Spotlight on Christina Vandagriff, Director of Development
St. Augustine University Parish at University of Wisconsin, Platteville
St. Augustine University Parish at University of Wisconsin, Platteville
One of the best parts of being a recruiter is seeing the candidates that we place thrive in their new role. We caught up with the talented and humble Christina Vandagriff who is working as the Director of Development for St. Augustine University Parish, the Newman Center for the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, and couldn’t be more impressed with what she’s accomplished in just a little more a year!
MA: You were hired to work on a capital campaign for the St. Augustine University Parish with an ambitious goal of $12M - what kind of progress have you been able to make towards that goal over the last 18 months?
CV: I began working during phase 3 of this decade-long capital campaign to build a new chapel and student center and in the last 18 months since I’ve been there, we’ve raised almost $7.7M! The focus has been primarily major gifts, and we’ve started using some more innovative approaches, like bold matching gifts opportunities.
Fr. John Del Priore (the Parish’s director) is very ambitious, so in Q4 of 2021 we set a goal of raising $3M with the opportunity to secure a matching commitment of an additional $300K. We were thrilled to meet that goal, especially because it was towards the end of the pandemic! There were people who we didn’t think would give really surprise us with their generosity.
MA: That is incredible - congratulations! Has the money been put to work yet?
CV: Not yet! The funds raised are earmarked solely for the capital improvements of building a new chapel and student center. We’re hoping to break ground this year!
MA: What are some glory-stories happening within the mission of the University Parish?
CV: Absolutely! The problem that we’re trying to solve is that 87% of Catholic young adults leave the church by the age of 23—they’re leaving in college—when things get hard, when they’re out on their own. And of that group, 80% say they’ve left because the Catholic Church wasn’t meeting their spiritual needs. We think that we’ve found the formula to meet those needs, to keep students in the church, and to bring new students into the faith.
Some great stats to share - of the 7,500 students on campus:
This year we have 12 students in RCIA
Over the last decade there have been 20 seminarians come from our organization
38 students just attended the FOCUS SEEK conference in FL
40 students going on a mission trip to Ecuador over their spring break
Part of the formula for success that I mentioned is the social aspect of our outreach. Of course we host lots of lunches and dinners, but we also have an incredible sports league as well. In fact, during the activity fair at the beginning of the year, one student who is involved in our soccer league volunteered to staff the table and stood there engaging all the new students talking about how outstanding our organization is. Funny enough—he’s a self proclaimed atheist, but comes to all our events, wears our t-shirts, everything! These are the stories that are so exciting to be a part of and why we do what we do.
MA: We love hearing about the fruit of the ministry—that’s phenomenal. So tell us, what did it take to raise $7.7M in 18 months?
CV: Since my background is in capital campaign consulting, I was able to bring a lot of structure and standardization to the approaches that the Parish Center has taken over the last several years.
For example, there are pledges from phase two of the campaign that have been outstanding since 2018 and 2019. So I created a process for us where we generate and mail pledge letters to remind people where they are on their pledge and encourage them to start making payments. This has generated a significant increase in cash flow, so much so that we’re actually able to begin work on the construction projects. We’ve also standardized the materials that we put together to present to donors, so we can have more formulaic plans and asks.
Another new thing I’ve worked on are small group events. Historically they’ve had larger receptions and events on an annual basis, but in addition to that, we’ve begun inviting our top supporters and most enthusiastic supporters to get involved by hosting small group events with their connections—who they think would be interested in our mission and ministry. Those have been very fruitful for us in terms of making connections with new potential supporters as well as generating income for the project.
MA: Over the next year or so, what’s something you’re hoping to accomplish?
CV: Breaking ground! Finalizing designs, finalizing costs, and then putting that first shovel into the ground! We will certainly have ongoing needs for the project, but we’re wrapping up the official fundraising for the construction.
MA: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today! We’ve loved hearing about your success in this new role and look forward to seeing the new buildings!
Visit the St. Augustine University Parish website here to learn more about their ministry.