The Art of Joyful Giving

In this episode of Twelve Wicker Baskets, host Christopher Beaudet welcomes Audrey Kintzi, vice president emerita for advancement and executive director of the M.A. in Philanthropy and Development program at St. Mary's University of Minnesota. The conversation explores the art and spirituality of fundraising, emphasizing that true development work is rooted in relationship, shared values and the joy of giving. Audrey Kintzi shares her journey from drama major to fundraising expert, recounting formative experiences and lessons from her mentor, Hank Rosso, who taught that “Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching people the joy of giving.” The episode delves into how philanthropy, especially in faith-based settings, is not about transactional requests but about inviting others into meaningful engagement with a mission. She advocates for replacing the word “fundraising” with “invitation,” explaining, “We are inviting people into our organization... and ultimately, we invite them to prayerfully consider a gift.” Closing with reflections on the joy and blessing of giving, and the transformative impact of nurturing relationships and shared purpose in philanthropy, this is an episode you wont want to miss!

Guest: Audrey Kintzi

Title: Vice President, Emerita for Advancement and Executive Director of the M.A. in Philanthropy and Development Program, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota 

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Transcript

Living as who we are—starting so that our faith isn't outside of who we are as practitioners. Our faith is always with us and is always there. That's part of it, so we're not being somebody other than who we genuinely are. Then it's not a surprise to the benefactor; it isn't something artificial.

For some benefactors, the interaction moves them. I've had people say, “I was really touched that you started with prayer. That was lovely. I've never had that experience before.” And I respond, “I want you to know how blessed we feel to be a part of your lives. This is a blessing to spend this time with you.” And they say, “Thank you.”

You're really revealing Christ in the work that you do. Again, all of my work is made possible through God's love for each one of us and for each other. That's the mindset I invite everyone on my team to have.

And you know, I have people who get frustrated because I start every staff meeting with a prayer, and they're like, “Oh, this woman…” I'm like, “You know what? I am who I am.”

For people who are not deeply religious—and again, not everybody at Saint Mary's is Catholic, not everybody at Saint Mary's is religious—I get it. But while you're here, while you're in this space, I want to bring you along in the way that I think will be of greatest benefit to Saint Mary's University and to our benefactors and to our shared work.

Because ultimately, all of our work is for the glory of God. Everything we do at Saint Mary's is to bring Catholic education to more people.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of bringing Catholic education to more people, speak, if you would, to the Catholic elementary schools in the last few minutes we have. I'm asking because, you know, with the Steier Group, we do capital campaigns—and of course that comes at a cost for all the resources we bring to bear.

Catholic universities might have their own development staff. A Catholic high school may have some development infrastructure and operations, but they have a budget and wherewithal—and a goal big enough to hire counsel, etc. They also have an alumni network, which is often a large source of potential benefactors.

But the Catholic elementary school—the parochial school—you could argue, perhaps, is the most important Catholic education someone could receive, certainly foundational. But often these schools are strapped for cash, running deficit budgets, looking to pay their teachers better—all these very granular financial struggles that can interfere with mission.

I know you're doing some work with coaching, development, and helping Catholic elementary schools. Can you share with listeners some of your work and the lessons in coaching that you're providing?

Audrey Kintzi

Yes, and I would love to. First, I just want to tell you that this whole thing happened because one of my Saint Thomas students reached out to me when she learned I was in this academic role. I had moved out of the vice presidency because of a cancer diagnosis. So, you know, all things being equal, I would still be vice president at Saint Mary's. But I moved out of that role for health reasons, and I was really trying to discern God's message. I thought, “OK, I survived cancer to not get to do my job? That doesn't seem right.”

Then we get this call from this woman—one of my former students. She said, “Audrey, I want to talk to you about something. I've got this idea, and I want you to do what you did for me at Saint Thomas, but I want you to do it for our Catholic schools.”

Christopher Beaudet

Hmm.

Audrey Kintzi

She asked, “Would you have lunch with me and this gentleman from an organization in Minnesota called the Catholic School Center of Excellence?”—shortened as CSCOE.

So I met with this man, her, and myself, and we imagined what we could do for Catholic schools. How could we teach Catholic schools to raise money so they wouldn't close, so they wouldn't face the hardships they were facing?

These are grade schools—just to be clear—K through 5, some with junior high, some K through 8. Typical variations. It's all the elementary schools in the state of Minnesota, and we have taught about 35 of them so far. This is our third year: Cohort 1 first year, Cohort 2 second year, Cohort 3 and 4 this year.

We did a Twin Cities-based program and one in the Crookston Diocese, which is in northern Minnesota. We're going back to best practices. We use The Spirituality of Fundraising. We're teaching them the mechanics.

What we ask of every school is that the principal, the pastor, and somebody else who can support development attend—sometimes that's the enrollment person, the marketing person, the business administrator. We've had every configuration you can imagine.

They come to class—eight-hour days, five sessions—and then we do almost six months of biweekly coaching, where we're actually helping them implement the plan they wrote during the course. The whole idea is writing a development plan, doing best practices, getting out of just special events, doing direct mail, doing an annual fund that works for them.

These are significant pieces—kind of heavy-lift stuff. But I will tell you that for the schools we have data for thus far, they have increased giving by $2 million collectively—$2 million above what they would have raised prior to the program. That's a pretty significant increase, right? But we know we can do even more, and we just continue.

We're actually now talking about a 2.0 version to teach them more about major gifts because we just barely touched the tip of the iceberg. We do some role-playing, we do major gifts, but in one eight-hour day, you can't teach everything about major gifts.

This program has been so life-giving for our schools.

Christopher Beaudet

Are these eight-hour days virtual, or are they in person?

Audrey Kintzi

In person. Now, with Crookston, we did one of the sessions virtually—we broke it into two four-hour days—and it worked really well, just because Crookston is five hours from the Twin Cities. There's a major commitment to getting up to Crookston.

For Crookston, we did two days back-to-back, then two virtual sessions, then two more eight-hour days in person. The Twin Cities-based program is all on-site.

I will tell you, schools drove two hours. We had people coming from Winona, people coming from Mankato—that's about an hour and a half—Sleepy Eye, all over, to come to the Twin Cities to be in this program. It's extraordinary. It's such a blessing.

And again, part of the magic is that a benefactor is paying for this. It's provided at no cost to any of these schools. The only cost is travel—we don't cover their gas or mileage—but we cover the books, the training, the food. We feed them breakfast, we feed them lunch. We begin with prayer. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

And we're getting ready for Cohorts 5 and 6 next year.

Christopher Beaudet

That's wonderful. OK, well, I was going to say, if listeners from Oklahoma or California or Nevada or New York or wherever want to do this, it might be a little tricky to get to the Twin Cities. But you never know—maybe it will expand.

Audrey Kintzi

We've definitely talked about virtual. And if anybody listening wants to know more about the program, please reach out. I'm happy to share what we're doing and how we're doing it, because the real reason for the program is to make sure our Catholic schools continue to thrive—that no school closes because they don't have the money.

The money is there. We simply have to extend more invitations and teach people about that joy.

Christopher Beaudet

Hmm. And if someone wanted to reach you, how?

Audrey Kintzi

Thank you. Oh, absolutely. It's Audrey Kintzi at akintzi@smumn.edu.

Christopher Beaudet

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota—smumn.edu.

Audrey Kintzi

Yes, got it.

Christopher Beaudet

Well, speaking of joy, it has been that—to speak with you, Audrey—for the ways you've learned yourself and have been open, attentive to how God wanted to move in your life, falling into this business of invitation and embracing it so well, and then teaching others to do the same.

We're very, very grateful—for all of your work helping people who have a heart and riches without limit when it comes to passion, but maybe not riches without limit financially—to advance that passion and mission.

We're just so grateful for your good work and for the gift of your time today and sharing all that you have. Thank you sincerely.

Audrey Kintzi

Thank you so much, Christopher. It's been a joy to be with you, and I just appreciate the opportunity to talk about this thing that I am so passionate about—the joy of giving and the gentle art of teaching people the joy of giving.

I've spent 40 years doing it. People keep saying to me, “Fundraising? I could never do that.” And I'm like, “No, no, no. You don't understand. It really is a blessing to be doing this work.” And I do feel truly blessed.

Christopher Beaudet

Well, thank you for your time.

Audrey Kintzi

Thank you.

Christopher Beaudet

My sincere thanks to Audrey Kintzi for sharing the fruit of her study and experience in the gentle art of teaching others the joy of giving—emphasizing that fundraising is really about invitation.

It's crucial to keep donor engagement squarely in the context of relationship and a shared passion for mission. It's a safeguard against degrading fundraising into mere financial transactions.

These are great insights for all of us engaged in philanthropy—and all the more so when what we do is saturated with faith.

As we close out this episode and close out 2025, all of us at the Steier Group wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year and a great start to 2026. And we hope that one of your New Year's resolutions is to join us each month of the year right here on 12 Wicker Baskets.