CATHOLIC UNITED FINANCIAL FOUNDATION
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Disaster response for people who have not other resources for recovery. Scholarship support for future Catholic Priests. Educational technology support for Catholic schools.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Catholic United Response
MISSION
To provide spiritual, emotional, and physical resources to those affected by natural disasters regardless of race, creed, religious preference or means.
VISION
To collaborate with the local community members, emergency service providers, churches and other volunteer organizations assisting in disasters in the recovery process.
Catholic Community Response is the face of the Catholic community in disaster relief, recovery and rebuilding. We will work with all volunteers regardless of their affiliation with our organization.
CORE VALUES
Called by Faith we demonstrate God’s healing grace through caring and sharing with those suffering from disasters. Bringing hope and relief to those in need.
CASE STATEMENT
Catholic United Financial Foundation is a 501© (3) non-profit founded in 1997, with the vision that together we can make a difference. The Catholic United Response program was created as a value added resource of our parent organization Catholic United Financial. Fraternalism has been the very core of Catholic United Financials existence since 1878, which is based on "Catholics giving back to their communities.” In the spirit of Matthew 25:40, Catholic United Response is dedicated to serving the less fortunate as we would serve Christ.
Monsignor Schuler Seminarian Fund
The Msgr. Richard J. Schuler Seminarian Charitable Fund is designed to provide grants to seminarians studying for the priesthood in the following Dioceses: St. Paul/Minneapolis, Crookston, Duluth, Fargo, Bismarck, La Crosse, New Ulm, Rapid City, Saint Cloud, Sioux Falls, Superior or Winona.
These grants are intended to help seminarians with such personal expense items as health and dental care, transportation, food and other expenses.
Grants from the Schuler fund allow seminarians to stay focused on their preparation and not worry about finances. In fifteen years, the Msgr. Schuler Trust, with the assistance of hundreds of donors and supporters, has awarded over 1,000 grants to seminarians totaling close to $400,000 in scholarships.
Technology, Chastity and Abstinence Grants
Purpose: "To support financially the spiritual, educational and social needs of the Catholic community where Catholic United Financial has a major presence.”
•Funding Priorities: Catholic Education, and Chastity and Abstinence.
•Geographical Focus: Areas where Catholic United Financial has a major presence in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North and South Dakota.
•Program Limitations/Restrictions: The Foundation does not fund individuals for Catholic education and/or chastity and abstinence.
•Grants for Catholic Education are restricted for technology purposes supporting Catholic schools, churches, and religious education programs. Technology grants are limited to updating/purchasing computer hardware, software, internet access and media technologies.
•Chastity & Abstinence Grants are restricted to Catholic churches, schools, religious education, and diocesan programs focusing on youth education. Grants are limited to providing financial support for professional speakers, educational materials, and/or programs related to promoting Chastity and Abstinence.
Areas of Interest:
•Technology: Applications that benefit the student population in the elementary grades.
•Chastity & Abstinence Programs: Applications that offer education to youth in a collaboration with other parishes, youth groups, schools, regional and/or diocesan wide efforts.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of entrance scholarships and awards and exit scholarships
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Men and boys
Related Program
Monsignor Schuler Seminarian Fund
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total number of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Students
Related Program
Monsignor Schuler Seminarian Fund
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Catholic United Response: Respond to every local disaster within the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin) and help to provide relief and assistance to victims of disasters.
Monsignor Schuler Fund: Award grants to every qualified seminarian applicant within our servicing area.
Technology and Chastity/Abstinence Grants: Award grants to every qualified school and/or parish within our servicing area.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Your investments provided grants to 166 Seminarians
87 Major Seminarians received grants totaling $34,800
79 Minor Seminarians received grants totaling $19,750
The Msgr. Schuler Seminarian Fund provided the largest amount in awards to the greatest number of seminarians since the inception of the fund. In 2013, almost $55,000 in awards was distributed to 166 seminarians studying to serve in the 12 diocesan areas of our Catholic community. As the number of young men entering seminaries has continued to grow in the last decade, the Schuler Seminarian Fund has provided more than $450,000 in scholarship support to more than 500 young men following God's calling to serve..
The Schuler Fund relies on donations from members like you, along with your parishes and councils, to build the endowment providing these awards.
Your participation provided almost $70,000 to 122 schools and parishes in support for education
85 Catholic schools received $42,703 in technology assistance
37 parishes and schools received $26,965 in support of chastity education
835 Catholic schools and parishes in our community have shared in more than $433,000 in grants made possible by your contributions. The grants have provided support for schools' educational technology and chastity education aimed at our young Catholics at the most critical times of their lives.
Your time, talents, and treasures provided volunteer hours to prepare and respond to disasters in our communities
8 community events promoted Disaster preparation, response and to recruit disaster volunteers
Catholic United Response helped our communities, both Catholic and others, prepare for potential disasters in addition to preparing to provide direct assistance to our neighbors affected by natural disasters. Our volunteers aid uninsured and in-need residents by providing clean up and demolition work of their homes destroyed and damaged by the floodwaters. Personal hygiene kits created during Gather4Good events are distributed to area residents dislocated from their homes.
Your contributions help strengthen the Catholic United Financial Foundation
72 Charitable Life Policies with future benefits to Churches, Schools, & other charitable purposes of $7,502,839
99 Charitable Deferred Annuity Funds currently valued at $2,152,660 and growing annually
25 Donor Advised Funds with more than $2 million is assets and future benefits
Members (like you) created Donor Advised Funds and provided donations creating charitable annuities and life insurance policies, which benefit the parishes, schools, and charities of their choice. By using financial and estate planning assistance from Catholic United Financial sales representatives, these donors were able to substantially increase the value of their donations. The Foundation can help you to make permanent and lasting plans to insure that your charitable desires are carried out during and after your lifetime.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Grants and support will continue to be made through contribution to support the Msgr. Schuler Seminarian Award, technology & chastity grants to strengthen Catholic schools, and to assist in the Catholic United Disaster Response. Donations are made to support many orgnaizations in the future through gifts of cash or gifts made possible through your financial or estate plans.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Catholic United Financial Foundation has...
Provided almost $600,000 in direct support for the educational needs of the Seminarians who are being prepared to lead our area parishes.
Awarded more than $500,000 to the Catholic schools and parishes to strengthen the Catholic based educational opportunities which are fundamental to our mission.
Responded to natural disasters in our area removing debris and cleaning homes of all of our neighbors effected by floods, wind damage and other disasters.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
CATHOLIC UNITED FINANCIAL FOUNDATION
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
Mr. Michael Ahles
Catholic United Financial
Term: 2020 -
Mr. Paul Zastrow
Catholic United Financial
Term: 2020 -
Robb Smith
Catholic United Financial
Michael McGovern
Kathy Hemmelgarn
Joseph Kueppers
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Michael Schmitz
Mark Zeman
Zeman Construction
Thomas Thompson
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/08/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.