- The Guild's mission is to promote the spiritual well-being of its members, living and deceased; to aid the education of young men in their vocation to the Order of Friars Minor; to serve God by helping the Franciscans in every field of apostolic work.
- So many venerate St. Anthony and we view this piece as an opportunity to bring more people closer to him, and to help with fulfilling his mission of love and mercy to the poor and outcast in society.
- This package – using a highly devotional letter – has been the acquisition control at the Guild for five years and has consistently brought in a high response rate.
- We wanted to inspire even more prospects to join the Guild by giving them a higher awareness of the good works their support would fund, while at the same time not taking away from the devotion to St. Anthony, so we altered the letter to include more descriptions of the apostolic work being done.
- The main intent was to inspire more prospects to support the Guild and that was achieved. The control letter received a 2.9% response rate, the test letter got a 3.2% response, so more new donors were inspired to join. In subsequent tests at different times of the year, similar results were achieved. Going forward, we will roll out with the test letter as our new control.
- New donors not only receive the St. Anthony medal, but the opportunity to share their intentions with the Guild. Prayers said on behalf of Guild members every day bring comfort and a sense of community. Personal notes are received at the Guild from donors telling stories of how they were helped in a variety of ways by praying to St. Anthony.
- Finding a way to make more people aware of our outreach ministries serving homeless and struggling families, those suffering with HIV/AIDS, and disadvantaged youth, brings us hope that we will be able to continue our work to “recognize Christ in the poor” for years to come.
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