Case Study: Catholic Diocese of Allentown secures $175K+ in offertory and enables online giving for 30 parishes with Blackbaud

Dioceses Look to Online Giving to Support Parishes During Pandemic

During COVID-19 parish closures, dioceses including Allentown, Oakland, and Helena needed a fast way to keep offertory giving flowing. Blackbaud, a cloud software provider for nonprofits and faith organizations, worked with diocesan stewardship teams to rapidly create universal and parish-specific online giving portals so donors could continue supporting their local parishes.

By deploying Blackbaud Merchant Services with Raiser’s Edge NXT and Online Express, dioceses onboarded new parishes quickly (30 in Allentown) and drove immediate donations—Allentown received 600+ gifts in the first week and over $175,000 in under a month, Oakland saw a 35% spike from Palm Sunday to Easter and raised $214,000 by summer, and Helena used 4,000 captured emails to boost engagement. The half-day setups, competitive fees, and coordinated support delivered fast revenue recovery and strong donor response.

Catholic Diocese of Allentown

Michele Mullikin

Director of Stewardship and Annual Giving