When the Catholic Foundation started five years ago, I saw it as an opportunity to ensure the financial future of our parish. After careful study and with the consideration of our parish finance council, we started a general parish endowment fund in 2014 to provide a source of present and future income to support parish programs and activities.
We are fortunate that we had very generous donors who also saw the importance of investing money in an endowment to guarantee that their initial donation would grow and provide income into perpetuity. With an endowment, the principal is held intact and can grow with prudent investing, while still providing disbursements quarterly or annually.
Like me, these donors also saw the benefits of putting money with the Catholic Foundation: morally responsible investment management, lower fees, independence, and the assurance that their initial intent will be honored.
The value of our endowments has grown with a better than average return and also because of additional donations made to the principal, through bequests, gifts, and proceeds from some of our fundraising efforts, like the annual motorcycle ride.
