Fundraiser Activity
Guide F-03, Christmas Card Sales
Summary & Scope
The Council’s tradition of providing Catholic-themed Christmas greeting cards for St. Gregory The Great Parishioners has supported our commitment to evangelization through the message of keeping Christ in Christmas. This project requires a Chairman and volunteers to help with the sale (asking for a donation) at all Masses for three consecutive weekends.
Planning/Timeline
Christmas Cards are made available to Parishioners for 3 weekends between mid-October and mid-November, sequentially if possible. Permission from the Parish office for these dates is REQUIRED IN ADVANCE. Contact the Parish office early in the Fraternal Year to lock in the dates. Plan to order the cards by mid-September, as they are sometimes sold out by mid-October.
Bulletin and pulpit announcements are essential to a successful campaign. Samples of these are included later in this Guide.
Suppliers
Historically, there was a supplier who provided Christmas Cards to State Council, allowing all the Councils to order from the State Council. Several years ago, this small business closed, so State Council may/may not have Cards for us to order. However, when they have been available, they were not found to be of very good quality. Since 2022, we have been ordering from Greetings of Faith, located in Mineola, NY. Our contact has been Neena (or Nina), who is available by phone at (516)447-6987. All information regarding the cards is also available on their website – greetingsoffaith.com. The cards they provide are made in Italy and are purely Catholic in nature and of superior quality. Organizations like us can buy them for ½ of the published retail price. Our Council has an established account with them under the name of PGK Steven Loehlein. The Chairman may research other potential suppliers, however the cards from Greetings of Faith have been quite popular.
The initial contact with the supplier should occur sometime in August or early September. If there are supply chain challenges for the supplier, you will have time to seek alternatives. Based on the supplier’s inventory status, ensure purchase is made before the supplier’s stocks run out. In recent years, we have taken delivery in September. Often, the most popular designs are unavailable by mid-October.
Resources Needed
The Chairman will need assistance on all days when the Cards will be available. At least two volunteers will be needed (3 or 4 preferred) at each location for each Mass. Ask the Grand Knight to appeal to the membership for assistance and encourage the use of the volunteer website so that the Chairman will have insight regarding how many volunteers are available for each Mass.
- SGG – Front of church (two minimum)
- SGG – Side entrance near Chapel (if additional volunteers are available)
- JPII – Mass in gym at 11:00 Sunday (can be staffed by just one if necessary)
Operational Activities
Preparations
Deciding how much to order – Records have been kept for recent years regarding how many cards of several styles have been purchased and sold (officially considered donations). In recent years, the Council has purchased about 300 boxes of cards (12 to 15 cards per box) If a Chairman can use EXCEL, he may obtain an electronic version of the file from the past Chairman, PGK Steven Loehlein. The electronic file contains data for all the years since 2015.
Promoting
Early in the year, the Chairman or GK should arrange with the Parish office to schedule the sale of Christmas cards during three consecutive weekends in the Fall of the year (generally second half of October/early November).
Three weeks prior to the start of the campaign, provide the Parish office Communications Director (currently Maureen Williams) to provide bulletin announcements in advance. Below are the weekly announcements made for the year 2024:
Put in October 12/13 Bulletin
KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS
The Knights of Columbus will be offering Catholic Christmas Cards after Mass on the weekends of October 19/20, October 26/27 and November 2/3. These are high-quality Italian made embossed cards. We are requesting a $15 donation for Solid Boxes of 15 cards/16 envelopes, and a $12 donation for Assortment Boxes of 12 cards/envelopes (4 designs). This is a great evangelization opportunity and proceeds contribute to local needy causes. Please select yours early as they were gone in less than 3 weeks in 2023.
Put in October 19/20 Bulletin
KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS
The Knights of Columbus will be offering Catholic Christmas Cards after Mass on the weekends of October 26/27 and November 2/3. These are high-quality Italian made embossed cards. We are requesting a $15 donation for Solid Boxes of 15 cards/16 envelopes, and a $12 donation for Assortment Boxes of 12 cards/envelopes (4 designs). This is a great evangelization opportunity and proceeds contribute to local needy causes. Please select yours early as they were gone quickly in 2023.
Put in October 27/28 Bulletin
KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS
The Knights of Columbus will be offering Catholic Christmas Cards after Mass next weekend November 2/3. These are high-quality Italian made embossed cards. We are requesting a $15 donation for Solid Boxes of 15 cards/16 envelopes, and a $12 donation for Assortment Boxes of 12 cards/envelopes (4 designs). This is a great evangelization opportunity and proceeds contribute to local needy causes. These will be available only as long as supplies last.
Execution
The cards are brought to the church on Saturday afternoon in time to set up prior to the 4:00 PM Mass. If cards will be sold at JPII or other sites, the Chairman must arrange to supply a volunteer with the cards, seed money and cash for change.
A money box is needed for each location, along with ample change, depending on the asking donation of each box of cards. Beginning in 2025, we will be accepting credit cards, in addition to cash and checks (payable to Knights Of Columbus Council #12263). Each volunteer time slot will need at least one Knight who has been trained to run the electronic payment system. Otherwise, only cash and checks can be accepted.
At the end of each Mass, the cash, checks and other financial items are placed in the cash box and stored in the cabinet in the Ushers closet from which it was obtained, which is to the right as you enter the church building from the portico. Unsold cards are stored overnight under the benches on each side of the Narthex. After the last Mass of the weekend, the cards are taken from the church to be stored until the following weekend.
After each weekend, the Chairman performs an inventory to determine if additional cards should be ordered (assuming they are available). If the inventory appears out of order in any respect, report this to the GK and FS immediately. All moneys shall be turned over to the Financial Secretary as he directs.
Resources
- PDF of this page – PDF