Parish Twinning Program Of The Americas

What Parish Twinning Program Of The Americas does

Parish Twinning Program of the Americas (PTPA) is a 501(c)(3) Catholic non-profit organization founded in 1978 and headquartered in Greenwood, Indiana, that facilitates parish-to-parish ("twinning") relationships between U.S. Catholic parishes and partner parishes in Haiti and Latin America. Its core service is structured formation and ongoing support for these relationships: PTPA matches interested U.S. parishes with twin parishes, provides a Twinning Guidebook, introduces parish leaders, accompanies first visits, and supplies translation, training, and best-practice resources through an online Members Portal. Operationally the organization runs on a six-person staff plus a Board of Directors under Executive Director Cassandra Bissainthe (appointed July 1, 2024), with an in-country Haiti Director, Bertony Domond, leading a Haiti-based team. Revenue comes overwhelmingly from charitable donations (one-time and recurring monthly) from individuals and parishes, supplemented by modest conference registration fees (e.g., $50/person for the annual CINCH Parish Twinning Conference and the periodic National Conference) and a recently added legacy-giving pipeline via a partnership with My Catholic Will.

Its product surface is largely programmatic rather than technological: Formation & Ongoing Support, the PTPA Members Portal (a self-service resource library and forum), a Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program in which the Haiti team conducts proxy visits for U.S. parishes unable to travel, a Sea Container Program for shipping supplies, referral-based Mission Trip Insurance through IMG, and community/learning channels including monthly Zoom gatherings, triennial National Conferences, and regular newsletters. Underlying technology is off-the-shelf: a website (ptpausa.org), the Members Portal, Microsoft Forms for intake, and Zoom for webinars. PTPA reports cumulative impact of more than 300 parish twinnings across 73 dioceses and 31 U.S. states, with $70M+ in aid channeled to impoverished Catholic communities since inception.

The go-to-market model is community-led and ecclesial: PTPA relies on referrals and endorsements through the institutional Catholic Church hierarchy (bishops, dioceses, parish priests), word-of-mouth among member parishes, content marketing via website and monthly newsletters, and recurring digital touchpoints (Zoom gatherings, portal, conferences) that deepen engagement over time. Its target customers are U.S. Catholic parishes seeking structured missionary engagement; the downstream beneficiaries are impoverished partner parishes in Haiti and Latin America that receive financial, material, spiritual, and educational support. Strategic alliances with mission collaborators (Food For The Poor, Raising Haiti Foundation, the University of Notre Dame Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, Gift of Water, DigitalKap, and others) extend PTPA's depth in water, education, energy, agriculture, and health without requiring internal capability build-out in those verticals.

Name

Parish Twinning Program Of The Americas

Legal name

Parish Twinning Program of the Americas

Website

https://ptpausa.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Parish Twinning Program of the Americas (PTPA) is a 501(c)(3) Catholic non-profit that matches U.S. Catholic parishes with impoverished partner parishes in Haiti and Latin America, providing formation, an online members portal, mission-trip support, and a recently launched Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program for parishes unable to travel.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Greenwood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: PTPA relies on charitable donations from individuals and parishes to fund operations and support twin parish communities. One-time and recurring monthly donation options are available online.
2. Conference Registration: Revenue generated from conference registration fees, such as the CINCH Parish Twinning Conference at $50 per person.
3. Membership Portal Donations: While membership is free, PTPA encourages donations of $100 or more from portal members to support the mission.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PTPA facilitates parish-to-parish twinning relationships between U.S. Catholic parishes and parishes in Haiti and Latin America, providing formation guidance, the Twinning Guidebook, accompaniment on first visits, Creole/Spanish translation support, training webinars, and an online members portal with best-practice resources. The organization also operates the Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program (in-person visits conducted by its Haiti-based team), a Sea Container Program for shipping supplies, and legacy-giving and mission-trip insurance services through partner organizations.

Product overview

PTPA offers a comprehensive suite of programs and services centered on parish twinning between U.S. Catholic parishes and parishes in Haiti and Latin America. The core offering is the Formation & Ongoing Support service, which guides parishes through the twinning process using the PTPA Twinning Guidebook and provides accompaniment. This is supported by the PTPA Members Portal, an extensive online resource library. PTPA also operates the Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program, sending its Haiti-based team to visit twin parishes when U.S. parishes cannot travel. Additional services include a Sea Container Program for shipping supplies, Mission Trip Insurance through IMG, and a free will creation service via My Catholic Will. The organization facilitates community through National Conferences and monthly PTPA Zoom Gatherings, supplemented by regular newsletters. All services are designed to strengthen twinning relationships and support impoverished Catholic communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Formation & Ongoing Support
• PTPA Members Portal
• Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program
• Sea Container Program
• Mission Trip Insurance through IMG
• Create a Will for Free & Leave a Legacy of Faith
• National Conferences
• PTPA Zoom Gatherings
• PTPA Newsletters

Quantifiable outcome

• More than 300 parish twinnings formed
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Food For The Poor (FFTP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Since 2020, PTPA and Food For The Poor have collaborated on food distribution to twin parishes. FFTP recognizes PTPA twin parishes as effective partners in addressing food insecurity. U.S. parishes can sign up and donate during food distributions, which are matched to enable supplies to reach poor in twin parish communities.
• Raising Haiti Foundation (RHF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Through partnership with RHF and Small Farmholders Association (SFA), PTPA parishes can initiate Community Twinning for agricultural grassroots development. PTPA also participated in RHF-led Haiti Covid-19 Preventative Response (Haiti-CPR) initiative with various NGOs and faith groups.
• Vatican WASH in Healthcare Facilities InitiativeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020PTPA is working with Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), Water Engineers for the Americas and Africa (WEFTA), and other organizational leaders to enable PTPA twin parishes to participate in this Vatican Dicastery initiative for clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in Catholic healthcare facilities.
• U.S. Catholic Mission Association (USCMA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThrough collaboration with USCMA, PTPA has access to USCMA leadership, missionary communities, missionaries, missions, and the rich missiological tradition of the Church. Missionaries can accompany one another, grow capacity and spirituality, and explore collaboration in mission.
• My Catholic WillminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPTPA partnered with My Catholic Will to offer free will-writing services to supporters. The partnership encourages legacy gifts to PTPA, with referral code 'ptpa' for users to include PTPA as a beneficiary in their wills.
• University of Notre Dame's Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOver 15 years of collaboration with local educators in Haiti creating curricula spanning early childhood education, early grade literacy, social-emotional learning, health and nutrition, and parish system activation. Resources are open-source in French and Creole. PTPA members have emerging opportunities to support parish families through alignment with GC-DWC.
• Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Vatican WASH in Healthcare Facilities Initiative, working to ensure WASH in Catholic health care facilities serving isolated or impoverished areas.
• Water Engineers for the Americas and Africa (WEFTA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical partner in Vatican WASH initiative focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions for healthcare facilities.
• P4H GlobalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation initiative that helps train teachers in Haiti and throughout the world. Believes quality education helps end poverty. Featured at PTPA Zoom gatherings.
• University of FondwaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational initiative collaborator; part of PTPA's network supporting education in Haiti.
• Tek4KidsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational initiatives collaborator serving Haiti; part of PTPA's mission collaborator network.
• Catholic Leadership InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides strategic planning support; worked with Diocese of Hinche, Haiti on developing a pastoral plan.
• International Medical Group (IMG)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerPTPA refers members to IMG for travel insurance coverage for mission trips. IMG offers international medical plans for missionaries and mission groups with coverage up to $8 million.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB): Faith-based international health-and-development organization serving impoverished communities globally with Catholic parish funding. Comparable in donor base and Catholic parish cultivation, with a stronger healthcare/program delivery orientation.

Direct peers

• Franciscan Mission Service: Small faith-based nonprofit sending Franciscan lay missioners to serve impoverished communities overseas, with parish-based cultivation. Comparable in size, Catholic parish engagement, and Latin American/Caribbean geographic focus.
• Cross Catholic Outreach: Catholic parish-based ministry that channels donations from U.S. parishes to overseas missions in the developing world. Directly comparable in go-to-market motion (parish-stewardship focused) and geographic footprint.
• Salesian Missions: Salesian-run development arm funding youth education, agriculture, and relief programs in poor communities globally. Operates with a similar Catholic parish-donor cultivation model and overlapping Haiti/Latin America geography.
• Maryknoll Lay Missioners: Catholic mission-sending organization placing U.S. lay missionaries in poor communities overseas, particularly in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Comparable in mobilizing U.S. Catholics for direct service relationships with parishes in poor countries.
• Unbound (formerly CFCA): Faith-based sponsorship organization connecting U.S. Catholic donors with sponsored friends in impoverished communities across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Closely comparable sponsorship/donor-engagement model serving overlapping geographies and parishes.
• Food For The Poor: Large U.S. faith-based relief organization that partners directly with PTPA on food distribution to twin parishes. Both organizations move Catholic donor resources to impoverished communities in Haiti/Latin America and compete for the same parish stewardship dollars.

Broad incumbents

• Caritas Internationalis: Global confederation of Catholic charitable organizations coordinating humanitarian response worldwide through national Caritas bodies (e.g., Catholic Charities USA). Comparable as the upstream Catholic charity infrastructure that parish donations often flow toward.
• Catholic Relief Services: The official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic Church, operating global relief and development programs funded primarily by U.S. Catholic parish collections. Comparable to PTPA as a faith-based donor-supported channel for moving Catholic parish dollars to impoverished communities overseas.

Regional players

• Jesuit Refugee Service USA: U.S. arm of the Jesuit mission serving displaced and impoverished populations, supported primarily by Catholic parishes and donors. Comparable donor base and parish-stewardship funding model, though with a different core service focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/parish-twinning-program-of-the-americas

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Parish Twinning Program Of The Americas