By Allison Di Gennaro
Celebrated annually on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, #iGiveCatholic is the U.S. Catholic Church’s giving day that kicks off the charitable season and brings the Catholic community together to give thanks and give back.
As the first-ever giving day created to recognize the unique Catholic heritage, #iGiveCatholic inspires faithful stewards to “Give Catholic” on #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving. #iGiveCatholic is a bishop-led initiative in partnership with lay leaders in Catholic philanthropy.
Declared “the most successful Catholic crowdfunding event to date” by the National Catholic Register, the goal of the #iGiveCatholic Giving Day is to rally the Catholic community in support of the organizations that shape the souls: parishes, schools, and nonprofit ministries.
The Diocese of Knoxville has hosted the #iGiveCatholic giving day since 2017. Over the last six years, participating parishes, schools, and Catholic ministries across East Tennessee have collectively raised $480,000 in support of projects and services that support the local community.
The Diocese of Knoxville results for #iGiveCatholic 2022 include (visit knoxville.igivecatholic.org for complete results):
- $114,277 in total dollars raised;
- 486 donors participated;
- 551 gifts given;
- 14 Catholic ministries in East Tennessee supported.
The 2022 giving day exceeded expectations with more donors giving than any other year since 2017 and the highest number of gifts given since 2017.
Across the entire nation, two Diocese of Knoxville schools were on the top 100 leaderboard for the 2022 #iGiveCatholic giving day.
On the top 100 leaderboard in dollars raised, St. Joseph School in Knoxville ranked No. 80 with $44,230 raised.
On the top 100 leaderboard in donors, St. Joseph ranked No. 52 with 137, and St. Jude School in Chattanooga ranked No. 90 with 102 donors.
A complete listing of the #iGiveCatholic leaderboards for the Diocese of Knoxville can be found at https://knoxvilleigivecatholic.org/leaderboards.
Donations to support East Tennessee ministries were received from several states, including Tennessee, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia.
Because of support from Catholic Extension, the Diocese of Knoxville was able to give out $2,000 in prizes to participating ministries. Prize winners include St. Dominic Church in Kingsport, Immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville, St. Jude School in Chattanooga, and Catholic Charities of East Tennessee.
Prizes were randomly selected and posted on diocesan social media to generate excitement and support for the giving day.
