This article was originally printed in the Hospitallers Newsletter Volume 22 Winter 23, Page 18.

 

A Campaign Update

We were honored and grateful for the opportunity to address several hundred members at the Annual Meeting in the Intercontinental Hotel in NYC on the morning of the Investiture. We shared a message of incredible generosity and the opportunity that lay ahead as we opened the Capital Campaign to all our members. We used the presentation to thank the more than two hundred-fifty donors who took the campaign to $17.1 million on the way to $20 million and beyond. And we used the presentation to open the doors wide to our twelve hundred members who have not had the opportunity to make a contribution.

The presentation covered three key areas; we provided an overview of the campaign as it has unfolded, we spoke about how we have all been called to serve the sick and the poor by our vocation in the Order of Malta; and we provided a roadmap for securing our legacy of service to the sick and the poor.

 

Overview:

The Campaign started in 2020 as a key element of the Strategic Plan; at that time, it was unclear where this campaign could actually go – the pandemic forced the cancellation of pilgrimages, retreats, and opportunities for hands-on work which are actually the primary focus of the Campaign. While the Strategic Plan outlined a campaign with a potential target of sixteen million dollars as a placeholder, we knew that a campaign of any significant size would require a lot of thinking by a lot of smart people to conclude on what the true potential might be. The first step was engaging CCS, a top consultant in the area of Catholic Philanthropy. From there, a campaign cabinet was formed. Many of you were called upon to share your thoughts and questions as we considered where this campaign was going to go. With input from dozens of Knights, Dames, Chaplains, with a focus on current and past leaders, we challenged our members to be open to what was important about the Order of Malta, how did it fit in your lives, what were the high points and what were the sticking points. Those who volunteered to speak shared their love for the spirituality of the Order, for the melding of hands-on work with your spiritual journey.

We heard the good and the bad and we are grateful for each of you who responded in the formative days of the campaign – your honesty, wisdom and  concerns all provided the basis for the case we developed, a case that reflects your story and the story of the Order you love so deeply – it is a story of love, compassion and spiritual growth.

In the end, we have built a campaign around a twenty million dollar goal with seven million to be directed to the Pilgrimage Foundation to build an endowment capable of funding the cost of a hundred or more Malades and Caregivers to participate in the Annual Lourdes Pilgrimage in perpetuity; the second piece was to add thirteen million dollars to the Malta Human Services Foundation endowment to double its capacity to fund grants for the American Association to support your hands-on work in Area activities and at the national and international levels of the Order.

We started actually raising funds in late 2020, seeking leadership contributions from selected members; we continued that work as we moved into the Area Engagement Phase. We have had the opportunity already to visit more than half the Areas, including multiple visits to some. In this phase, we have been speaking to small groups about the campaign. At Dr. Kelly’s Town Hall Meeting in October, we entered the All Member Invitation Phase; following the meeting, each member received a personalized package with the case statement and a request for your participation in the campaign.

 

Called To Serve

When we say the Daily Prayer of the Order, we thank Jesus for enlisting us in this Order of Knights and Dames in the service of the poor and the sick. Within the American Association, we participate in the Annual Pilgrimage of the Order to Lourdes – it is often called the signature work of the Order because it visibly reflects the international nature of the Order while providing members with the opportunity for hands-on service in a deeply meaningful spiritual event. It is a major undertaking and represents a significant commitment of time and resources. It is said that no one goes on the Lourdes Pilgrimage without experiencing a change in their understanding of what being in the Order is all about and a deeper understanding of the nature and beauty of hands-on work in service of the sick and the poor. The Lourdes Pilgrimage will cost over one million four hundred thousand dollars in 2023; about twenty-five percent of that is to cover the direct expenses of the Malades and Caregivers.

For most members, that service unfolds in their own backyards, at the soup kitchens, homeless shelters, in prisons and nursing homes, in protecting life and in service to the dying. The chart (click here) gives a snapshot of the areas where you, our members, are working to ease the suffering and enhance the lives of those whom we serve, Our Lords, the Sick and the Poor. When Christ said, “The poor you will always have with you, “ He was speaking to us, the Knights and Dames of the Order and the unending nature of poverty and sickness in our world. We have set a challenging goal to raise funds for the Malta Human Services Foundation but we know that the needs are truly limitless.

 

Securing Our Legacy of Care for the Sick and the Poor

What we do, we do for Him because what He did, He did for us. As we continue our journey and our labors in the field, we can ask ourselves what should be our legacy. The Capital Campaign is designed to help secure the legacy of our hands-on opportunities far into the future. What we are doing has an immediate impact  as some projects are already receiving funding through gifts to the Campaign. But the real impact of the Campaign is to secure the legacy of care that we are currently involved in for generations to come. The goal of the campaign is to secure funding as has been described – funding that will be wisely stewarded to provide resources beyond our time here on earth. But the second and perhaps greater outcome will be the creation of a culture of greater philanthropy which is focused on increasing the impact of what we do in the days  and years to come.

When we started work on this campaign, we were greeted by a pandemic. Some people said it was the wrong time, but what we saw was the heightened need for resources to address the needs of the people we serve. The success of the campaign so far is not of our doing – it is built on the generosity of a small number of donors who see the vision we are trying to share, one of fostering our own hands-on work and leaving a well-marked trail for others to follow.

Those who attended the Annual Meeting in New York in November saw the gift table, a common feature of capital campaigns; it was developed at the beginning of the campaign to provide the path to raise $20M. We are tracking very close to the table that we developed and expect to meet and exceed it at every gift level. The level of generosity we have encountered provides a basis for optimism that we will exceed our goal and this campaign will have a greater immediate impact than we initially estimated.

At the time of the Annual Meeting, sixty leadership gifts had already been received, bringing us to 65% of our goal. One hundred seventy-one additional donors brought the campaign to over 80% of the $20M goal. Seventy-five percent of the commitments are in cash pledges; the rest are in planned gifts, mostly bequests. Of the cash pledges, more than half have already been paid. The numbers are real and the success so far has been gratifying.

At the meeting, we then presented a chart to show that we are now in the midst of a $3M campaign to bring us to our $20M goal. The road to $20M was outlined with a graph that showed our progress and the milestones and dates as we move forward. It depicted the success to date, the generosity and capacity of our members to respond, and the compelling case that you as members have built in serving the sick and the poor. Securing the legacy of your work is a worthy goal that has inspired the campaign’s success so far.

A question that we were asked early on was whether the $20M dollar goal was achievable? Honestly, as we began our exploration to define the case, the goals and our processes, we experienced a growing confidence that we were on the right track. That was because all we had to do was tell the story – a compelling story of Knights and Dames, supported by their chaplains, who are traveling a unique spiritual path by living the charism to the give witness to their faith through their hands-on work serving the sick and the poor. The foundation for the campaign was built on bedrock; it was structured around what you all do, at soup kitchens, with prisoners and victims of human trafficking, with Malades and caregivers, with the poor and the sick whose needs will always be with us but where you make a difference every day.

At that point in the campaign, we had received commitments from sixteen percent of our households; eighty-four percent still have the opportunity. Since we announced the member engagement phase of the campaign during Dr. Kelly’s October Town Hall meeting, we have opened the door to that group, many of whom had not yet been approached. The response since the Town Hall Meeting has been humbling.

Now the “asks” are on the table; most of you have received a package that was sent on the day following the Town Hall meeting. We ask that you prayerfully consider the request you have received to support this campaign. We know that many of you have great demands on your generosity; we only ask that you consider how the Order of Malta fits into your life and consider a gift that reflects that. The needs are great; securing our legacy of care for the sick and the poor is the purpose of the campaign. We invite you to participate at the level you decide.

We finished our presentation at the Annual Meeting by sharing the prayer composed by Cardinal Dolan for our campaign. We end our report here with words from that prayer. “Loving God, I ask You now to fill me with a cheerful heart, as I respond to the opportunity before me. Move me to generosity in Your love, as I dedicate myself to the work You have entrusted me.” God bless you for all you do.

At the 2022 Investiture Mass and Annual Dinner, our members honored the legacy of our original Dames who brought us, our Malades and Caregivers to Lourdes almost 37 years ago. Growing the Pilgrimage Foundation’s resources today will allow us to secure their legacy which had its beginnings in 1985.

This article was contributed by Gail and Joseph Berardino, Co-Chairs of the Capital Campaign. Gail can be reached at gtberardino@gmail.com and Joe can be reached at jfberardino@gmail.com. They welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.