Forty parishes and schools within the Archdiocese of Louisville are set to participate in the annual #iGiveCatholic day of giving on December 2. The event is intended to help these organizations fund a variety of projects that address both spiritual and material needs.

Among the participating organizations, St. James School plans to raise money for bus services for students from West Louisville. The Shrine of St. Martin, which has been a leading fundraiser in previous years, seeks additional support for its sacred music program. St. Charles Church in St. Mary, Kentucky, aims to repair its bell tower’s electronic tolling system.

Molly Keene Smith, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Mission Advancement, expressed optimism about this year’s campaign based on past results. “I really think we’re going to knock this out of the park this year,” she said.

“This will be our third year participating,” she noted. “The first year, we had 31 participating organizations and we raised $220,000. Year two, we had the same number of organizations (though some were different), and we raised double” — $475,000.

Keene Smith encouraged participants to reach out widely for support: “Push it out to supporters who live across the country — people who grew up at your parish, alumni of your school,” she said. “Push it out to everyone you know. I’m very passionate about this because I have seen great success, and I know it will build and grow here.”

Online donations open on November 17, with real-time updates available on a leaderboard at www.igivecatholic.org/community/louisville.

Although registration for organizations closed on November 1, Keene Smith urged more parishes and schools to consider joining in future years.

Participants are asked to select projects that are visible needs but not covered by existing budgets. “Pick a project that needs to be done — everyone can see the need, and it’s not in the budget,” she said. “Everyone can raise money to get that thing done. All of our parishes and schools have these needs.”

She added that project funding goals vary widely from a few thousand dollars for smaller efforts to tens of thousands for larger ones.

Regardless of project size or scope, Keene Smith emphasized consistency: “You have to stay with it year after year so people come to expect it,” she said. “We’ve got to build awareness.”