The Catholic Community Foundation News

Catholic Community Foundation Forms to Serve Southeastern Wisconsin

July 1, 2001 – Milwaukee, WI. The Catholic Community Foundation, designed to fund causes in line with the mission of the Catholic Church, began operation on July 1, 2001.

The Catholic Community Foundation will serve the needs of individuals and families who wish to make a lasting, growing contribution to the advancement of Catholic values by helping donors create a lasting legacy. The foundation's goal is to increase the amount and effectiveness of philanthropy flowing to causes that support the mission of the Catholic Church in southeastern Wisconsin.

The foundation will also assist Catholic parishes in the archdiocese manage their long-term investment and endowment funds wisely, easily and cost-effectively. Investments will be professionally managed within a policy recognizing Catholic social responsibility.

Joan Feiereisen, director of development for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, will serve as the foundation's first president. "The foundation provides an opportunity for an individual to leave a lasting legacy of faith," Feiereisen said.

Similar to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Jewish Community Foundation, the Catholic Community Foundation is a community foundation, meaning that donors have the opportunity of setting up individual funds from which contributions can be restricted to specific purposes or a fund that provides unrestricted grants to causes supporting the Church's mission.

The foundation is governed by a board of directors appointed by Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B. The board chairman is Stephen N. Graff of Elm Grove, Wis. Graff is the former managing partner of the Milwaukee office Arthur Andersen, and is a member of St. Mary's Parish in Elm Grove.

"The Catholic Community Foundation fulfills a need for those individuals in southeastern Wisconsin who want to support the work of the Church and establish a way to do this that will survive well into the future," Graff said. "The interests of donors will be well represented by a board of lay and religious leaders from throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee."