The Catholic Community Foundation of Mid-Michigan (the “Foundation”) was incorporated in 2006 for the purpose of advancing the outreach of the Church in central Michigan. By supporting individual parishes, Catholic institutions and Diocesan ministries, the Foundation is able to help the Church better serve the needs of its parishioners. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is governed by an independent board of trustees.
Most of the funds of the Foundation are “restricted” endowments, with distributions designated by donors to specific ministries or organizations. The Foundation’s endowments support parishes and individuals across the Saginaw Diocese by providing ongoing funding for religious education, priest retirement, seminarian education, cemeteries, faith formation, and other ministries.
The Foundation has a modest amount of grant money available for distribution. The following policies and procedures have been adopted in managing grant distributions.
Policy
All grant requests and distributions require the review and approval of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation. The Grants Committee shall assist the Board of Trustees by:
- Administering the grant procedures
- Reviewing the qualifications of applicants
- Researching grant requests to ensure they further the mission and goals of the Foundation
- Making grant recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The Grants Committee will first enlist the advice and assistance from the Diocese of Saginaw Office of Christian Services and other Diocesan offices as necessary to match available CCFMM distributions with needs in the Saginaw Diocese. Should available funds go unused, the Grants Committee may solicit and advertise available funds. Unused distributions can be held until appropriate uses are determined.
Requests shall be limited to those that will better serve the spiritual, educational, health and social needs of the people served by the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, or otherwise further the mission and goals of the Foundation and the Church.
Grants shall not be made to individuals, but rather to ministry programs, charitable projects or institutions that are qualified under 501(c)(3) or a similar provision of the Internal Revenue Code.
Preference will be given to one-time gifts to help initiate new programming, and to programming that is Diocesan-wide in its nature and impact versus programming that is parish-specific.
Procedures
- Requests shall be submitted on the form – “Application for Financial Support” – available from the Foundation. The form should be signed by the highest ranking officer of the grant-seeking institution as well as by its board chair.
- The application is to be submitted to the Executive Director, Catholic Community Foundation of Mid-Michigan, P.O. Box 6883, Saginaw, MI 48608-6883.
The Grant Committee shall review the application(s), may request additional information from the grant-seeking institution, and shall recommend acceptance, rejection or change of request to the Board of Trustees. - The Executive Director, Grant Committee, or other members of the Board of Trustees may request an interview(s) of the appropriate representatives of the project or requesting organization during the review process.
- A list of the organization’s board members or other governing body and an annual operating budget shall accompany each request.
- The Board of Trustees will review and act upon grant applications and the recommendations of the Grants Committee.
- The Executive Director or an officer of the Foundation shall inform the project director of the acceptance or rejection of the grant request.
- Monies for approved applications will be disbursed by the Foundation following a review to ensure funds are sourced from an appropriate Foundation account(s).
- Within 60 days of the end of completed projects, or no less than annually for ongoing projects, a written report outlining the use of the distributed funds shall be forwarded to the Executive Director.
- Funds approved and distributed for projects, but unused, shall be returned to the Foundation.
The Foundation should be notified by the recipient organization and given the opportunity to be, or not be, included in any promotional materials or press releases related to the program funded in whole or in part by the Foundation.