Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – Catholic Charities of Buffalo announced Tuesday that Appeal 2024, in support of the organization and its Fund for the Faith, raised a total of $8,002,705 in cash and pledges, representing 84% of its $9.5 million goal. It was a drop of about $1.1 million from last year's fundraising efforts, and the lowest total fundraised in 30 years.
Appeal 2024 was launched in January, and concluded on June 30.
"I just want to say thank you to Western New York. Here we have 20,000 Western New Yorkers who have made contributions to us, to Catholic Charities, which will enable us to serve over 100,000 people like we did last year. I think that's a testament to the generosity of these people of Western New York, and we are grateful," said Deacon Steve Schumer, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Buffalo.
The annual Appeal helps fund more than 50 programs and services administered by Catholic Charities, along with several ministries through the Fund for the Faith. Deacon Schumer admits the Appeal has been up and down over the years, with the trend going down over the last few years.
"You go back about 10 years or more, everything was growing, growing, growing. Not so much now, things are actually heading the other way. So we rely quite a bit on on donors from the Catholic parishes, over 80% of our donations are directly attributable to people in the pews. And as people get older, move away and get sick, that number continues to decline," Deacon Schumer said with WBEN. "Along with that, the amount of money we're able to raise is declining. But the good news is there's still 20,000 people who donated $8 million, and that's going to enable us to continue our work. We're grateful for that."
Deacon Schumer knows Catholic Charities is not alone, as there are a number of other charities around Western New York and across the nation having difficulty with fundraising.
"You can point to the economy, it's just a difficult environment," Deacon Schumer said. "We have a reserve fund that we'll certainly tap to make sure we keep things going, and we'll make adjustments slowly as we move through this coming year and the years thereafter to make sure we can fit within our budget.
"It's difficult to put your finger on a specific reason why, but as my predecessor taught me, Sister Mary McCarrick, this is the Lord's project, and we're going to do the best we can with the resources he sends us. So we remain grateful, and we remain hopeful."
As the most comprehensive human services provider serving all eight counties of Western New York, Catholic Charities’ programs and services include behavioral health services, basic emergency assistance, food pantries, education and workforce training, family safety and stabilization programs, and immigration and refugee assistance.
The Fund for the Faith provides needed funding for programs that support the faith experience across all parish communities, including hospital chaplaincy, and training for ordained and lay ministers, among others.
While this year's fundraising did not come close to the goal of $9.5 million, Deacon Schumer does not anticipate any sort of layoffs or program cuts to result from this.
"We're going to continue to adjust slowly. I don't expect to be opening six new offices or really broadening services as much as we would like, although, honestly, the need continues to grow. We base the goal on the need in the community. The need is growing, the need is not shrinking," he said. "While it was an aspirational goal and we're disappointed we didn't get to $9.5 million, quite honestly, we could leverage $12 million to help our community, and the community really needs it. But we're going to do the best we can with what we have, so we're not going to shrink anything drastically. People aren't going to lose their jobs, we're not going to close offices, that sort of thing."
Catholic Charities’ full development efforts total $8,546,140, which includes the results of Appeal 2024 and $543,435 in bequests and donations directed to specific programs.
Donors can continue to support the work of Catholic Charities at ccwny.org/donate.