November 5, 1998 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Lay members of the Roman Catholic Church have formed a community foundation to raise money for non-profit organizations throughout the nation.
The National Catholic Community Foundation, in Millersville, Md., bills itself as the first Catholic community foundation that is national in scope. Most community foundations solicit contributions and concentrate their giving in a local or regional area. The goal of the National Catholic Community Foundation is to provide Catholics who do not have the means to start their own private foundations an alternative approach.
The foundation was co-founded by Dana P. and Edward H. Robinson, brothers whose family operates the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, in Wilmington, Del. The Raskob Foundation is making a $1-million grant over five years to the new Catholic group — if the organization can match it with money from other sources. In addition, 12 Catho- lic organizations have contributed $10,000 each to get the community foundation started.
Edward Robinson says that the motivation for starting the community foundation is to move the driving force of philanthropy away from the needs of fund raisers and toward the desires of individual donors. The community foundation’s “primary purpose is to give opportunities to donors, not ministries,” he says. “We’re trying to put the emphasis on individuals to have greater flexibility, to get engaged.”
Donors can disburse grants through the foundation in several ways. One is by setting up a donor-advised fund, which allows donors to recommend which organizations should receive grants. An initial contribution of at least $10,000 is required.
Other options, all requiring a minimum $50,000 initial contribution, are a designated-beneficiary fund, which allows donors to give money to one or more specific organizations; a field-of-interest fund, which supports groups whose work reflects a donor’s interests; and an undesignated fund, which allows the foundation’s Board of Trustees to determine how to distribute the donor’s money.
Grant recipients are not required to be Catholic non-profit organizations, but their missions must be consistent with Catholic teachings. A committee has been set up by the community foundation to review all grants and to make sure that they meet this criterion.
For more information, contact Edward H. Robinson, President, National Catholic Community Foundation, 1120C Benfield Boulevard, Millersville, Md. 21108; (410) 729-3177; e-mail info@nccfcommunity.org; World-Wide Web site: http://www.nccfcommunity.org.
