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On Friday, May 16, 2025, an EF3 tornado struck St. Louis, causing over $1.6 billion in damage and five deaths—the city’s first deadly tornado since 1959. With peak winds of 152 mph, the storm traveled 23 miles, touching down in a more affluent area before destroying homes and businesses and taking lives in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. In response to the disaster, the city began organizing recovery efforts. Because of its nimbleness, the Incarnate Word Foundation (IWF) team – including their board members, families, and friends – was able to join quickly, providing food and cleaning supplies, and helping with tree removal and donation preparation and logistics at multiple aid hubs. “Sorting supplies and removing trees was good work.But being there to listen and to hug survivors is what mattered most.” – Sarah Banks With support from their sponsoring congregation, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, the IWF committed $250,000 in additional aid. The funds have helped purchase generators, vehicles, and a walk-in refrigerator, sustain summer camps and food programs, support building repairs, and organization relocations. The team also coordinated with funders and nonprofits (both locally and nationwide) to help generate financial support. A heartfelt note of gratitude goes out to the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities for their contributions to The Northside Resilience Fund as they swiftly get funds and support to the people most directly impacted. The team continues to be involved with area civic and religious leaders and institutions as part of the

On June 9, FADICA – Catholic Philanthropy Network awarded the St. Mary Magdalene Medal of Service to Anne Cullen Miller to celebrate her servant leadership and positive impact as president of the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota and her service as a FADICA board member.

The award was conveyed at FADICA’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Symposium on March 11. This prestigious lifetime achievement award recognizes visionary leadership, outstanding philanthropic initiative, and a deep spirit of service in advancing the renewal and vitality of the Catholic Church.

The award was conveyed during a particularly meaningful time and place, during FADICA’s 2024 Pilgrimage and Retreat in Rome, Italy in November. FADICA President and CEO Alexia Kelley and Board Chair Michael Wolohan presented the award on Wednesday, November 13 at a dinner for pilgrimage attendees and guests.

In November 2024, FADICA pilgrims attended a private audience with His Holiness Pope Francis at the apostolic palace in Vatican City. The audience was a blessed beginning to FADICA’s five-day Rome pilgrimage, in which FADICA members engaged multiple leaders at the Vatican on topics like safeguarding, global human development, faith consistent investing, and education and culture.

FADICA – Catholic Philanthropy Network was thrilled to convey the St. Mary Magdalene Medal of Service to Gabriela Smith—a FADICA member, board member, and the founder and executive chair of the Crimsonbridge Foundation—at a FADICA Advent gathering in Washington, DC, on December 12, 2023.

In early May, Alicia Simon and FADICA Board Chair Mike Wolohan traveled to Seattle to present the St. Joseph of Arimathea Medal of Service to Dick Abrams.

Rome – As the world commemorated the first World Day of the Prevention of, and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Violence on Friday, November 18th, simultaneous events marking this occasion took place in Rome. Colleen Crawford, Manager of FADICA’s and Safeguarding Initiative, was on the ground to witness this historic gathering.

Washington, DC – For more than 35 years, the Catholic Funding Guide has served grantseeking Catholic ministries, helping them connect with funders who share in their mission and priorities.   A project of FADICA, the Guide is now expanding to serve Catholic philanthropy broadly, including both grantmakers and grantseekers, by connecting each to relevant resources and building community online to support mission impact. Both funders and grantseekers can join the Guide’s community on the project’s website. First published in 1998 as a print only resource, FADICA took the resource online in 2010 and 10 years later began a complete renovation and reimagination. The Guide’s director, Jon Jakoblich, was hired in 2020 to lead that effort. Jakoblich built a new website, complete with a digital portal that allows grant seekers to search for funders, funders to search through projects posted by grant seekers, and a Knowledge Center of articles and videos detailing philanthropy best practices. “Faith based organizations have long been at the heart of the nonprofit sector, yet grant seeking remains a challenge,” Jakoblich says, “We renovated the Catholic Funding Guide not only to help address that challenge, but to give funders and grantseekers another point of connection through Amplify.” The Guide’s Amplify feature is designed support connection between funders and grantseekers with aligned priorities. Grantseekers are able post projects in need of funding, and funders can search and identify projects that match their priorities. Funders can then communicate directly with those ministries through the Amplify feature. Membership to the Catholic Funding Guide as a grantseeker

Washington, DC (February 11, 2022) — Three inspiring Catholic philanthropic leaders have been selected as recipients of the 2022 St. Katharine Drexel Award in Catholic Philanthropy. In honoring these awardees, FADICA celebrates their immeasurable contributions to the Church and their communities and commends their generous service to others.

“Each year, FADICA recognizes outstanding Catholic philanthropic leaders whose vocation of giving recall the spirit of St. Katharine Drexel,” said Alexia Kelley, President and CEO of FADICA, the leading Catholic-inspired philanthropic peer network. “The 2022 honorees reflect St. Katharine’s philanthropic approach through servant leadership and innovation for a vital Church and the common good,” Kelley continued.