2010: Family Institute of Connecticut's
Biggest Year Yet!  

2010 is no ordinary year for the Family Institute of Connecticut. July marks the third anniversary of my promotion to executive director—matching the number of years I was FIC's director of public policy. While this event holds personal significance for me, there is another reason why 2010 should be very special to all of us.  

2010 is the year the Family Institute of Connecticut seized the initiative and set the agenda for our state! From our humble beginnings in 1989 we have grown to the point where even a federal judge credits FIC's public policy influence—and even our biggest media foes call us "crafty" and "savvy" and grudgingly acknowledge our ability to "hustle." But gathering the resources we need to bring us to this level—and to make a real impact in our anti-family culture—remains a constant challenge.

With grateful acknowledgment to divine providence—and to the astounding support and prayers of all of you—we are doing it. And now, another key indication of FIC's ability to carry the fight into the future has just arrived. 

A group of generous donors have offered FIC a seven week $25,000 Summer Matching Grant! Any donation FIC receives between now and July 29th—up to $25,000—will be doubled. That means we could raise $50,000 by mid-summer to fight for religious liberty and the pro-life, pro-family cause.

 This marks the second time since I became executive director that FIC has secured a Summer Challenge Grant. The grant's donors have been watching us closely—and they like what they see.  

When the ACLU bullied a local community out of holding its high school graduations at a Baptist mega-church, FIC fought back! We were the only organization to take up this battle and to put the key parties in touch with one another. We took the time to talk with board members and students and to attend meetings. We reached into the local community, identified allies, put boots on the ground and altered the course of events. FIC showed families and regular citizens that they can stand up to the bullies, that there is help out there.  

The 2010 legislative session demonstrated FIC's growing influence. We forced an education bill to drop a sex-ed requirement, for the first time in years we prevented the transgender special rights bill from even getting a hearing and our closest legislative allies are finally being heard on parental notification. Never before have our opponents been as quiet as they were in the 2010 session—because they know FIC is watching them.  

FIC has received more vitriolic opposition from the media in the last few weeks than in all previous years combined—even these e-mail alerts frequently make the news! Connecticut's next generation of pro-family leaders is being formed in our youth wing, our networking with the churches grows stronger every day and we have established a presence on Facebook and Twitter. I am constantly invited to speak at public forums around the state—both to friendly church audiences and even to other grassroots organizations fighting for different causes.    

Our generous benefactors have been watching these activities with interest. They know that FIC's hard-won public standing these past few years is just the beginning of our fight to reclaim Connecticut—and they are giving us the opportunity to take the next step. But to get the full benefit of that opportunity, we need your help. 

The rules of the challenge grant are simple. Any donation we receive between today and July 29th will be doubled up to the $25,000 limit (donations postmarked July 29th will count).  

No other group in Connecticut leads the fight for marriage, faith and family like FIC! Click here to double your donation to our state's foremost pro-family organization!

 If your tax-deductible donation is $50, we will receive $100; if you give $100 we will receive $200 and so on. If you have the ability to give us a $1,000 or larger donation, that too will be matched. If we receive $25,000 in donations by the deadline we will qualify for the full grant, thus raising $50,000 in seven weeks. 

Additionally, if you become an FIC Sustaining Partner (a monthly donor) during this campaign you will have your monthly donations doubled during the first year! 

This means that if you give FIC $25 a month, we will receive $50 a month for the first year, if you sign up to give $50 a month, we will receive $100 a month for the first year and so on.  

Plus, if current sustaining partners choose before July 29th to increase what they give to FIC monthly, the amount of the increase will be doubled for the first year! This means that if a sustaining partner decides to increase his or her donation from $25 a month to $35 a month, the extra $10 will be matched for a year—thus giving FIC an extra $20 every month! 

The wonderful opportunity provided by this challenge grant comes at a crucial time. Our successful effort in 2009 to restore the liberty of Connecticut's religious institutions--and our defense of First Cathedral in 2010--are just the first steps in healing our deeply troubled home state! 

The next twenty years begins right now!  

With the arrival of same-sex "marriage" in Connecticut the attacks on parental rights that we have seen in Massachusetts and elsewhere will soon be coming to a school near you. The defeat of a 2009 amendment to let parents remove their children from classes teaching same-sex "marriage"—and the constant push to expose school children to cross-dressing teachers—means anti-family activists  are determined to attack the innocence of our children. We are already hard at work on several projects to protect our state's young people—and our youth wing will be leading the counter-attack!   

Taking a page from same-sex "marriage," advocates for assisted suicide sought to bypass the will of the people by having a Connecticut court undemocratically impose "mercy killing" on our state. They lost this week, but they are not giving up. FIC will be on the front lines in the fight against it. 

In the next few weeks we will be telling you about...a third annual "open house" at FIC to thank all the volunteers who made our recent successes possible...a series of FIC Pastors' Breakfasts to discuss the future of religious liberty in the era of same-sex "marriage" and Obama...our second annual gala banquet, with keynote speaker Gary Bauer...our pulpit initiative project to go on offense on behalf of religious liberty.   

The future is what this Summer Challenge Grant Campaign is all about. It is about the future of FIC, of course. But it is also about the fight for the survival of faith and family in our state for the next twenty years—and beyond! And it is about the future in the most fundamental way possible: the battle to protect our children. 

Our Summer Challenge Grant is a strong vote of confidence in FIC, in our ability to establish a foothold in the hostile anti-family terrain of Connecticut's halls of power—and in our potential to grow that foothold into a counter-revolution to restore faith and family in our state. But it cannot succeed without your support. Whatever you can do to help us meet our goal is more appreciated than I can truly express.