The Catholic Community Foundation
Legal name: Archdiocese of Milwaukee Catholic Community Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 392005163
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Phone
- 414.431.6402
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Foundations
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,480,199
- Expenses
- $3,431,206
- Assets
- $175,853,809
- Liabilities
- $105,680,986
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- TONY NGUYEN (PRESIDENT)
- MARY ELLEN MARKOWSKI (EMERITUS DIRECTOR/PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MARY ELLEN MARKOWSKI (EMERITUS DIRECTOR/PRESIDENT): $244,574 total reported compensation
- JOHN BLICKLE (CONTROLLER): $143,943 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Catholic Community Foundation fosters enduring generosity by promoting philanthropy, developing and managing charitable funds, and providing professional, socially responsible investment management to support Catholic ministries, parishes, and agencies in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
What it reported doing in 2024
The foundation distributed $2,357,166 to 132 organizations/programs in fiscal year 2024-2025 focusing on four grant priorities: 1) providing education - the foundation supports catholic schools and religious education programs that provide formation in kindergarten through twelfth grade. 2) leadership development - parishes, schools and agencies must have leaders who are able to engage people in creating a shared vision for the future while developing sound strategies and infrastructures to acheive the vision. 3) community building - the foundation supports initiatives that strengthen families, parishes, and those suffering from poverty, discrimination, and violence. 4) health care - through a fund established by the st. Anthony foundation, the foundation supports those organizations that are engaged in providing health care services in the city of milwaukee, with particular attention being given to the central portions of the city that were formerly served by st. Anthony hospital. The board of directors gives final approval to all grant distributions.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 63% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 93% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 78
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 60.9%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 73.7%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 95.1%; rating input score 95; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 59.5%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 51.25; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 60.9% of revenue deployed · 73.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $245K · 20 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $119K reported
- Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 90 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 89 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.