Washington, D.C. — The Joseph Family Foundation of Diamond Bar, California, the Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst Foundation of Naples, Florida, the Doty Family Foundation of Fairfield, Connecticut, and the Big Shoulders Fund of Chicago were among those grant makers welcomed this summer to the FADICA membership.
“We are delighted and warmly applaud these new additions to the expanding FADICA network,” said Francis J. Butler, the organization’s President. “They bring a depth of experience, especially in Catholic education that will enrich FADICA’s programs and grant making collaboration”, he added.
FADICA has a membership of some fifty private foundations and five individual donors whose U.S. based giving alone totals over a quarter billion dollars yearly.
The organization was founded over three decades ago, and functions as a meeting place for conferences, research, and information exchange on Catholic philanthropy.
Through FADICA foundations and donors are also able to develop grant making partnerships with other members around innovative projects of mutual interest.
Currently FADICA is exploring ways in which the membership can work together to promote more innovative initiatives in the field of Catholic education (K-8).
Earlier this year FADICA sponsored a national conference discussing the current plight of parochial schools and new measures underway to strengthen and improve them. Members of FADICA are also working together to help the church with urgent needs.
In recent days, eleven members of the FADICA organization have joined their energies to help religious communities of women in New Orleans rebuild their ministries. The partnership has donated some $4.3 million to support projects in New Orleans that range from the reestablishment of daycare centers for the poor to the restoration of schools.
The foundations newly incorporated into the official membership of FADICA this June have diverse funding interests. Historically, they have placed Catholic schools among their philanthropic priorities.
The Joseph Family Foundation, for example, has supported the Catholic Education Foundation of Los Angeles and several inner-city Catholic high schools in the Los Angeles area.
The Big Shoulders Fund, the creation of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernadin, is a network of Chicago donors who this year will award over $11 million to area Catholic schools there.
Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst have been instrumental in supporting Catholic causes across the globe. Mr. Rauenhorst is a retired executive in the construction business and is a trustee of the University of St. Thomas and Marquette University.
The Doty Family Foundation maintains interests in Catholic higher education and the other church-related programs including the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and missionary work in Asia.
