CFAD Blog

November serves as the poignant month when we collectively reflect on the lives of saints and commemorate the departed souls of our cherished loved ones. During this solemn period, we seek the intercession of the saints and offer prayers for our departed, aspiring for their journey to heaven.

In the humble capacity of my role, I am privileged to engage with donors as they make plans regarding their own mortality, specifically when they’re looking at a planned gift—a gift in their will or another thoughtful arrangement. Recently, I met with a man who had decided to give to his parish endowment fund when he leaves this world. As with many people, most of his assets are “non-cash.” His wife died this year, his children are taken care of and he wanted to do something transformational for his church. He attributed his community, and specifically his parish community, as his lasting family, being there as he grieved his wife. He decided to make a future gift from his will combined with life insurance.

That same day as I was driving back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa after meeting with him, as I usually do, I listened to podcasts. Maybe not so coincidentally, the younger adult guest on the show was talking about losing her brother. She described how she just wanted to be cared for during that difficult time and how important her church and faith played a part in that care. The future gift from the donor I met with will help people like her in eastern Iowa during their important times of need.

Most people don’t like to talk about death. It’s not something we can control. What we can do, though, is plan so our decisions are reflected in what marks the end of our time on Earth. What mark will you leave?

The founder of the duty-free shops and once-billionaire Chuck Feeney who recently died said, “I want the last check I write to bounce.” He was frugal and determined to give his wealth away while alive (and did so anonymously). He credits his Catholic schooling and upbringing with his charitable values and noted people who give during their life, “will have a lot of fun doing so.” While most don’t have the wealth he had, anyone with a charitable heart can take two ideas from him: plan and joy.

CFAD’s been handing out mini Almond Joys at events to get out the message that we want to help people “plan joyfully.” What do we mean?

We can help people with an intentional giving plan so that they can thoughtfully discern their most joyful gifts—to their family, friends and causes they love—all that aligns with Catholic values.

Our joyful roadmap includes:

• Basics on accessing resources and evaluating finances

• Exercises on focusing your values to guide your plan

• Tools on engaging and communicating with family and causes

• Options on structuring giving

• And more, all organized to help you more easily navigate a positive, lasting legacy that aligns with your values while having joy from giving

If you’re not sure where to start or have started and stopped, please contact us to help bring joy to the process. We're a phone call away and reguluarly travel the 30 northeast Iowa counties that make up the Archdiocese of Dubuque. And if you like Almond Joys (they’re one of my favorites), we’ll bring those out, too!

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

Community. We’re all part of many types of them. From a Catholic community foundation perspective, this could mean the community support we find in our parishes or Catholic schools, from caregivers and fellow residents at a Catholic healthcare organization or something similar. We support each other in community. Our faith-based gatherings in these communities nourish our souls. Jesus then asks us to be Christ to others.

Our Catholic community gives our soul strength. Many I talk with recall when their church or school was the primary community for families. It strengthened marriages. It brought families closer together in very meaningful ways. This carried out to other communities. While that may not be as pronounced as it was generations ago, it’s still there. My faith community is my second family. Many in my parish would agree.

While in some places it may seem Catholic communities are declining, it’s hopeful to know that the US Catholic population increased by 2 million in the last 10 years, according to Catholic News Agency. It’s interesting to read about demographics of our Catholic community throughout the world, which is overall growing. We are a communal, universal church.

Being here to grow in our faith so that we can be sure to take care of others is important for our Catholic community. CFAD’s mission is to multiply charitable resources for maximum benefit to our Catholic community. As we enter the last few months of the year, people begin to focus more on what that means to them and their giving. CFAD has many resources to help with this. Please explore this website or contact us. Our donor advised funds and charitable gift annuities are just two of many approaches that may be right for you as you seek how to best give charitably to our community.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

August is National Make a Will Month. Around 60% of U.S. adults do not have a will. Reasons frequently cited for this include not enough assets, being too busy and thinking it’s costly. The benefits of creating or updating an outdated will outweigh any of these reasons.

I encourage anyone in need of a new or updated will to check out CFAD's resources on will planning. And to take it a step further, think about creating a Catholic plan—one that ensures that the end of your life is filled with faith as all the years before. What does this mean? In addition to planning where your assets go, who will care for your dependents and who you trust to carry out your financial wishes, also consider planning:

• Funeral and burial wishes: work with your parish and funeral home now to have your funeral Mass and final resting place planned. What a gift to loved ones to have this already in order.

• Medical directives: this helps your loved ones and healthcare providers know the type of care you prefer. See the Archdiocese of Dubuque’s resources for this.

• A legacy letter or video: a personal message regarding your faith and values, sharing stories how you lived that out and want to be remembered.*

• Charitable giving: name your Catholic parish, school, social service or other organization in your will to carry on your legacy and values; if you give this gift to an endowment, it will support the cause until Jesus comes again.*

*CFAD has resources regarding the last two items. We’d be honored to provide you with options to help you ensure your values and legacy are demonstrated in your plans. We encourage you to share these with your tax, accounting and/or legal advisors as we do not provide specific advice.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

July brings about a new fiscal year for CFAD. With that comes various organizational items, such as a new budget, a new marketing plan and new board and committee members.

CFAD is excited to welcome four new board members: Jacquelyn Arthur, attorney in Mason City; Jasmin Cisneros, accountant in Marshalltown; Tony Monaghan, financial advisor in Manchester; and Kevin Schmitt, accountant (retired) in Dubuque. You can learn more about these individuals who volunteer their time to govern CFAD along with our nine other board members.

I truly appreciate board members’ willingness to serve and know first-hand from boards on which I’ve served the commitment it takes. I know many pastoral and finance councils and boards have new people joining them. Thank you to all of those who have said “yes” when asked to serve in these roles or who have volunteered without being asked. Our Church relies on the many parts in the One Body. Blessings on the rest of your summer!

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

The recent report, “What Americans Think About Philanthropy and Nonprofits” conducted by Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy noted, “Americans trust nonprofits more than government or business, but levels of trust in all three sectors of society are low. Religious charitable organizations are seen as the most trustworthy and transparent type of philanthropic entity, followed closely by Community Foundations.” CFAD is a community foundation for the Catholic religion. We have myriad resources to answer and guide your charitable journey.

The report goes on to say that those who consider themselves religious have a strong, positive correlation with charitable giving and volunteering. I found it interesting that many people surveyed did not see how they are helped everyday by charities. “When we asked respondents whether they or anyone in their immediate family had received services from a charitable organization or nonprofit in the past year, only 5.4 percent indicated that they had. Given the many ways individuals engage with nonprofit organizations in everyday life (e.g., religious services, educational programming, beautification projects, museum programs, theatrical productions), it appears that many Americans do not recognize their own engagement with nonprofits or understand the nonprofit services they are unknowingly receiving regularly.”

Churches, Catholic schools and Catholic social service organizations are nonprofits, and donations to them (and to CFAD) are tax-deductible. Together, we all continue the ultimate focus of Jesus’ mission and how we carry that out at our individual organizations in the Archdiocese.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

At the end of this month we will welcome the newly ordained priests in our Archdiocese. We appreciate their discernment to this vocation and saying yes to God’s call in this way. Over the years and through ArchdioceseOne, many donors throughout the Archdiocese have supported our seminarians. Thank you!

As good stewards of these donated funds, the Archdiocese needed to make wise financial investments for long-term sustainability. It needed to be an investment that offered long-term growth as well as regular, stable distributions. Depending on a seminarian’s existing education, it can take six to eight years of further education and formation before becoming a priest.

In 2013 the Archdiocese moved the “Archdiocese of Dubuque Seminarian Education Endowment Fund” to CFAD, a separate charitable foundation that specializes in Catholic charitable planning, investing and grantmaking. Permanently endowed in Catholic responsible investments, the fund makes regular distributions each year to help with the costs of seminarian education, which includes tuition, room and board.

Archdiocesan priest Fr. Michael McAndrew, ordained in 2019, summed it well: “I think that having the ability to go to seminary and having CFAD and other people helping to fund my seminary education was a great gift for me. I was in debt from my previous education and knowing that I wasn’t going to incur more debt or that I wasn’t going to have to pay for my subsequent education allowed me to discern it more openly. It took it out of the equation. My heart was free to make that decision without anything else rather than just the pull of God on my heart. I’m just so grateful to the people of the Archdiocese for giving us that gift. I love those sacramental moments and getting to work with people to be creative and try to build the kingdom of God together. That’s awesome as a priest. I love being a priest.” (Watch Fr. Michael and others talk more about vocations.)

Congratulations to our new priests! Contact me if you’d like to learn more about helping our seminarians.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

Happy Easter! What a gorgeous weekend we had to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. Spring is everywhere – including the first garage sale I’ve noted. It’s happening as I write this at the home across the street from the St. Patrick Parish Center (Cedar Rapids), where CFAD’s offices are located.

I had a garage sale as a kid with my best friend. We did pretty well, especially since my parents had been trying to sell a car with no luck. Then it sold at my garage sale, and they gave me a commission! These days, I find it easier to donate my items to a thrift store and take the tax write-off. We all have different motivations and different strategies depending on our life circumstances.

Spring also means it’s my dog Mokie’s birthday. She turns 14 on April 29. I wanted a dog so badly growing up, but my sister was highly allergic to them. As an adult, I resisted my husband’s and oldest daughter’s pleas to get a dog because of the time commitment in caring for a pet. I eventually caved and am glad I’ve had a furry pal greeting me every day. Again, different motivations and life circumstances.

These basic examples simply show one never knows when someone may be in the important process of gift planning or creating or updating a will and related documents. The motivators and circumstances could range from becoming a first-time parent to an empty nester to a widow/widower, among many others. For those who want to make a charitable impact in carrying out Jesus’ mission on Earth, know CFAD is here with our planning tools to help individuals and Catholic organizations.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

When people hear “The Catholic Foundation in the Archdiocese of Dubuque” or “CFAD,” they often think of a place for investing funds. This is true. About half of the parishes, half of the cemeteries and three-fourths of Catholic schools invest with us. Investment services are one part of what we do — ensuring funds are invested in proper, well-managed portfolios.

Our grantmaking services may be the next aspect people think of, although that gets mixed in with the investing services sometimes. CFAD has myriad funds that vary depending on a Catholic organization’s or individual donor’s goals. And having CFAD administer those funds helps our clients, too, such as tracking distribution amounts or adhering to applicable fund laws.

Our planning services are probably the least known, although we’re trying to change that. CFAD has numerous resources and information on gift planning – making the most of charitable resources. From creating giving plans to promoting legacy giving, we hope to help more groups and individuals with their wishes to help the Catholic organizations and the people they serve in the 30 northeast counties of Iowa.

Our recently published fiscal year 2022 annual report helps tell this story of our services this past year. We thank you, our Catholic community partners, in trusting us to steward monies in funds to maximize benefits for the Catholic churches, schools, cemeteries and service organizations.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

There’s a lot to celebrate in February at CFAD. Every staff person has a February birthday. While a lot of people bemoan the month since they’re tired of winter, we’re all happy for the blessing of another trip around the sun. It also means more treats than usual, like cake.

One of my favorites is red velvet cake. The other night I was savoring every morsel of the confection since I rarely have it. I was thinking (and yes, this really was what I was thinking) how each crumb is nice alone, but not nearly as substantial as a full bite. For some reason, my mind then wandered to our wonderful donors and beneficiaries at CFAD. They understand they could go it alone and that would be fine. However they choose to be part of something more to make what they’re already doing even more impactful. The goal of what they want to do individually still gets accomplished, but with CFAD’s charitable planning, investing and grantmaking services, even more can be done for our Catholic parishes, schools and social service organizations.

The more we work together, the more CFAD can help Catholic organizations and individuals learn about potential giving strategies that benefit all involved. We can leverage the assets entrusted to us to access investments for our clients that are reserved for larger portfolios. We can save administrative time and stay on top of distribution laws for granting. The list could go on, and it’s all to multiply charitable resources for maximum benefit to our Catholic community.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

Here at CFAD, we see ourselves as an extension of parishes’ and Catholic organizations’ staff when it comes to questions on planned giving, investing and granting, all which furthers their missions. We ask our patron saint, St. Katharine Drexel, for her intercession to God every day that we may serve our constituents well, and by doing so, serve God well. St. Katharine Drexel founded the Sisters of Blessed Sacrament and had a deep devotion to the Eucharist. Our staff try to follow her example and regularly go to Eucharistic Adoration, praying various petitions, including how to best meet our constituents’ needs. CFAD’s staff members commit themselves to helping our Catholic community outside of work, too.

Operations Manager Michael Becker serves his parish, St. Pius X, Cedar Rapids, as lector, Eucharistic minister to the homebound, pianist, and Buildings and Grounds volunteer. He currently is enrolled in the spiritual director program with the Archdiocese of Dubuque, which, upon completion, he plans to offer direction in his spare time.

Administrative Assistant Jacquie Buschette has served her parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Hiawatha, as a member of the Finance Council, Stewardship Committee and Cleaning Committee.

Executive Director Michele Brock volunteers at her parish, St. Joseph, Marion, as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, member of the Stewardship Committee and member of the parish school’s Marketing and Strategic Planning Committees. She also serves as a board member of the Newman Catholic Student Center at the University of Iowa and a volunteer with the Catherine McAuley Center.

Please know we’re here to help you when it comes to Catholic charitable planning, investing and grantmaking!

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

I’m the youngest of five girls. At Christmastime growing up, I remember sitting backward on our living room couch so that I could look out the window and watch for my oldest sisters, who were on their way home from college. To this day with tears in my eyes, I can still feel the anticipation in my heart of seeing them and having the family together again to celebrate this joyous time of year. As an adult, while certainly excited, admittedly those feelings aren’t as strong now when we all get together. Am I more distracted? For sure. Do I take as much time to reflect on the possibilities of our gathering? Not as much.

Advent prepares us for our Savior’s birth and ultimately His second coming. It’s difficult to comprehend an event not as tangible to us as a sibling homecoming. But we can try. We have the opportunity every time we receive the Eucharist to tangibly welcome Jesus. We unite ourselves with Him now and anticipate the ultimate Christmas celebration in Heaven. I can only imagine that the events that bring me joy here will pale in comparison.

The Eucharist inspires the mission of CFAD. By giving to sustainable funds for parishes, vocations, Catholic schools and social services, you support this unification with Christ through Mass, education about the Eucharist and Works of Mercy in our community. My wish for you this season is to set aside distractions and reflect on the gift of the Eucharist – that the anticipation built during Advent brings a full heart and tears of joy in receiving Jesus. Merry Christmas!

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

The official season of counting our blessings and being thankful is upon us. I believe gratitude is the foundation for a culture of giving. One of my favorite writers and theologians is Henry Nouwen who said, “Every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love.”

Underlying our faith is the Eucharist, our spiritual nourishment or Holy Communion uniting us with Jesus. The term “Eucharist” originates from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving. So for thousands and thousands of years, people have partaken in this type of thanksgiving, which has called them to be grateful for Jesus’ sacrifice, tell the world about our Savior and share and care for what God has entrusted to us.

I’m blessed in my role to interact with people who acknowledge blessings from God, and through this gratitude, help others. Today and every day, I encourage each of us to practice gratitude and continue to build a culture of giving for our Works of Mercy.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

This fall has been absolutely spectacular—from long-lasting changes in the colors of the canopy to beautiful weather. It just seems a lengthier fall to enjoy than usual. CFAD Operations Manager Michael Becker and I visited some organizations in the northeast corner of Iowa to discuss the foundation. No matter the season, we’re always happy to visit with organizations or individuals interested in learning how CFAD can assist them in helping our Catholic community.

Speaking of our Catholic community, congratulations to Michael and his wife Kara on the arrival of their first child Elijah Hayes Becker born October 10. We are thrilled to welcome him to the world. As our priests and deacons often say at baptisms, it’s our role as Catholics to support parents in raising children in the faith and to know the love of Jesus. Please join me in praying for the Beckers and all new parents that they may seek and find that support in their Catholic community.

This community of course includes our priests and deacons, and while we appreciate them always, we acknowledged Clergy Appreciation Day, which occurred October 9. We are grateful for their service to God and his people through their vocation.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that made me laugh, but fittingly said, “Do you follow Jesus this closely?” Faith most certainly is a journey, and as I walk more on that journey, it’s amazing how much more I see God’s hand at work. An important meeting gets postponed and then that free time allows me to be with a friend who suddenly needs help. A denied request leads to a more fitting opportunity. . . A death leads to new life, we hope for both the deceased and through his or her legacy left for others.

This is not always an easy journey, but that’s why Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

More bluntly, I need Jesus and I see this more clearly as I walk in faith. Our Catholic churches, schools and related organizations work diligently to shepherd, teach and provide resources for our faith journeys. Their doors are open to all who seek the rest Jesus offers if they choose to follow Him. The support donors provide now and for the future means so much to me and to our Catholic organizations. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to express how grateful I am.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

I tend to be more of a Martha than a Mary. I know this about the temperament God gave me, so work to balance it. Eucharistic adoration is one way I’ve “stopped” to just be with Jesus and listen to Him. It’s amazing what I hear! At CFAD, we’ve taken extra care to emphasize the “C” in CFAD — Catholic — with a large part of that being our focus on the Eucharist. It’s even inspired our mission of multiplying charitable resources for maximum benefit to our Catholic community. We draw hope from Jesus' miracle of the Multiplication of Loaves. Jesus accepted the gift of bread from a boy in the crowd, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples to eat and distribute to the hungry crowd of over 5,000. With that inspiration, CFAD:

• Enhances people's giving to the fullest by working with them on charitable plans

• Grows this giving (tax-free) over time through a portfolio of Catholic responsible, diversified investments

• Distributes grants regularly from these invested funds to support the missions of Catholic causes

We are honored and humbled to work with donors and Catholic organizations as they look to sustain the future of the faith by planning in the present. Thank you for all you do, like Martha, and all that you are, like Mary.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director

My husband and I celebrated 26 years of marriage on July 20. We recently revised our estate plans as our will was more than 20 years old and pretty basic – all that we needed as a young couple. With blessings of two children, good careers, a home and retirement savings and our church and other charities in which we’ve become involved, our efforts to practice good stewardship led us to the decision for the updates. We used it as an opportunity for reflection of our blessings and the legacy we want to leave.

"We do not keep them from our children; we recount them to the next generation,
The praiseworthy deeds of the LORD and his strength, the wonders that he performed."
Psalm 78.4

We utilized several of CFAD’s tools during this time and it really made for a fulfilling process. If you have reason to modify your estate plans, I invite you to explore our resources. We’d be honored to assist you and/or work with your advisors; please contact us.

-Michele Brock, Executive Director