CFAD impact: ‘Allowed us to do what we could not do on our own’

FY 2019 annual report is released, shows growth

DUBUQUE – The Catholic Founda­tion in the Archdiocese of Dubuque (CFAD) granted $2.8 million in its 2019 fiscal year through 137 grants to Catholic organizations in the 30 counties that make up the Archdiocese of Dubuque. This is a 5 percent increase in dollars it granted from the year before, reflecting the growth in assets the foundation manages.

“Our Catholic faith is alive in our communities, which warms my heart and strengthens my resolve,” CFAD Executive Director Michele Brock said in the report. “It is key we work together through our parishes, schools and other Catholic organizations and through the mission of CFAD, supporting the future of our faith through deliberate planning of endowments and their funding.”

At the end of the fiscal year, CFAD managed 180 funds with assets totaling $101 million. About one-third of endow­ed funds are for parishes in the archdio­cese; a little more than a third are for Catholic cemeteries; about 20 percent are for schools; and the remaining are for various other Catholic organizations.

“CFAD has been a tremendously helpful resource to the St. Thomas Aquinas Pastorate,” Father Douglas Loecke notes in the report. “By investing in CFAD, we now have a better idea of how to budget given the fact that we know there will be a distribution coming to us regardless of what the market is doing. From our experience, CFAD has given us the professional guidance we needed in establishing our planned giving effort in the pastorate. … CFAD has allowed us to do what we could not do on our own.”

CFAD, the foundation for the Catholic community in the area of the archdiocese, assists donors who wish to sustain the faith by providing for the long-term needs of Catholic organizations within the Archdiocese of Dubuque. CFAD receives and manages assets via Catholic socially responsible investing to provide perpetual funding for evangelization, spiritual, educational and social service ministries within the 30-county area it serves.

CFAD’s full report can be accessed at OurCFAD.org/publications-reports or by requesting a copy by calling 563-552-0176. For more information, visit OurCFAD.org.