Diocese of Manchester
Diocese of Manchester
As part of the international Catholic Church, the Diocese of Manchester is the Bishop-led organization responsible for guiding the future of the Catholic Church in New Hampshire. As the central hub for the Catholic community for the state, the Diocese supports its parishes and schools in establishing a stable financial foundation through various giving programs.
Through its encouragement of generosity, the Diocese provides opportunities for giving that include an annual appeal, which directs donations to member parishes and schools. Additional giving opportunities include the Bishop’s Charitable Assistance Fund, an educational trust, and collections to support local needs as well as national causes that alleviate global hunger or support the Church around the world.
“Our Diocese had several appeals per year, which wasn’t efficient. We wanted to consolidate those into one annual appeal. In order to make that happen, we needed to import and clean mailing lists from more than 80 Parishes in Raiser’s Edge NXT. But, the problem with RE is that you only know what you know. You always question if you are doing it the best way.”
Brian Harrison
Assistant Director of Development, Diocese of Manchester
Managing the Big Picture
The Diocese had multiple fundraising appeals per year, which they hoped to streamline. They also wanted to improve tracking of donations at the Parish level, so that Pastors could have a clearer picture of their fundraising goals. In order to resolve this, the Diocese decided to consolidate the appeals into one annual appeal from the Bishop, which would attribute donations to the Parishes. But in order to do that they would need to import and clean up data from more than 80 different sources.
An additional challenge was their use of a 30-year-old Microsoft Access Database system that held approximately 1,500 records of the people who work at the Diocese, including Fathers, Sisters, and employees. Not only was the system outdated, it was locally hosted, which drew uncertainty from the team. They wanted this data moved into Raiser's Edge NXT to make it more accessible and secure.
“NPact was critical in helping us with this project—we couldn’t have done it without them. This is the first time the Diocese has had access to all of our data in one place. We can now share this information back to the Parishes, who have a clearer picture of their supporters and fundraising goals. The system is working so much better for everyone.”
Brian Harrison
Assistant Director of Development, Diocese of Manchester
Cleaner Data & Clear Processes
The NPact consultant led the Diocese team through the importing and deduping of nearly 80,000 records in Raiser's Edge NXT. With the goal of getting the database ready for the first consolidated annual appeal, it was critical that the data be as clean as possible. They also configured the system so that individual donations would be attributed to the supporter’s Parish. With that tracking in place, the Diocese can now give its Pastors a better picture of their annual goals and supporters—including those who may not have been included in the Parish’s records or communications.
With more confidence in their data and a better understanding of Raiser’s Edge NXT’s capabilities and best practices, the Diocese further engaged NPact to help them migrate their Microsoft Access Database to the new system; a project that will extend their original two-year monthly retainer contract. As their work with NPact continues, the Diocese is eager to expand their utilization of Raiser’s Edge, and have plans for NPact to guide them through more value-add features such as events, marketing, and advanced queries. The database improvements have already resulted in a successful annual appeal rollout, as well as a significant savings of time, tools, and resources.
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