Urgent! We need extra financial support between now and May 24th.

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | May 22, 2015

I need your help to meet a $25,400 challenge grant over the next four days. As of 10:30 am EST on May 23nd, we have just over $1,800 left to match by Pentecost, May 24th. If we are successful, the total benefit to our mission will be over $50,000.

Any gift you offer now will be matched.

CatholicCulture.org cannot survive without this grant, which is necessary to see us through until the Fall. I hope all registered users and all social media users will join me over the next few days to make this Spring Campaign a resounding success.

Our mission is to provide balanced Catholic news and commentary, spiritual resources, Church documents, and countless other Catholic resources with completely fidelity to the Magisterium and the mind of the Church. Each year we reach five million users directly, as visitors to our website, and perhaps an order of magnitude more (up to 50 million) as our original Catholic materials are picked up and redistributed in blogs, other websites, newsletters, parish bulletins, CCD programs, Catholic radio and television, and of course social media.

I believe this work is important, and I am also proud of our ability to keep costs low—substantially lower than any comparable organization. We offer everything absolutely free of charge, and our costs are just eight cents per person directly served each year. This is unprecedented.

The other side of that coin, however, is that we rely totally on our users. We have no major gifts from individual financial angels or foundations. Even our challenge grants are developed by groups of users who pledge a combined total to be donated if other, less active donors will match that total by the specified deadline. A special group of 33 such donors is behind our Spring Challenge grant—an average individual gift of under $800.

In some ways, this diversity of donors is a good thing. It keeps us independent, beholden to no special interests. We are not required (as some other organizations are) to handle news and commentary on sensitive issues in a way that satisfies the private concerns of a few major donors or ecclesiastical leaders. We are free to perform an authentically Catholic analysis, which is what best serves our threefold task of enriching faith, strengthening the Church, and forming Catholic culture.

In other ways, this diversity of donors is more difficult. We have to concentrate on fundraising year round. There are no major individual infusions of cash to make our budget. Difficult as that may be, it does provide a certain validation: CatholicCulture.org cannot continue its work in a vacuum. If a great many users do not find it valuable, we fold.

Call it a reality check.

So if you really do value what we do, if you benefit from it personally, or if you think it is helpful to other Catholics, including those in mission territories, then I hope you will contribute to our Spring Campaign now, before time runs out on Pentecost. Any gift will be helpful, because each gift will be doubled by the Challenge Grant.

Please offer your maximum gift online now while it will count twice.

Or, if you prefer, mail a check or money order to:

May God bless you for your generosity in supporting our Catholic mission, through your financial sacrifices and, of course, your prayers.