The Catholic Foundation for the Archdiocese of Dubuque

What it reported doing in 2024

The Catholic Foundation in the Archdiocese of Dubuque (CFAD) assists donors who wish to make a meaningful and lasting impact for Catholic organizations and those served by those organizations through the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. CFAD serves those in the 30 counties in northeast Iowa that make up the Archdiocese of Dubuque in three ways: charitable planning, investing, and grantmaking services.CFAD is separate from, yet collaborative with, the Archdiocese Corporation and holds donor advised funds and endowments for donors and Catholic parishes, schools, cemeteries, social services and other Catholic organizations. Statement continued on Schedule O.We work with donors who want their Catholic values perpetuated in a legacy gift and help them structure that in the best way for them, their family and the organization(s) they want to benefit. CFAD works with Catholic organizations, their donors and donors' advisors through its legacy planning services. In FY2025, 2 new organizations began the Legacy Planning Toolkit program through CFAD. More than 1,200 individuals sought information through CFAD's services regarding charitable giving along with 131 attending charitable planning education events.CFAD invests legacy gifts, donor advised funds and organization trust accounts in Catholic responsible choices. In FY2025, 25 new endowment funds, five new donor advised funds and 13 new agency trust accounts were added. Additionally, one future planned fund was established.Through donor agreements, CFAD grants legacy gifts as donors intend. In FY2025, $4,643,061 in grants were given from 290 funds to 193 organizations. The amount of grants to others in Part IX, line 1 represents distributions taken. Some organizations choose to not take a distribution but rather reinvest. These organizations are not reflected in the grant total.CFAD's vision is to endow financial support for our Catholic community; in other words, CFAD aims to sustain our Catholic organizations so that they can always carry out their missions to meet both spiritual and basic human needs in a manner that reflects Catholic values.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 76.7%; rating input score 77
• Program expense ratio: 94.4%; rating input score 94
• Fundraising efficiency: $144.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 93.2%; rating input score 93; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 62%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 29.23; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 2.2%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 22.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings