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Successful Fund Raising Experiences - ASPAC

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Indonesia Ende: Humble and modest people
Fund raising is always become the toughest part to realize in my experience.

It is difficult, but it is not impossible. On 2010 I reinitiated one of the three-fold task of Mission Secretary at parishes run by SVD confreres in three diocese: Archdiocese of Ende, Diocese of Maumere and Diocese of Larantuka. I should work with these area years before. However, there was a foundation of the new diocese, the new appointed Bishops and as consequence I had to wait until the administration in Bishops’ office was fixed. When I asked permission to the Bishops, I get impression that, the Bishops do really concern with their responsibility to the mission worldwide. But, when I get some data and statistics from their office concerning with the power of people’s financial, I had to be realistic that I would be take times to motivate and to encourage our humble and modest people to give and contribute from their least to the mission worldwide. I was so thankful to the Bishops who openly to help SVD in their diocese to raise the funds for worldwide mission, but at the same time, the put a term and condition to limit, the program is just applied in parishes run by SVD confreres which is most of the parishioners are villagers, humble and modest people. Since the vast area of the parishes and some of them are located in remote place, I organized, then, the program by sending a letter to SVD district superior in collaboration with the parish priest to raise funds on January 15 or January 29 as the days dedicated to the Society. Interestingly, with the lack of conscientization, campaign and socialization, the enthusiasm of parishioners to contribute were significant. These humble and modest people did make their wonderful task as missionaries as well by donating even from their least. I hope this year, with the expansion for more 4 dioceses in Amboina and Papua, the number of contribution will be increasing.

Tenga, Hubertus

Japan
Although benefactors are so few, they are very generous. Especially, the elderly contribute small amounts from their pensions, exactly like the widow in the Gospels. Sometimes the donation is hardly more than the cost of the postage, but they give from what little they have for their livelihood and not from their excess funds. We have so very few Catholics in Japan and there are many religious orders and dioceses which are collecting funds. There are only about 400,000 Catholics in a population of over 125 million.
Santiago, Edgardo Jr.

Korea
The main source of raising funds is through the benefactors meeting and mass once a month. They contribute through monthly benefactor’s fees, mass stipends and donations. There are also other groups who come here for various masses, study, devotion and prayers contribute through donation and mass stipends.
Kim, Bong Jong John

Philippines Central
The Philippine XVD’s are former seminarians of SVD-owned and/or operated seminaries. They are organized in the Philippines into the XVD Association, Manus Dei Societas Foundation, Cebu SVD Crusaders, Perpetual Rosary Movement, Veritas Social Empowerment, and the Lay Society of St. Arnold Janssen. Membership in these organizations is interlocking, and they often collaborate or adopt common projects in their efforts to “go forth”, an expression of compassionate Mission, which is a hallmark in the spirituality of St. Arnold Janssen. A good example of this is their response to the two major calamities that recently hit the Philippines: the 7.2 Intensity Bohol earthquake on Oct. 15, 2013, with around 320 fatalities and property damage of about P3 Billion; and the Yolanda supertyphoon with winds up to 380 kilometers per hour, leaving around 7,000 dead and property damage of around P30 Billion. The XVD groups raised a good amount of money which was distributed to victims in Bohol, Leyte and Samar. In addition they sent a container van of relief goods to Bohol to support the relief operations of Holy Name University. Cash and relief goods were also sent to Tacloban City for the typhoon victims in Leyte and Samar. Another example is the Dinner for the Missions on March 13, 2014, one of the events of the year-long celebration of the Semi-centennial Foundation Anniversary of the Divine Word Seminary Tagaytay (DWST). This Dinner featured a conversation between Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, and John Allen, Jr., CNN analyst and the most authoritative Vatican English writer today. Proceeds from the Dinner went to the rehabilitation of DWST’s ageing facilities and equipment. Close to 600 guests attended the event. The innovative format with its impressive cast made the dinner edifying, inspiring and entertaining. It captured broad media attention and was a big promotional boost for the Catholic Church. The event was very well worth the tremendous effort for this reason alone, even if it would not earn a single centavo for DWST. With these activities and similar others in the past, truly it can be said that when Christ sent out his disciples two by two on their first mission, one of them was an SVD. The other, an XVD.
Alunday, Oscar

Hong Kong
The HK-Macau Mission Animation has raised some amount of money primarily from the Income Generating Projects that the team has initiated like selling of the SVD souvenir items, jackets and the Bible Diary. The income that we get somehow helped us to be more sufficient in terms of the expenses for the programmes and activities that we organized. On the other hand, we also have regular donors mostly from the migrant workers who regularly contributed some small amounts with their intention to support for the formation of the religious and seminarians. We have actually tried reaching out to the local Chinese and encourage them to donate for the SVD but still waiting for the right timing to finally create a data base for local benefactors and donors. We have also tried giving out our SVD Account to our lay partners and encouraged them to donate for the global mission of the SVD but it did not work out. In my experience, it is still easier for our lay partners to donate money in a project-based concept, e.g. “for the support of the seminarians, renovation of the SVD House, raising funds for the typhoon or earthquake victims, something that they found so concrete and relevant. What we really need is educate and to bring into the awareness of our lay partners that they too are our collaborators in raising funds for the SVD global mission.
Plateros, Charlton