Peregrino Hermitage Limited (PHL) is the charity I run. PHL is approved by the Catholic Church, the Federal Government and the State of Colorado as a 501(c)(3.) We have a board of directors. My diocese provides me with health insurance and dental insurance. However, as I am not in parish life, I must raise my own salary for room, board and ministry expenses. “Ministry expenses” include that which is necessary to teach the Catholic faith online to tens of thousands of Catholics (and non-Catholics) every month. Except Zelle donations (which go to my personal account) all your donations to PHL on my Donate Page (whether online or via snail-mail checks) go to my charity and are tax-deductible. A certain percentage of those donations obviously goes into savings for PHL. But as far as annual expenses, the following (coordinated to the above pie-chart) shows the breakdown for 2022:
Food, travel, missions 54%: Every morning I have fine tea and/or coffee. I live on this for most the day. By the evening, I usually get a pizza or something. I hope to eat healthier in the future, but few things I ingest are fancy (except my teas!) This expense category also includes gas. A larger part of this expense includes a pick-up truck I got with my donors’ money that takes me to my own appointments and the abortion center nearly every week. The pick-up truck has also been used to haul propane-tanks around Denver to the poor living in campers and even under bridges. I am yet to unveil my “mobile mission unit” paid for by donors. Most pro-life days are not this exciting, but here’s as good as it gets in the pro-life movement.
Stipends 20%: This includes less than $1000/yr I give to someone to help me keep my hermitage clean. This includes less than $1000/yr I give to another person to help me with business items. I also take a salary of $2000/mo. from my 501(c)(3)—that is—your donations. Notice that this is less than the average salary of a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver (not including Zelle and cash donations people may give me in passing.) As far as that $2k/mo salary (from my own 501(c)(3)) I follow the same rules of any major archdiocese of the USA on priestly-spending, namely, that food-expenses should come out of charity-expenses (see above bullet-point) but one’s stipend must pay for personal-expenses: toiletries, alcohol, movie-tickets, gifts for family-of-origin, etc.
Charity 9%: This refers to other charities to which I forward my own donors’ donations. This may occasionally be a traditional group of nuns or a priest in need, or perhaps another pro-life movement. Of course, I also tithe from my own personal income (see above regarding stipend, Zelle, etc.)
Hermitage 7%: Some people may wonder why a diocesan hermit only spends 7% on his hermitage. Three years ago, my charity purchased a condo that serves as my hermitage, rectory, chapel (now with the Blessed Sacrament) rowing machine, kitchen and computer center for online-teaching that now has one million listens a year and one million reads a year. That condo cost $200,000 and it is 800 ft². Three years ago, a good-friend who is very wealthy in AZ gave me half that as a donation and loaned the other half. (He’s a good Catholic, but not a TLM-Catholic!) Thus, my hermitage is fully paid-off. That 7% of your current donations go to utilities and upkeep of my “hermominium.” Except that good friend of mine in AZ and a few others, most donations the past three years have been from average Catholics like you giving me modest but extremely helpful amounts like $50/mo or $100/mo. This way, I am beholden to no one (except Christ and the Magisterium) regarding my teaching. (Also, no movie-celebrities have ever given me money, as I have been accused of.)
Liturgy and Teaching 7%: This includes Evangelization, Education, Liturgy and Communications. I use several MacBooks’ free-ware (like iMovie and Garageband) for all my videos and podcasts. The only extraordinary piece of equipment in my computer-center for all my podcasts is a $100 microphone. This is an extremely cheap set-up for how many people listen to my podcasts, but most my listeners are here for the content, not the bells and whistles of a beautiful studio in the background. Liturgy includes altar bread and wine, as well as other similar items like candles. All vestments for the entire liturgical year are already in my condo, so I have no need to purchase those for my Traditional Latin Mass. Also included in this section of the pie-chart is things—such as Miraculous Medals with chains attached—that I purchase as part of my evangelization arsenal. I explain how I hand out these Miraculous Medals on this 10-minute Taylor Marshall video here.
Donor Relations 3%: This includes mostly mailings. As I assure you on my Donate page, I will never share any of my donors’ information or even contact-information with any company or charity. All checks and (even return addresses) are shredded upon cashing. The postcards that I send out at Christmas and Easter are purely to thank you and remind you that I exist. Keep in mind that I do not take Mass-stipends, but I pray for donors and non-donors at every Mass and in the Divine Office all day. My two upcoming 2023 international-pilgrimages are not funded by donors.
Thank you to all of you who support me financially, or spiritually. I honestly need the latter more than the former, but both keep me going in my ministry.