The Catholic Foundation of Ohio

Legal name: The Foundation of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311116640
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
614-443-8893
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$21,212,337
Expenses
$17,486,984
Assets
$288,957,521
Liabilities
$190,149,060

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LOREN P BROWN (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • LOREN P BROWN (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $370,881 total reported compensation
  • STEVEN HAGERDORN (COO): $208,316 total reported compensation
  • SCOTT HARTMAN (V.P. DEVELOPMENT): $202,335 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

In Christ, we transform generosity into real-world impact by investing in the future of parishes, education, vocations, and ministries in our Catholic community. In Christ, we transform generosity into real-world impact by investing in the future of parishes, education, vocations, and ministries in our Catholic community The Catholic Foundation exists to connect Catholics with the profound joy that comes with Christ-inspired generosity. We meet our donors wherever they are in their charitable journey and turn their gifts into real-world impact. As experts in philanthropy, we help our donors support their favorite causes through Catholic-aligned investments.

What it reported doing in 2024

The catholic foundation inspires philanthropy, invests and manages the assets entrusted to us, and distributes grants to nonprofit organizations in central Ohio and the united states. 912 organizations benefited from the 4,727 grants made from the foundation totaling $30,160,921 including agency grants of $15,400,947. The foundation is fortunate to work alongside the leadership of these organizations to inspire planned and current gifts to endowments, scholarships and donor advised funds. This year, 72 new funds were established and $27,622,846 was raised in new gifts including $11,795,732 in agency fund contributions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 97% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 85.5%; rating input score 86; 18th 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 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: 17.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 16.52; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.1% of revenue deployed · 86.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $15.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $371K · 31 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $127K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 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: 240 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 147 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.