Lack of technological and social media knowledge is a widespread problem for Catholic parishes, and Glass Canvas, a strategy and marketing agency, has created an incredible tool to help. Their product and mission got a big boost when the agency was a finalist in the OSV Challenge. A year later, let’s take a look at how the challenge impacted Glass Canvas, and what they’ve worked on since then.
Their product, Tilma, is “a new kind of parish software that brings all your parish needs into one place: email, giving, website, people database, and events,” said Glass Canvas president J.M. Boyd in an interview with Aleteia.
He shared several ways that Tilma helps people in various diocesan roles, including the following:
The OSV Challenge brought the team at Glass Canvas lots of guidance and inspiration. After a year-long process, they went through a rigorous 10-week Notre Dame IDEA Center Accelerator Program with 11 other finalists.
“The challenge really opened up our eyes to see where God was calling us as a team and gave us the courage to put everything on the line,” Boyd said. “We had assumed things with our product previously, but being in the room with other leaders in the Church helped us understand and affirm the need we were trying to fill.”
One of the biggest benefits for Glass Canvas was learning about the product startup model. This process instigated their pivot from an agency to a product company.
“As a team built not yet fully in the product world, it was a new understanding of the risk you have to take to go after God’s calling,” Boyd said.
The Challenge greatly helped them hone the product into something ready to release. “Especially coming from an agency model, we were still functioning out of a different set of standards and needed guidance on what was necessary and unnecessary to focus on in order to succeed,” Boyd said.
A critical catalyst in this process came in the form of the connections and mentor access that OSV facilitated. “We were connected with a calibre of network and mentorship that we wouldn’t have been introduced to otherwise,” Boyd said.
Community is vital to the flourishing of any business, and the OSV Challenge offered a community that was especially meaningful.
“We could have gone to incubators or corporate structures, but the OSV Challenge brings together those same benefits with the context of wanting to serve the Church and guide people to Jesus,” Boyd said. “We had access to some of the smartest, most connected and influential people, and because we were being introduced through the OSV challenge, it was possible to grow and learn about our business while still staying true to who we are.”
It’s a business owner’s dream to grow and learn with expert support and a truly understanding community. The OSV Challenge provided those elements for Glass Canvas. A year later, they’re still reaping the benefits.
But the benefits go far beyond just one agency. Because their mission is discipleship and ministry connection, countless people are profiting immeasurably from their work. The truth is that the whole Body of Christ is reaping the benefits, thanks to the OSV Challenge.
