiz has recommended that the CRS Collection encourage and fund more mission trips and training opportunities for priests and deacons so they can better share the CRSC message and represent its good works in their dioceses.