PLATINUM2023

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE

Cultivating what's possible

aka NRVC, HORIZON journal, VISION Vocation Guide, VocationNetwork.org, NRVC.net   |   Chicago, IL   |  https://www.nrvc.net

Mission

VISION statement The National Religious Vocation Conference has a vision to set the world ablaze with the fire of God’s love through the prophetic, joyful witness of religious sisters, brothers, and priests as radical disciples of Jesus. MISSION statement The National Religious Vocation Conference is a catalyst for vocation discernment and the full flourishing of religious life as sisters, brothers, and priests for the ongoing transformation of the world. About NRVC The National Religious Vocation Conference is a professional organization of vocation ministers that presents religious life as a viable option in the Catholic Church. NRVC promotes vocation awareness, invitation, and discernment to life as a religious sister, brother, or priest.

Notes from the nonprofit

NRVC is recognized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as the official Religious Vocation Conference in the U.S.

Ruling year info

1946

Board Chair

Sr. Nicole Trahan F.M.I.

Main address

5416 South Cornell Avenue

Chicago, IL 60615 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

36-2701960

NTEE code info

Roman Catholic (X22)

Mutual/Membership Benefit Organizations, Other N.E.C. (Y99)

Religious Leadership, Youth Development (O55)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.

Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

NRVC is committed to ensuring the future of religious life and the organization has a specific focus on promoting vocations as religious sisters, brothers and priests. Religious communities in the U.S. and around the world rely on NRVC to continue to education vocation ministers and assist young adults in discerning a religious vocation. NRVC's essential programming and resources and extensive social outreach are expensive to produce and maintain. NRVC seeks additional funding and support from individual donors and foundations to support our educational, advocacy, and promotion efforts.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Summer Institute and Orientation for New Vocation Directors

The programming of the Summer Institute provides continuing education for vocation ministers on trends in vocations, candidate assessment, vocation promotion, and ethical and legal issues related to vocation recruitment and youth engagement. Orientation programs provide similar information to those who are new to vocation ministry.

Population(s) Served
Adults

500+ members gather every other year for networking and workshops on vocation trends, new media, youth engagement, and vocation promotion.

Population(s) Served
Adults

VISION Vocation Network comprises the printed VISION Vocation Guide, the website VocationNetwork.org, and the extensive VISION social network on facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram, etc.

Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Adults

NRVC conducts annual workshops on a variety of topics to offer continuing education to its members and others in vocation-related ministries.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Christians

NRVC supports religious communities with financial difficulties with access to a scholarship fund for membership dues and program fees.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Where we work

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of Facebook followers

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

VISION Vocation Network

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

VISION and NRVC facebook metrics

Number of new website visitors

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Summer Institute and Orientation for New Vocation Directors

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of training events conducted

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of website sessions

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

VISION Vocation Network

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of products distributed

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

VISION Vocation Network

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

We hope to prepare our organization for the future by creating a more collaborative team oriented management structure and a refocused board. We also hope to increase our financial sustainability by using diverse strategies including virtual gatherings. We hope to see an increase in religious vocations to men's and women's religious communities. We want to ensure that a religious vocation is seen as an option among the many life choices a young adult considers. We strive to education diocesan priests, youth ministers, campus ministers, and directors of religious education on contemporary religious life and the important work of Catholic sisters, brothers, and priests around the world.

Through our programming, publications, websites, parish outreach, and youth engagement we hope to educate vocation ministers, parish staff, and campus ministers on how to invite young adults to consider a religious vocation and discern where God is calling them to life out their lives in service to others.

NRVC has a 33-year history of effectively promoting vocations. educating its members, and providing resources that initially reached the U.S. and Canada, and now, through websites, social networks, and digital editions, have a global reach. NRVC has been awarded an number of grants from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, GHR Foundation, Porticus, and others and has proven itself a responsible steward of donated resources.

Thanks to Hilton and GHR grants NRVC produced a number of groundbreaking studies on religious vocations, including the recent 2020 Study on Recent Vocations currently underway. The NRVC also established the National Fund for Catholic Religious Vocations, to assist religious communities in accepting candidates with educational debt.

NRVC is a 32-year old professional organization for religious vocation directors, whose primary goal is to help men and women discern a religious vocation, assess candidates interested in becoming Catholic sisters, brothers and priests, and welcome new members to religious life.

NRVC has 1000+ members representing 350+ religious institutes, and it provides resources to approximately 650 religious communities, 17,000 parishes, and 1000+ Catholic colleges and universities.

NRVC provides members with the tools they need to effectively promote vocations invite others to consider religious life, and assist in the discernment process.

NRVC offers exceptional programming, training and resources for spiritual and personal growth which positively impact the future of religious life.

NRVC educates, connects, and inspires all those interested in the future of religious life, including thousands of young Catholics exploring religious vocations each year.

NRVC initiates and sponsors groundbreaking research on religious life, including the 2009 Recent Study on Vocations and the 2012 Study on Educational Debt and Religious Vocations.

NRVC publishes award-winning resources including VISION Vocation Guide, VocationNetwork.org, VocationMatch.com, and HORIZON Journal.

Because of its unique mission, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recognizes NRVC as the official religious vocation conference in the United States.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE

Board of directors
as of 07/06/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Sr. Nicole Trahan F.M.I

Daughters of Mary Immaculate (Marianists)

Term: 2023 - 2025

Sr. Belinda Monahan O.S.B.

Benedictine Sisters of Chicago

Len Uhal

Society of Divine Word

Sr. Marichui Bringas, CCVI

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (CCVI), San Antonio, TX

Nancy Costello

Cabrini Sisters

Fr. Adam MacDonald, S.V.D.

Society of Divine Word

Br. Brian Poulin, F.M.S.

Marist Brothers

Sr. Mindy Welding, I.H.M.

Sisters, Servants of the I.H.M., Scranton

Sr. Mary Yun, O.P.

Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose

Sr. Deborah Marie Borneman, SS.C.M.

NRVC ex officio

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 7/6/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Black/African American
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/22/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.