A Capital Campaign for St. Benedict Parish & Preparatory School

2

Dear sisters and brothers,

For more than 113 years, St. Benedict Parish and Preparatory

School has been serving the Catholics of the North Center

neighborhood. We are proud of our long history of service and are

blessed with a thriving parish and school today. As the

generations of parishioners and school families have made

investments that we enjoy today, it is our responsibility to continue

to maintain and invest in our campus for today and for future

generations.

Forward in Our Faith seeks to support maintenance and upgrades to our church and other

campus facilities; construct a two-story addition to the elementary and secondary school;

and accept our call to stewardship across our wider Catholic Church. This capital campaign

will allow us to preserve our historic campus for years to come. It will help us enhance and

strengthen the innovative Catholic education we provide to our students. Finally, it will let us

serve our fellow sisters and brothers outside of our parish and across Chicago.

Thank you in advance for your leadership and generosity to St. Benedict Parish &

Preparatory School. Your commitment to our community will have an incredible impact on

our many ministries. We appreciate your investments in St. Benedict.

Please know I am grateful for your continued support and faith. We are excited to share

more with you about Forward in Our Faith!

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Jason Malave,

Pastor

Rachel Gemo, CEO

Joseph Daprile and Patricia Flynn, Aileen Blake and Thomas Tansor, Campaign Co-Chairs

Joy and Larry Walton, Eugene and Karen Leone, Leadership Gifts Co-Chairs

Jeff and Amy Stern, Karen Cholipski, Major Gifts Co-Chairs

Mickey and Dana MacMillan, Stephen Polutnik and Rebekah Kohmescher, Advance Gifts

Co-Chairs

Marty and Linda Lunkes, John and Mary Mangan, Special Gifts Co-Chairs

THANK YOU!

3

ST. BENEDICT’S STORY St. Benedict Parish was founded in 1902 by a community of German immigrants seeking to

establish a Catholic school in their neighborhood. The growth and success of that effort were

outstanding: in less than 15 years, the number of parish families had multiplied nine times,

and a new church and school were soon built to accommodate the expanding parish and

school family. Over the years, the community came together time and time again to preserve

and grow our facilities and our ministries.

St. Benedict now serves over 2,800 parish families and educates nearly 1,000 students

from the North Center neighborhood and across the city of Chicago. Our pioneering

ancestors came together to realize the dream of a strong Catholic parish and school

community in this area. Now it is time for us to join together and renew our campus so that

we can continue to grow in faith.

OUR MASTER PLAN Last year, our leadership accepted the call of the

Archdiocese of Chicago to take part in the Parish

Transformation process. Through the reflection and

discussion of our Parish Transformation Committee, we

realized that we needed to take bold, ambitious, and faith-

filled steps forward to shape our church and school for the

future. This resulted in the development of our Master Plan,

which was created by a committee and was based on input

from focus groups and surveys. The Master Plan entails a

fifteen to twenty-five year roadmap of projects which will

enable both our parish and school to accommodate the

growth of their ministries and fully serve the needs of our

multigenerational community.

Among other projects, the Master Plan includes:

A new roof and tuck-pointing for our church in

advance of its 100th anniversary

A two-story addition connecting to our preschool through 12th grade preparatory

school to ensure an innovative Catholic education for our students

Centralized administrative space in our convent

A bold new Parish Center that will welcome the whole St. Benedict community

Gut rehab of our entire school to continue advancing our educational mission

THE PATH TO TODAY

4

PRESENT DAY CAMPUS

Since its founding, our parish and school have expanded to fill an entire city block. The

current campus presents a number of challenges to our many ministries.

The age of our church and adjacent facilities means that these buildings require extensive

maintenance in order to make them safe and comfortable places to gather.

Many of our spaces do not have the flexibility necessary to accommodate our wide variety of

activities.

Additionally, the growth of the parish and the school have put on a strain on our ability to

accommodate every group’s need for space on a regular basis.

The combined challenges of age and growth mean that our campus requires long-term

investments in order to meet our current needs and prepare for the future.

MASTER PLAN RENDERINGS

5

LONG-TERM CAMPUS MASTER PLAN

The Master Plan will transform our campus and allow us to address the needs our current

facilities cannot meet.

Necessary repairs and maintenance will preserve and strengthen our historic buildings well

into the future.

Expansion and renovations to the school will accommodate current and expected growth,

as well as afford our students an innovative, 21st century Catholic education.

A new parish hall and centralized administrative offices in the convent will allow us to offer

more space to our many ministries and will help us utilize existing buildings to their fullest

extent.

We are confident that the Master Plan will help us to reach our full potential as a community

throughout the years ahead.

6

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE The Master Plan represents a long-term vision that will have an even longer impact on our

parish and school community. In order to fully realize this vision, we will need to invest

upwards of $50 million over the next 15 to 25 years. Although we cannot do everything at

once, we recognize that we must start today to meet those needs that are the most urgent.

At the end of 2014, we conducted a study to help us prioritize some of these needs for the

next several years. The top priorities identified for the first phase were renovations to the

church and campus facilities and an addition to the school. We also value our stewardship

to the wider Catholic community.

We are confident that with the faith and stewardship of our community, we will soon embark

on a successful period of transformation at St. Benedict.

PHASE I PROJECTS The following Master Plan elements that were identified top priorities during the study. We

believe that these projects will establish a solid foundation for the future continuation of the

Master Plan, and will produce immediate benefits for our parish and school community.

Maintenance and upgrades to the church and campus

facilities

Our church will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2017.

The church is the heart of our community and, in advance

of this important celebration, we must ensure that it is the

best space possible for our worship and gathering.

Additionally, we need to repair and replace our parking lot

and playground, spaces shared by our students during

their recess time. Due to their age and the demands

placed on the church and adjacent structures, these

areas of maintenance must be addressed:

A new roof for the church

Complete tuck-pointing of the church

A resurfaced parking lot and landscaping

Upgrades to our playground

New windows and tuck-pointing on the Leavitt-facing side of the school

Tuck-pointing in the convent and boiler room upgrade

These important improvements will ensure that our church and other facilities are safe and

welcoming places for us to gather well into the future.

“A new roof and tuck-pointing are necessary to protect our house of prayer and help her

celebrate her 100th birthday in 2017!” - Fr. Jason Malave, Pastor

PRIORITY INVESTMENTS

7

Two-story addition to the elementary and secondary school

Our founders’ dream of a neighborhood Catholic school has been realized many times over:

St. Benedict serves nearly 1,000 preschool through 12th grade students, and it continues to

grow at every level. Our school attracts students from not just the North Center

neighborhood, but from all across Chicago. We are proud of the education we offer to our

diverse and expanding student population, and we strive to give even more opportunities to

each and every student. The facilities are nearly at their maximum capacity and we require

more room to accommodate our growing school.

St. Benedict seeks to provide an

innovative, inclusive, 21st century Catholic

education to all of its students. That kind

of education best thrives in spaces that

are flexible, open, and supportive of new

and advancing technologies. Such spaces

have the added benefit of enhancing the

experience of each child with a

personalized, individualized education.

Our current facilities require significant

updates and reconfiguration in order to

support these goals.

The first step in this process is building a two-story addition, uniting the two main school

buildings on the northern parameter. The addition will allow for a number of new spaces for

the campus:

A multipurpose and multigenerational campus learning center with

flexible spaces, new technological resources, and activity space available

to both parish and school ministries.

Three additional classrooms on the third floor of the addition. Four new

preschool classrooms will move into the current secondary library space.

All new classrooms will be modern spaces which will serve as a model for

21st century classrooms in the rest of the school. The addition will result in

a total of seven extra classrooms.

The new addition will create a quadrangle which encloses the presently

open space, and provides for a safe and secured northern parameter of

the school.

The relocation of four preschool classrooms and the addition will allow us

to accommodate the current increase in enrollment as well as help us provide more

innovative learning opportunities for our teachers and our students. Furthermore, the

addition prepares us for future gut rehabilitation of the school, which will require flexible

spaces for us to use during construction.

“The addition

is designed for

the education

of the future. It

will set us

apart from

other schools

and offer

unique

opportunities!”

-Ms. Rachel

Gemo, CEO

PRIORITY INVESTMENTS

8

Stewardship to Our Wider Church

The Archdiocese of Chicago has embarked on a $350 million capital

campaign called To Teach Who Christ Is. This campaign focuses on

Catholic education and faith formation efforts across all parishes and

schools in Cook and Lake Counties. Archbishop Cupich has called on

every parish to participate in this historic effort. As faithful members

of the Archdiocese, we accept this call to serve and support our

sisters and brothers across Chicago, and we are committed to raising

our contribution of $389,290.

We also deeply value our relationship with our sharing parish, Our Lady of the Snows. It is

our hope that we can share the success of our campaign with them and contribute $50,000

towards establishing their own educational endowment.

PRIORITY INVESTMENTS

“As a parish dedicated to

Catholic education, we are

honored to support these

efforts across the

Archdiocese and at our

sharing parish. We teach our

faith well here, and we are

blessed to be good

stewards.” – Fr. Jason

Malave, Pastor

9

FORWARD IN OUR FAITH In order to address the needs of Phase I of the Master Plan, we are embarking upon a

capital campaign called Forward in Our Faith. This campaign seeks to raise a minimum of

$4,500,000 in order to create a foundation for our priority projects. We have also set

ourselves a challenge goal of $6,200,000 to help us meet our needs and accelerate our

progress. Forward in Our Faith is an unprecedented and exciting campaign. We are

confident that with the participation of our entire St. Benedict family, we will achieve and

exceed our goals!

This campaign will engage every St. Benedict parish and school family in support of this

transformative effort. Maintenance and upgrades to the church and campus facilities will

allow us to preserve our historic campus. The addition to the school will accommodate

growth and strengthen the quality of education we offer to our students. Our contributions to

the Archdiocese and Our Lady of the Snows help us share with our larger Catholic

community. Through these investments, Forward in Our Faith will lay a foundation for the

rest of the Master Plan. This campaign will benefit every member of the St. Benedict family,

now and many years into the future.

Estimated Costs

MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADES TO THE CHURCH AND CAMPUS FACILITIES

New roof and tuck-pointing of the church $1,500,000

Resurfaced parking lot, upgraded playground, and landscaping $225,000

Convent tuck-pointing and boiler room upgrades $500,000

New windows and tuck-pointing for Leavitt side of school $560,000

$2,785,000

TWO-STORY ADDITION TO THE SCHOOL

Construction of the addition $2,500,000

Four preschool classrooms $250,000

$2,750,000

STEWARDSHIP TO OUR WIDER CHURCH

To Teach Who Christ Is Contribution $390,000

Sharing Parish Educational Endowment $50,000

$440,000

Campaign Planning and Administrative Costs $200,000

TOTAL ESTIMATED PHASE I COSTS: $6,175,000

OUR CAMPAIGN

10

LEADING THE WAY When St. Benedict was founded in 1902, those first parishioners made sacrifices in order to

fulfill their need for a Catholic parish and school community in this neighborhood. It is now

our turn to invest in and commit to the future of St. Ben’s, so that our community and those

it will welcome in the coming years will be able to enjoy a renewed worship space and a

quality Catholic education.

This campaign seeks the participation of our entire St. Benedict family. We know that in

order to be successful, we will need the support of many, not just a few. The following table

of gifts shows us how many gifts at each level we need families to consider in order to

achieve our challenge goal of $6,200,000 and meet our total need.

TABLE OF GIFTS

Tier Name Gift Tier Seraphim $500,000+

Cherubim $350,000-$500,000

Thrones $150,000-$350,000

Dominions $75,000-$150,000

Virtues $50,000-$75,000

Powers $25,000-$50,000

Principalities $10,000-$25,000

Archangels $5,000-$10,000

Angels <$5,000

Gift Level Number of

Prospects

Number of

Gifts Providing Cumulative

$500,000+ 3 1 $500,000 $500,000

$250,000+ 10 4 $1,000,000 $1,500,000

$100,000+ 13 8 $800,000 $2,300,000

$25,000+ 110 53 $1,325,000 $3,625,000

$10,000+ 385 120 $1,200,000 $4,825,000

$6,000+ 842 160 $960,000 $5,785,000

Below Many Many $415,000 $6,200,000

TOTAL ~ 2,800 ~ 840 $6,200,000

OUR CAMPAIGN

OUR CAMPAIGN

OUR CAMPAIGN

Gift Recognition

11

CALL TO STEWARDSHIP As members of the St. Benedict family, we will experience the impact of this campaign now

and long in to the future. We are also called to leave a legacy for those who will join our

community in the years to come.

The success of this campaign requires the participation of every parishioner. Therefore, we

invite you to prayerfully consider making a gift to the campaign. Your gift will help us

preserve our historic campus and make our church a safe and beautiful place to worship

together. It will allow us to offer an innovative Catholic education to our many students, and

help our school to stand out among others in the area. Finally, your gift supports the needs

of the Catholic Church across Chicago, especially in Catholic education and faith formation.

We thank you in advance for your generosity and stewardship, and for your role in making

Forward in Our Faith a transformative moment for our parish and school!

WAYS TO GIVE Check

GiveCentral: credit/debit card or electronic funds transfer (EFT)

Stock Transfer

You are welcome to decide the schedule on which you will receive reminders to make pledge

payments. Please remember that should your circumstances change, you will be allowed to

change your pledge at any time. If you prefer to give in a manner not listed above, please

contact the parish office.

Your gift will be listed in our Book of Stewards in the church. You may also make an

anonymous gift.

Sample Gift Plans

(Five Years)

Gift Amount Monthly Quarterly Semi-

Annually Annually

$50,000 $833 $2,500 $5,000 $10,000

$25,000 $416 $1,250 $2,500 $5,000

$15,000 $250 $750 $1,500 $3,000

$12,000 $200 $600 $1,200 $2,400

$9,000 $150 $450 $900 $1,800

INVITATION TO LEADERSHIP

INVITATION TO LEADERSHIP

YOUR INVOLVEMENT

12

2215 W. Irving Park Rd.

Chicago, IL 60618

(773) 588-6484