Kerry A. Robinson is Executive Director of the National Leadership Roundtable.
Kerry A. Robinson wrote “Chapter 8: Fundraising” for A Pastor’s Toolbox. Her chapter describes how she overcame her own reluctance about raising money by seeing fundraising as a ministry. “Donors are not objects from which we try to extract as much money as quickly as possible,” she writes, “but subjects who . . . are looking for something meaningful to do with their lives” (87).
Instead of using professional fundraisers, she urges pastors to find a parishioner who is committed to the parish and who can articulate the need for financial support with enthusiasm and faith.
Her chapter reads like a talk, given to pastors, that has not been thoroughly edited for publication. For example, she addresses her readers as if they were “like all of us here” and she refers to the colleagues of her audience members as “your brother priests.” That being said, the chapter is passionate about the mission of the church and its need for financial support.