Franciscan Media 2019 Annual Impact Report

SHARING GOD’S LOVE in the spirit of

ST. FRANCIS

2019 Annual Impact Report

Letter from our publisher As I reflect on all the good work reported in this annual impact statement, I can’t help but think of St. Francis’ words on his deathbed, “I’ve done what is mine to do.

May Christ now teach you what you are to do.”

These words are often part of the Transitus service and, as such, we friars are reminded each year that we have been called to carry on in the tradition of our founder.

One of the accomplishments listed in this report is a book we published by my Franciscan brother, Murray Bodo. In Surrounded by Love: Seven Teachings of Saint Francis, Murray writes, “Love is of the heart, Francis thought, but loving is about acting and living out God’s

We have been called to carry on in the tradition of our

will revealed in Jesus Christ and in those who love him.”

Love is our mission at Franciscan Media—it informs the work we do. In Francis’ day, printed books were available, though rare. Luckily, today, creating books and periodicals is a much easier task, and our printed products have helped us in our mission to share with more people Francis’ message of love, harmony, and simplicity.

We who carry on Francis’ legacy have had to be creative in our mission to reach our audience where they are.

We have always adapted to the times and technology.

founder.

In my early ministry in the Philippines, for example, I used a HAM radio to reach people in the margins with messages of hope. Today, we are using websites, email, audio and video, Google Home, and Alexa—ways St. Francis could never have imagined. And we’ll continue to listen and monitor trends so that we can offer new ways to reach people where they are.

We are grateful for your support in our endeavor to follow the charge we were given 800 years ago: to do the work that is ours.

Fr. Dan Kroger Publisher

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Letter from our president 2019 was a journey in delivering more spiritual resources and serving customers, while also developing the requirements for a new system to serve the needs of an audience thirsting for more. We also assembled an Innovation and Product Management team to research and develop new opportunities to share God’s love in the spirit of St. Francis.

The Franciscan spirituality of harmony, joy, and simplicity is something that is sorely needed in our world today, more than ever before. Franciscan spirituality heals wounded hearts and focuses on caring for all of creation, especially the poor and the marginalized.

It is about love: God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other. God has blessed us in so many ways and we are grateful for the work that is ours to do.

God blesses us when we least expect it. One such moment of grace happened through an unexpected introduction. At Franciscan Media, we have a major systems issue. Currently, our website is housed on two systems, which makes data analysis tricky and the user experience frustrating. We had looked for a partner to help for over a year but could not find such a partner that we could afford.

I was volunteering at an event that was focused on helping Christian business leaders. During introductions, I quickly recognized Dana Dunmyer as someone uniquely positioned to help us navigate this particular challenge.

You will hear more about Dana and the St. Francis Project later in this report and throughout the next couple of years. Needless to say, I was in awe because I could feel God’s intervention. God joined our two roads together. I am grateful for these moments of grace.

The Franciscan spirituality of harmony, joy, and simplicity is something sorely needed today.

Thank you for partnering with our small team of 25 to share God’s love and touch so many hearts around the world.

Peace and Every Good,

Kelly McCracken President 3

Accomplishments in 2019 Website By now, no one needs to tell you the world of publishing includes a rapidly changing array of channels. We had 7,819,883 visits to our website, franciscanmedia.org.

Catholic teachers are quick to tell you they rely on features like the calendar of saints’ feast days for daily inspiration in the classroom.

Email Newsletters Once on the website, readers are offered a portfolio of email subscriptions to feed their daily, weekly and seasonal prayer and study practices. 16,805,622 of these emails were opened in 2019 and the numbers continue to grow as more and more people enroll.

Faith and Family, enhanced with richer content Parents told us they felt alone and ill-equipped to lead their family on their faith journey in this overentertained, hyper plugged-in world. Since launching as a weekly email, Faith and Family now goes out to 5,000 families to help them prepare for Mass and engage with the readings and activities after Mass.

This year we added a basic website for Faith and Family to provide resources to complement the weekly newsletter. The site offers prayers, downloadable activities, guides on the sacraments, and even recipes. The website has had 38,000 views in the last year. We hope to make the site more robust in 2020 as part of our large-scale renovation, The St. Francis Project.

Inspiration via Alexa In 2019 there were two daily resources available as flash briefings and as standalone skills offering the messages from Saint of the Day and Minute Meditations. Last year, Alexa delivered a Franciscan message 381,653 times to smart speakers around the world.

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Streaming Video

Franciscan Spirit

St. Francis’ message was viewed in video’s most

Rather than continue with the commercial tradition of

popular channels over 200,000 times. Friars who have

printing boorish catalogs, full of thumbnail images and

recorded videos tell us they have reached more people

specifications focused on selling books, we diverted the

than they might in an entire lifetime of ministry.

funds to publish the Franciscan Spirit journal, a richly illustrated, masterfully curated collection of stories

Saint of the Day For over 40 years, Saint of the Day has been a touch-

and excerpts for an audience thirsting for the joy of the Gospel message in the spirit of St. Francis.

stone for those with a devotion to holy saints and

Since its launch in the fall of 2017, we have delivered

blesseds. As a book, a free daily e-newsletter with over

over 30,000 copies of the print edition free of charge to

35,000 active users, or as an Alexa skill, Saint of the Day

donors’ homes. A digital version has been made avail-

is a trusted resource and a daily dose of inspiration.

able to everyone, also free of charge.

Minute Meditations

Booklets for Advent and Lent

Between our smartphones and our busy schedules, the

Over 200,000 booklets to support daily prayer and

24-hour news cycle, and everything else that demands

reflection during Lent and Advent were produced

our attention, sometimes we need prayer and still-

at costs that made them affordable for groups and

ness to balance it all. Minute Meditations, a free daily

parrishes to share. We produced them for our province

resource with over 25,000 subscribers, offers the best in

to use as donor gifts and sent out over 16,000 to our

prayer and spiritual nourishment.

donors. Lent featured Padre Pio and Advent featured St.

Novenas Saints and prayer are incredibly important to our audi-

Therese of Lisieux.

Books

ence. Novenas allow us to merge them together in a

Books from Franciscan Media continue to feed souls

seamless way. Last year, we provided our audience with

and change lives. 318,891 hard cover and paperback

novenas to Saints Clare, Francis, and Anthony. 30,000

books shipped, 49,426 audiobooks and 46,999 e-books

people signed up for these novenas and the feedback

were distributed electronically in 2019. Titles included

was strong.

four updated editions of best sellers: Saint Padre Pio:

St. Anthony Messenger In spite of continuing changes in the publishing business and the increase in online media formats, in the 127th year of publication, 627,348 copies were served last year. Still America’s largest paid circulation, Catholic magazine, St. Anthony Messenger has an

20th Anniversary Edition by Renzo Allegri, Armchair Mystic by Mark Thibodeaux, Yes, And… by Richard Rohr, OFM, and Mystics by Murray Bodo, OFM New books in 2019 included: The Purpose Promise by John McCarthy, Wandering and Welcome by Joseph Grant and This Is the Life by Terry Hershey.

engaged audience in over 50,000 households. Its longstanding tradition of awards continues. The talented St. Anthony Messenger staff of writers, reporters, editors and artists brought home nine prestigious awards from the Catholic Press Association, including first place for Best Feature Article and Best Photo Story.

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Financial Report: January 1-December 31, 2019

The St. Francis Project: Continuing the Mission

Revenue: $4,715,615

spirit of harmony, joy, and simplicity. The call to rebuild

Envision a loving world that embraces the Franciscan the Church today is just as urgent as it was in the days of St. Francis and St. Clare.

Donations 525,259 • 11%

In 2020, leveraging technology, Franciscan Media seeks to nurture our online community, blessing people with the timeless message of the Franciscan tradition.

Programs 4,190,356 • 89%

Because the Franciscan tradition can heal the wounded and inspire us to be the body of Christ, we are enthusiastically launching “The St. Francis Project: Continuing the Mission.”

The Situation

Expenses: $4,724,056 Tax, Interest, Misc.

46,319 • 1% Operations 2,024,379 • 43% Program Delivery 1,948,410 • 41%

If St. Francis was here today, he might say, “Let us begin again, brothers, for up until now, we have done little or nothing.” This day, we must break through the noise and the polarization and rebuild the Church.

We have plans to make the hopeful message of St. Francis as accessible to watch, listen to, and read as it is to stream a video in your home or listen to a podcast in your car.

Outreach & Promo 704,948 • 15%

We are ready to take our mission to another level, but our current system cannot support the projected growth or host up-to-date formats. Serving the 200,000 contacts we have engaging with our current resources is daunting, and growth is inhibited.

We will build a centralized communication platform, which will provide our audience with a seamless digital experience that can support and nurture their faith journeys, as well as manage their online profiles for book purchases, magazine and e-newsletter subscriptions, and donations.

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The Plan

The Cost

Our plan is to execute a phased approach to migrate

System development costs for “The Francis Project” will

our current website content which is on a combination

be $1.3 million spread over the next 60 months. The

of 3 web platforms onto a new platform. Add function-

Beracha Fund, established by Dana Dunmyer to help

ality to allow us to deliver content in more interactive

small non-profits afford the technological systems to

ways. And move data that is currently sitting in multiple

support their mission, is offering a match program up to

databases into one centralized database. This would

$1 million. For every $1 Franciscan Media raises for this

enable us to:

project, they will match it by $4.33. Franciscan Media

• Improve the strength of our security system to maintain a safe environment • Expand our support to all Franciscan-sponsored ministries by providing one powerful communication platform • Build a system capable of supporting prayer commu-

needs to raise $300,000 to fund this project.

While “The St. Francis Project” is focused on increasing the reach and enhancing the user experience, the investment contributes to the long-term sustainability of our ministry as well. The upfront investment in this system reduces the dependence on multiple systems and reduces cost by $175,000 per year, recovering

nities, e-courses and virtual retreats in an interactive

Franciscan Media’s portion of the investment in under

way, using video, audio, reflective questions, and

18 months.

journaling • Increase Franciscan Media’s global reach with timely and relevant resources in ways that people will love to engage with them • Increase the standard engagement of 1.3 million people dramatically • Use data to help us make better business decisions.

• Significantly improve our search engine optimiza-

How You Can Assist We ask you, again, to envision a loving world that embraces the Franciscan spirit of harmony, joy, and simplicity. We have a partner that understands the necessity and value of making this investment in this ministry, at this time in history. With the help of invaluable, philanthropic partners who share our vision and passion to transform lives and the communities we serve, Franciscan Media can begin to rebuild the Church

tions and Google ratings by being on one platform,

in the 21st century. Please consider supporting “The

increasing our ability to rank in search results and

St. Francis Project: Continuing the Mission” and help

reach more people organically.

us reach more people with this healing spirituality. All givers of $1,000 or more will be enrolled as members of the San Damiano Society receiving periodic updates about the impact your gift is making. Join us in bringing St. Francis and his messages of love, forgiveness, inclusion, peacemaking, and care for creation to the world now and for generations to come.

For information about the society, matching gifts and planned giving contact Ray Taylor at (513) 241-5615, ext. 137 or email rtaylor@franciscanmedia.org.

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“In these modern times, I find delivering meditations by email, being very convenient.

I have a little one with special needs, there is hardly any time to myself; the online novenas keep me going! Let this reach & touch more people!” —Leena D., Burlington, Ontario, Canada “I want to help digitally spread the gospel, meditations, saints and prayers to people around the world, so that peace and comfort can come into their homes.” —Karen P., San Diego, California, United States “St. Francis and St. Clare are always a great inspiration.” —Mary G., Andover, Hampshire, England “I really enjoy reading the Saint of the Day on my Kindle Fire...thank you!” —Marilyn T., Greenville, South Carolina, United States “I deeply appreciate your ministry in my life.”

—Terry C., Forestville, New South Wales, Australia “I still hold great admiration and respect for St. Francis and his ideals. This donation is just my small token of thanksgiving, in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.” —Baron M., Gaborone, Botswana “Makes my day!” —Ramon P., Metro Manila, Phillipines “I enjoy all the emails, videos, books, and novenas, I receive from Franciscan Media and want to support your work. You are an inspiration. Thank You! God Bless you all.”

—Carol D., Orleans, Ontario, Canada “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” —Gordon K., Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia “I’m so grateful to Franciscan media for all its support and tools. It’s been indispensable for me and family during very difficult times.”

—Anna S., Commerce Township, Michigan, United States