Association of Catholic Publishers

What Association of Catholic Publishers does

The Association of Catholic Publishers (ACP) is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1990 and headquartered in Ellicott City, Maryland, that serves as the institutional body for Catholic book publishers operating in the United States. It represents a roster of established member publishers including Ascension Press, Word on Fire Ministries, Ave Maria Press, Pauline Books & Media, Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), GIA Publications, Oregon Catholic Press (OCP), Loyola Press, Paulist Press, Liturgical Press, Orbis Books, and Pflaum Publishing Group, and provides programs such as the Excellence in Publishing Awards, the ACP Hall of Fame, the Outstanding Service Award, the Leading with Integrity Award, and the CatholicsRead Book Club.

Its core operational platform is Novi AMS (Association Management Software), a third-party system used to administer membership, event registration, store transactions, and program delivery. This SaaS-style foundation allows a lean staff (1-10 employees) under Executive Director Therese Brown to operate member services, awards administration, and the CatholicsRead Book Club without significant internal engineering investment.

ACP's business model is a multi-stream nonprofit structure: recurring membership dues paid by institutional Catholic publishers form the base, supplemented by event registration revenue from annual gatherings, and store sales generated through the association's online catalog. Strategic positioning is reinforced through a formal alignment with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on catechism conformity review, accessibility programming via the Xavier Society for the Blind, and sponsorship of digital community features by partners such as Color House Graphics, with an affiliated Catholic Publishers Foundation supporting funding initiatives.

Name

Association of Catholic Publishers

Legal name

Association of Catholic Publishers

Website

https://catholicpublishers.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Association of Catholic Publishers is a 1990-founded nonprofit trade association headquartered in Ellicott City, Maryland, serving U.S. Catholic book publishers through membership services, annual publishing awards, the CatholicsRead Book Club, and advocacy on catechism conformity.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trade Association Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Conference & Trade Show Registration Platforms (THAHAFAB), Sponsorship, Exhibitor & Partnership Management Services (THAHACAK)

Keywords

• Catholic publishing association
• Trade association services
• Publishing awards program
• Industry peer groups
• Membership directory

Headquarters

HQ city

Ellicott City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: ACP generates revenue through membership dues from Full Members (Catholic publishers), Associate Members (service providers), Individual Members (content creators), and Student Members. This forms the primary revenue stream supporting organizational operations and member services.
2. Store Sales: The organization operates an online store selling awards, CatholicsRead Insertions, membership meeting materials, and style guides, providing additional revenue through product transactions.
3. Event Registrations: ACP conducts various events including board meetings, peer groups, webinars, webinars, and the annual ACP Membership Meeting, with registration fees contributing to organizational revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ACP is a membership trade association for Catholic publishers, providing member services including a member directory, peer groups, webinars, advocacy with the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism, and the annual ACP Membership Meeting. It operates the Excellence in Publishing Awards across 18 categories, the Hall of Fame, Outstanding Service Award, and Leading with Integrity Award recognition programs, and the CatholicsRead Book Club that promotes member titles. ACP also runs an online store selling awards, CatholicsRead Insertions, membership meeting materials, and style guides.

Product overview

The Association of Catholic Publishers (ACP) is a membership-based trade organization serving Catholic publishers and content producers. The core platform is powered by Novi AMS for member management, event registration, and online store functionality. Key offerings include the CatholicsRead Book Club (monthly virtual discussions), Excellence in Publishing Awards (annual awards across 18 categories), ACP Hall of Fame and Outstanding Service Award recognition programs, webinars and peer group networking, an online store for awards and resources, and the Catholic Publishers Foundation supporting local ministry. ACP also provides marketing tools (logo packages), help videos, and a Career Center for the industry.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CatholicsRead: A program that promotes the best in Catholic reading by sharing the best ACP publisher titles through weekly emails with Catholics.
• Excellence in Publishing Awards
• ACP Hall of Fame
• Outstanding Service Award
• Leading with Integrity Award
• Catholic Publishers Foundation

Products and services

• ACP Membership Tiered membership offering for Catholic publishers (Full Members), service providers (Associate Members), content creators (Individual Members), and students (Student Members), providing access to the member directory, peer groups, webinars, awards programs, advocacy, and the CatholicsRead Book Club.

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• USCCB Subcommittee on the CatechismcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP maintains ongoing advocacy and collaboration with the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism, which is responsible for how the Catechism is used in curricula and catechetical resources. Led by VP Mike Raffio, a work group of representatives from major publishers (Loyola Press, Our Sunday Visitor, Pflaum Publishing Group, RCL Benziger, Saint Mary's Press, Sophia Institute, Veritas, and Sadlier) meets to discuss conformity review processes and expresses concerns to Bishop Frank Caggiano, Committee Chairman.
• Color House GraphicsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerColor House Graphics, an ACP Associate Member, sponsors the ACP Interactive Online Community, supporting the organization's online community platform for members.
• Catholic Publishers FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Catholic Publishers Foundation supports ministry at the local level by reaching out to those who use, teach, and implement Catholic content. Through programs like CatholicsRead, it promotes the Catholic faith, engages Catholics in lifetime habits of reading, and forms Catholic leaders for faith-filled witness and service.
• Xavier Society for the BlindminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP member organization working on making Catholic titles more accessible to the visually impaired, with new protocols addressing EU accessibility requirements.
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP collaborates with USCCB on advocacy, catechism conformity review processes, and liturgical text permissions. Also supports National Bible Week during the week including November 18.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA): ECPA is the direct evangelical counterpart to ACP — a faith-based trade association for Christian publishers offering member services, industry awards (Christian Book Award), peer groups, and an annual convention. Comparable scope, member model, and award infrastructure.
• Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA): IBPA is an independent publisher trade association providing membership benefits, networking, advocacy, and educational programs to a broad set of independent publishing houses. Functionally analogous to ACP for an independent/niche vertical.

Broad incumbents

• Association of American Publishers (AAP): AAP is the broad incumbent trade association for the U.S. publishing industry, representing major commercial publishers with advocacy and policy work. ACP operates as the faith-focused, parallel association within the same publishing industry.
• Book Industry Study Group (BISG): BISG is a U.S. book-industry trade group that convenes publishers, retailers, and distributors on supply-chain standards, metadata, and research. Overlaps with ACP on industry convening and standards, but serves the full book trade rather than a faith niche.
• American Library Association (ALA): ALA is the broad U.S. library association whose institutional membership overlaps with Catholic publishers' downstream institutional buyers (parish and school libraries). Relevant as an adjacent, larger industry intermediary in the publishing ecosystem ACP serves.
• International Association of Publishing Houses (IPA): IPA is the global trade association of book and journal publishers focused on advocacy and copyright standards. Comparable in mission and member services at the global level, but ACP focuses on the Catholic niche.

Emerging players

• Catholic Library Association (CLA): CLA is a Catholic-focused professional association working at the intersection of Catholic content, libraries, and education. Adjacent to ACP because it represents Catholic institutional buyers and educators that consume ACP publishers' output.
• Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP): SSP is a trade association for scholarly and professional publishers offering training, peer networks, and an annual meeting. Comparable membership association structure and event/education programs relative to ACP.
• Christian Booksellers Association (CBA / Logos): CBA is a Christian retail-trade organization historically focused on Christian retail channels (now part of Logos). Comparable to ACP in faith-publishing ecosystem, though primarily retail-facing rather than publisher-facing.

Regional players

• The Publishers Association (UK): The Publishers Association is the UK trade body for book and journal publishers, providing advocacy, events, and member services in a different geography but with a directly comparable mandate to ACP.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/catholicpubs
• Facebookfacebook.com/CatholicPublishers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Association of Catholic Publishers