Photo Courtesy of St. Andrew Church

ATLANTA—Dozens of parishes, school and ministries in the Archdiocese of Atlanta will benefit from this year’s #iGiveCatholic campaign, set for Tuesday, Nov. 29. 

The 24-hour online appeal on Giving Tuesday enables the faithful to support needs and projects within the archdiocese. The Catholic Foundation of North Georgia coordinates the annual campaign locally. 

“#iGiveCatholic is a wonderful opportunity to support your favorite organizations—parishes, schools, ministries, and nonprofits—in a fun, gamified way,” said Angela O’Donoghue, communications manager for the foundation. “I hope everyone will check out the different projects and needs across northern Georgia that support our faith community.” 

As of Oct. 20, 64 organizations are registered to participate. The registration deadline for groups wanting to raise funds is Wednesday, Nov. 2. 

Donoghue said the current breakdown of registrants is 25 parishes, 19 schools and 20 nonprofits or ministries. 

Last year, the top fundraisers in dollars were St. Pius X High School, Atlanta, with $135,323 raised, and Queen of Angels School, Roswell, which collected $93,961. 

Organizations with the highest number of donors were the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, which had 379 donors giving $52,152, and St. Lawrence Church, Lawrenceville, which raised $50,031 from 303 contributors.  

St. Andrew Church in Roswell will again take part in this year’s giving day. Last year, the parish situated on the Chattahoochee River raised funds for construction of a bridge destroyed by floodwaters. 

“It was all funded through iGiveCatholic,” said St. Andrew Church’s lay parish administrator, Jim Dooley. 

The donation campaign netted more than $26,100 through 116 donors, mostly parishioners. An anonymous last-minute donor helped the church reach its project goal. 

“This was a great facilitation,” Dooley said of the #iGiveCatholic platform. 

The Roswell parish site is flood prone, and what the bridge does is connect parishioners to the portion of the property where the outdoor Stations of the Cross are located. It’s an extension of the community’s worship space. 

The rowing clubs of Georgia Tech and St. Andrew also use the bridge to access the river for practice times. 

This bridge on the property of St. Andrew Church, Rowell, was destroyed by flooding. The church replaced the bridge through last year’s #iGiveCatholic campaign. Photo Courtesy of St. Andrew Church

The river is a blessing, but also presents challenges, said Dooley, calling the Chattahoochee a “powerful force of nature.” 

The #iGiveCatholic platform made it easy to interface with donors, check on progress and get data, he said. It’s a “proverbial thermometer” of how a campaign is doing. 

The Catholic Foundation assists participants with promotion via social media graphics and other resources. 

“We did a little bit of everything,” said Jocelyn Chacon-Lopez, director of parish life and communications for St. Andrew, about promoting the fundraising. To publicize the campaign, Chacon-Lopez said they used social media platforms, bulletin announcements and signs. 

Upon raising the money and finding contractors, the bridge replacement project took two weeks from start to finish, and added stronger footings for future protection. 

Dooley said the reaction among parishioners was very favorable. 

“One of the benefits was that it was such a visible project,” he said. Prior to the bridge project, the parish had undertaken preschool playground updates through #iGiveCatholic. This year, they hope to use the fundraising endeavor to refurbish the church’s pipe organ. 

St. Andrew has some 1,500 registered families, and recently welcomed a new pastor, Father Juan Anzora. 

While the actual giving day is Nov. 29, early giving will begin on Monday, Nov. 14. To find the Georgia groups participating, visit www.igivecatholic.org and click on the state of Georgia or click on participating partners in the dropdown menu when the early giving period begins.