What's next for CAA?

by Jared Roddy, Editor

Spring is a time of change. The snows melt, the streams and rivers swell, the earth eases out a sigh of moist organic smells and the sky is once again filled with the song of birds. Out from their shuttered homes troop the stoic Upper-Midwesterners to sunny, 40-degree weather and declare winter officially over as snowbirds return from their winter escapes.

Like those that came before it for untold years, the spring of 2010 will tempt out the winter-weary, drop a few more inches of unwelcome snow, then bloom into the season of green. Unlike those of years past, Catholic Aid is in for some changes as well.

Nothing remains static, true of nature and the nature of business. Change keeps things fresh, allows an organization to adapt, and prevents the stagnation of ideas. So at a spry 132 years old, what’s new for Catholic Aid in this coming year?

Making It Count
The social and service aspects of a fraternal society are part of what makes our Association so different from commercial insurers.

In 2010, Catholic Aid will test a pilot-program seeking to involve more people in larger, region-wide celebrations and service projects. It is the hope of the company to organize festive gatherings this summer and fall, while in some way improving the lives of Catholics and the communities in which they live.

A change announced at last year’s Convention was the plan for a shorter, one-day business meeting in August this year. With the money saved by shortening the main convention, Catholic Aid hopes to throw two or three member celebrations across its territory. The focus of these will not be the business of the Association, but the business of fraternalism.

The idea at this stage is to offer members and non-members the opportunity to take part in a volunteer activity that would directly improve the community in which it takes place.

“As far as we know, this will be a first for Catholic Aid,” Fraternal Director Kathleen Moriarty says. “Organizing a community event, leveraging our membership base to improve a community, offering a chance to give back – we like to think that our Council events do all these things, but we’ve never done it on such a large scale.”

In 2011, there will be time to reflect on the success of this year’s member celebrations, which will likely offer a community picnic, children’s activities and service opportunities, capped off by an outdoor Saturday evening Mass. The goals of the program are to increase the visibility of Catholic Aid in the communities and Dioceses it operates in, to improve the community itself, to increase awareness of the company and its products, and ultimately, to increase membership rolls. These events are meant to involve members and non-members, and we hope to have a large turnout.

Participants will have the opportunity to do a good work, meet new people, and see the power of an organized Fraternal in action. For kids and youth, it’s another way to improve college applications and instill a culture of service; for adults and seniors, it’s a way to give back to the community and work together.

For everyone, it’s a chance to spend a nice day outdoors with family and friends. Though no firm dates have been established, a trial run is hoped to be offered in early summer, with another one or two in the early fall.

Once again, the name game
For most members and employees of the Catholic Aid Association, however, no change will be more monumental than the one the delegates will consider at the official one-day convention in August.

Like a debate in Washington, this issue has been polarizing at times. One goal throughout the process, aided by this publication, has been transparency and due process. President Michael McGovern explains what has gone into this process so far:

“By last summer’s convention, we had committed to the name update enough to end our gathering with a video that explained why. After the convention, the real work began. We compiled names, sifted them against our criteria, checked whether they were legally available, commissioned a survey of members and non-members and compiled the results. There has been a clear winner, in all our surveys. And on Thursday, March 11, the Board voted to accept this name. The very next day, the Constitution Committee approved the name and declared the path clear for a vote at the convention. We’ll continue to accept feedback and hope to engage our members more than ever over the next few months to further understanding of why this name update is important to our organization.”

Before the Board vote, however, Lead Director Fran Barten spoke to her fellow board members and helped to crystallize exactly why she believes the update was necessary. “This is about our future, and our future members. If you Google ‘Catholic’ and ‘financial,’ we don’t even show up. Yet this is exactly what we do as an organization. We have to be able to be found by the current generation. They don’t look in the yellow pages, they don’t make the connection between ‘aid’ and ‘financial’ except in terms of college loans. Catholic is who we are. United is what we are. Financial is what we do. This name update is about our future, not our past. For those who, like myself, grew up with Catholic Aid, we have to remember that the most important element of our name, ‘Catholic,’ still comes first. It influences every decision we make, and so, like Catholic Aid, Catholic United Financial is Catholic first.”
The more things change

A yea or nay vote in August by the elected delegates of the Catholic Aid Association will determine what name the Association takes in the future. That control of this great Association is one thing that has not and will not change. We may try different ways of involving our members, or of holding our annual meetings, we may even change what we call ourselves. But none of those things changes who we are or what we do. And as always, the final decisions will rest in the hands of the members.

Originally published in the March/April 2010 issue of Catholic Aid Journey, the official magazine of Catholic Aid Association.

The Director’s View - Kathleen Moriarty’s Column

From the November/December Issue of the Fraternal Dispatch. Written by Kathleen Moriarty.

Delegates to the CAA Convention last August had the opportunity to view CAA’s newest video, “What’s in a Name?” The video includes interviews with a variety of people close to CAA and is now available on DVD to councils through the Fraternal Department or your Field Representative.

It is encouraged for members to discuss the updating of the CAA name with your councils. Catholic Aid's goal is to present a proposed name for approval by two-thirds majority of delegates at Annual Convention in August 2010.

Here are some key points and a time line for the process ahead as our Board of Directors, management and members move forward with name selection in 2010.

**An updated name places us in a position of strength against stiff competition from commercial and mutual companies.

**We need to eliminate the name confusion with similar organizations. In a recent survey of non-member Catholics, exactly 70 percent thought CAA was a charitable organization or a disaster relief group.

**Our name must describe who we are and what we do. It must have “Catholic” in the name, and must reflect that we are a financial services organization.

What are our next steps? Catholic Aid is gathering name suggestions from members and non-members through Jan. 1, 2010. Send your ideas to President Mike McGovern or to Kathleen Moriarty. Name options will be discussed at the Board and Constitution Committee meetings during the first quarter of 2010. We will continue to publish updates on this process via video, CAA Journey magazine, Fraternal Dispatch newsletter and at council events.

Kathleen welcomes your thoughts on this important issue. Feel free to call or send an email. Our member's support is essential to this process.

What's In a Name? :: Catholic Aid Association

What’s in a name? For many established members, the Catholic Aid Association stands for tradition and strong Catholic values.

This is the story of our company taking the next step forward to update its image and name to remain relevant for the next 100 years. But in order to move forward with strength and conviction, we must look to our fraternal history to guide our decisions for the next generation.

As Catholic Aid Association embarks on taking the next step forward, we first talked with F.L. “Flip” Spanier, retired past president and CEO of Catholic Aid, to give us an historical perspective on how the organization started and how it evolved.

“When you go back to the 1850s to 1914, that span of time saw the largest influx of European immigrants ever, and they were recently arrived foreigners in this country. They tried to then buy insurance from the commercial companies in this country and they were not able to because they couldn’t speak the language. And so they got the notion that, gee, let’s start our own organization. Then what they did is they formed in 1878…the German Catholic Aid Association of Minnesota...that then evolved into what later on became our organization ever since.”

Is it time to take the next step forward and update our name? It’s clear we have been down this road before and each time we’ve responded. We asked people from presidents and CEOs, to average Catholics on the street, what they thought of Catholic Aid’s name and the possibility of a name update. The message is clear. Together we have an opportunity to ensure the growth and vitality of our organization for the next generation of members.

Joe Schirmers, past Board Member, St. Augusta Council, St. Cloud, Minn.
“Young people are now online with doing different things so it’s hard to get the young people to get involved…There’s a gap there. You’ve always got to change to invite the young people to come in. You’re not going to be there forever. They’ll have to take over.”

Michael McGovern, President and Chairman of CAA
“We aren’t necessarily looking at a total name change. We’re looking at an update, really. The issue becomes that we need to be more descriptive not for our members but for people who would want to join Catholic Aid...Many of the fraternals today are shrinking in membership size. We’re not growing, but we’re not shrinking either. We’re staying about the same size all the time.”

Joseph Annotti, President and CEO, National Fraternal Congress of America
“That’s really up to the individual fraternals whether they are going to be relevant or not. I think there might be 90 total fraternal benefits societies in the United States. The other 25 that are not members of NFCA are extremely small, on their last legs as far as I can tell... The fraternal system could stick around for another 50 years on its own. If it’s going to stick around for another 100 years, we’ve got to figure out ways to grow... We’ve got to be out there in those arenas or we’re going to miss attracting the next generation of members. And if you don’t get the next generation in, you can write the end of the closing chapters of that book.”

Dr. Diane Hinds, professional researcher, Employers Association, Inc. speaks on a study of 2,400 non-member Catholics in Minnesota who were asked what they thought of CAA’s name.
“They told us some interesting things. They mentioned that Catholic Aid Association was a word or phrase that they had heard, but only about 10 percent of the entire group were able to accurately describe what it was. More than 50 percent thought that is was a charitable organization.

“What this says is that a large percentage of people that you would be marketing to when they first hear the term Catholic Aid are going to assume that you are a charitable organization and are not going to understand that you have insurance products....you’re going to have to educate them. You’re going to have to take an additional step to educate them as to what the organization is all about.”

Peter Ryan, FIC, Catholic Aid Field Representative for seven years
“If [our purpose] is part of our name, it’s a lot less to explain, a lot less to go over. From my perspective people would see it in our name and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t know Catholic Aid did that.’ My opinion would be that we need to have something added or changed in our name to make it crystal clear.”

Kathleen Moriarty, Director of Fraternal, CAA
“I think Catholic Aid like any business organization has to change and adapt to reflect the different audiences and the lifestyles of our members...We’re very conscious that young people today have access to many, many different activities beyond Catholic Aid. In order for Catholic Aid to be something that makes it onto their list, it has to be something that will include their friends, and fit well into their schedule and be meaningful to them.”

How about you? What do you think of a name update? This is your time, your company and your future. Please let us know your opinion on the name update process. Call 651-765-6555 or email news@catholicaid.org.