2005 Annual Report

Your prayers and support made CCL’s fiscal year 2005 (July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005) a successful one. Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to each and every one of you for your many contributions to the League, which help us continue building healthy marriages through the art of Natural Family Planning .

Financial

Fiscal year 2005 presented some financial challenges. At mid-year, we were running a nearly $130,000 deficit. Vitae Corporation, the organization that hosted the credit card for “Life,” dissolved. Donations through this program were continuing to grow, and we had anticipated over $30,000 from this program for the year. However, through your generosity we continued to climb out of this deficit in the last six months of the year, and ended the fiscal year $6,402 in the “black.” (See fiscal year details below)

Accomplishments

TEACHING ACTIVITY

7,428 Couples Taught

10,611 manuals sold

CLERGY & PHYSICIANS SEMINARS

Spokane WA, July 2004 Regional Clergy Seminar with 20 clergy in attendance.

Cincinnati OH, September 2004 Hosted a Physicians Seminars with 15 medical professionals in attendance where they earned 15.25 “prescribed” credits and 2 “elective” credits as part of their continuation training requirements.

Cincinnati OH, October 2004 Hosted a Clergy Seminar with 11 clergy in attendance.

Fargo ND, March 2005 We hosted a Clergy Seminar with 75 clergy in attendance, and a Teacher Training Seminar in the Diocese of Fargo ND, where Bishop Samuel Aquila now requires couples preparing for marriage to take the full course of instruction in NFP from an approved instructor. The Diocese has about 450 marriages per year, and this new policy began September 2005.

Lexington KY, May 2005 Hosted a Clergy Seminar with 50 clergy in attendance.

TEACHER TRAINING SEMINARS

Denver CO, July 2004	Buenos Aires Argentina, October 2004
Boise ID, August 2004	Denver CO, October 2004
Dayton OH, August 2004	Montgomery AL, October 2004
Austin TX, September 2004	Fargo ND, March 2005

ONLINE TEACHER TRAINING

In order to streamline our correspondence teacher-training program, we put the course “online” to cut down on the time required to mail back and forth between Central. The ultimate goal of our online training will be interactive training, but this was an important interim step and cut down on processing time.

81 new Teachers certified and 23 new Promoters certified

WEBSITE UPGRADE

We completed Phase 1 of our three-phase upgrade to our website. The website was completely redesigned and effectively “reprogrammed.” To better present and manage the large amount of information we intend to share on the website, we upgraded it to a more dynamic, data driven site. Additional programming helped minimize the cost associated with website maintenance by replacing static pages with dynamic templating, cascading style sheets (CSS), and database stored content, which means changes and updates are much easier.

What’s Next?

Probably our most important milestone was to lay the ground work for the monumental changes that are taking place to our products and services. We’ve explained our intent to incorporate the theological thought of John Paul II—commonly referred to as Theology of the Body—into our products and services. At the same time, we’re streamlining our NFP method, eliminating complexities, yet maintaining a 99% effective method. These, as well as a host of other products, are becoming a reality this year. Every member of CCL will be receiving a “Vision” document that outlines our plans in more detail and explains the broad direction of the League for the next five years.

We’re excited about the future, but are eternally thankful for the support of our members and donors—we simply couldn’t do it without your help. God bless you all!

Andrew B. Alderson, Executive Director

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Year in Review

Board Meetings:

September 12-13, 2004 Holiday Inn Dulles, VA 20166

November 17, 2004 Complete meeting via teleconference

January 16-17, 2005 Hospitality Inn & Suites Minneapolis, MN 55425

Board of Directors:

Linda F. Kracht, Chairman (June 05 – June 07, Chairman May 05 – June 07)
John S. Burnham, M.D., Vice-Chairman (June 05 – June 07, VC May 05 – June 07)
Thomas M. Bengtson, Secretary (Dec 03 – Dec 05, both)
Paul A. Busam, M.D., Emeritus
Robert S. Desmond, M.D. (June 03 – June 05)
Shane C. Goettle (Dec 03 – Dec 05)
Rev. Richard M. Hogan (Dec 03 – Dec 05)
Robert E. Laird (Dec 03 – Dec 05)

Headquarters Staff

Andy Alderson	Executive Director
Keith Bower	Director of Education
Erick Carrero	Director of Spanish Development
Ann Gundlach	Director of Publications
Jack Langlitz	Director of Business Operations
Richard Braun	National Field Director / Director of International Development
John Du Mont	Project Manager
Silvia Schmidt	Project Manager
Scott Hofmann	Graphic Designer
Virginia Niehaus	Administrative Support Manager
Tracy Jamison	Shipping & Receiving Manager
Anna Bonavita	Bookkeeper
Yolanda Flores	Bilingual Shipping & Receiving Clerk
Sonia Acevdeo	Publications Assistant - Spanish Publications
Anita McDonald	Purchasing Agent
Judy Eichhorn	Correspondence Secretary
Pauline Grome	Executive Secretary
Rosemary Olding	Operations Support Secretary
Mary Du Mont	Correspondence & Transactions Clerk
Pam Pulskamp	Transactions Clerk
Sandy Sperber	Transactions & Shipping Shipping
Vicki Braun	Home Study & Staff Counselor
Eileen Martin	Shipping Clerk
Earl Michels	Shipping & Receiving Clerk

Staff as of June 30, 2005 | Italics designates part-time employee

Financial Picture — Fiscal Year 2005 [July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005]

The Couple to Couple League International is a not-for-profit, interfaith organization whose primary mission is to promote marital chastity through the teaching of the art of Natural Family Planning. CCL operates a division called the Foundation for the Family which addresses the broader issues of marital fidelity, family stability, non-marital, pre-marital and teen chastity, and preparation for marriage.

CCL was founded in 1971 by John and Sheila Kippley and provides services both nationally and internationally. CCL has 23,541 active members, 1,006 active certified volunteer Teaching Couples, and 636 certified volunteer Promoters. A small paid staff coordinates and supports the volunteer services and programs from the international headquarters located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

More About CCL

Services We Provide

Professional instruction in the art of Natural Family Planning (Sympto-Thermal Method) through an extensive network of certified Teaching Couples and the CCL Home Study Course.

Personal chart interpretation and counseling by CCL Teaching Couples and Headquarters’ professional counselors.

A comprehensive website at www.ccli.org, which provides answers and information to anyone in the world wanting to know more about NFP and CCL. The site, available in both English and Spanish, features basic NFP information, a search to locate a local Teaching Couple, information on CCL’s educational seminars, the latest issue of Family Foundations as well as past articles on key subjects, and an online store featuring CCL’s complete line of family and NFP-related products.

Publication of a bi-monthly magazine, Family Foundations, to offer encouragement and support to all NFP couples.

Publication of 40 informational/educational brochures promoting NFP and related issues, and a 10-minute video — NFP: Safe, Healthy, Effective — which presents an overview of the Sympto-Thermal Method.

Publication of supplemental books for understanding the complete NFP picture. These include Marriage Is for Keeps (both Wedding and Student editions), Breastfeeding & Natural Child Spacing, and Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition.

An excellent selection of marriage- and family-related books, videos, and audiocassettes offered through the CCL Catalog and online store.

A Teacher Training Program for all qualifying couples which is provided at no cost to the candidates, and a national Promoter Program in which CCL volunteers organize and promote local activities to raise the awareness of the public about NFP and CCL’s activities.

Assistance to parents in providing effective education in human sexuality to their children though the New Corinthians Curriculum, a virtues-based education program for grades K-8.

Education to clergy and healthcare providers through NFP seminars. Clergy receive an overview of modern NFP and the positive effect it can have on marriages, practical ideas and support for bringing the message to their parishioners, and strategies for requiring NFP instruction for their engaged couples. Healthcare providers learn the effectiveness and reliability of modern NFP, alternative approaches to cycle irregularities, and reasons to switch to an NFP-only practice. This seminar also offers CME credits to physicians.

Outreach to the growing number of Spanish-speaking couples through a complete line of NFP materials and services, including translations of our training materials, most brochures, a Spanish newsletter (Fundamentos para la Familia), a Spanish catalog, and staff available for Spanish telephone counseling and order-taking.

Outreach to bishops, seminaries, and diocesan personnel to support the promotion of NFP. CCL can provide dioceses with no-cost teacher training and assistance in promoting NFP, educating clergy and seminarians, and working toward mandating NFP instruction as a normal part of marriage preparation requirements

What Makes CCL Unique

CCL is the largest NFP provider in the United States. Although other providers offer quality Sympto-Thermal instruction and/or other NFP methods, there are several reasons why CCL remains unique.

Couples attending a CCL class series or taking the CCL Home Study Course receive a very complete education in all aspects of the art of Natural Family Planning, including:

• Excellent instruction in all symptoms of fertility and infertility, various ways of observing the symptoms, and how they can be used in a cross-checking way for the greatest confidence and reliability;
  
• Complete instruction in the practice of ecological breastfeeding and its role in helping a couple space their children naturally;
  
• A review of the various reasons, from the pragmatic to the spiritual, for choosing the NFP-only approach to family planning;
  
• Affirmation of the authority of the Christian Tradition regarding marital love, sexuality, and conception regulation;
  
• A pro-life message concerning the realities of contraception, including a description of the abortifacient properties of the Pill, IUD, Depo-Provera, and other hormonal contraceptives;
  
• Affirmation of the Christian call to generosity in the service of life according to one’s circumstances;
  
• A teaching on abstinence that affirms the Christian Tradition against sexual perversities while also being very positive about the growth made possible by the chaste, creative use of abstinence.
  
• A support of full-time mothering in the context of encouraging ecological breastfeeding with its many advantages for baby and mother alike.
  
• An honest look at surprise pregnancies to encourage acceptance of each child as a gift from God whether asked for or not;
  
• A real involvement of the husband in fertility/infertility awareness, communication, decision-making, and parenting.
  

Mission Statement

The mission of the Couple to Couple League and the Foundation for the Family is to help couples live chaste and generous marriages, to teach NFP and encourage its virtuous application, to teach ecological breastfeeding and encourage its use, to strengthen families by increasing the number of couples using NFP chastely and generously, and to participate in the mission of the Catholic Church to teach the divine truth about love, marriage and sexuality.