News From CCF-LA | February 17, 2022 |
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Dreams Can Come True
(A Catholic School Turn Around)
If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a whole community to run a school. St. Jane Frances de Chantal School is growing and becoming a stronger community each day.
However, we didn't start off that way. Four years ago, our enrollment was at 183 students and after having a turnover of principals, the school dynamic had changed. Our school was in debt due to overstaffing and there was a real risk of losing more families.
The teachers and I worked together to create a new future for our school. We compiled a "Dream School Wish List" and got to work. Some items were as easy as planting some flowers for curb appeal, some items were practical like a new math curriculum, and some were really reaching like new flooring and lighting in all our classrooms. We did what we could on our own and wrote grants for the rest. We worked toward our goals every day.
Our community has grown closer over the past four years by forming school families and participating in community building events. We have invited parishioners and neighboring high schools to join our efforts which has brought so much support and love to our campus from the very first day of school.
Our teachers work tirelessly to go above and beyond the call of duty to create an engaging and rigorous academic program. Little by little we are making our school and the world a more beautiful place to be. We have checked a lot of items off our dream list and our school has grown to 255 students despite the pandemic.
We have received so much support from the Onward Leaders, the ADLA, our parish community, the Smet Family, the Benson Family, the Shea Foundation, and the Catholic Education Foundation. We will be forever grateful for those donors who believed in our vision for the school. Here's to another year of growth and community! #WeAreSJF
Ashley Giron
Principal
St. Jane Frances de Chantal School
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School Days,
Good Old
Golden Rule Days
With much excitement and fanfare, our Catholic schools were celebrating Catholic Schools week in early February!
I look back with fond memories on my own Catholic school education and wonder how my life would have turned out without that experience.
A Catholic school is the incubator for building character, ethics awareness and leadership skills. That’s in addition to the basic competencies needed to read, articulate, write, speak, calculate numbers, and think.
Gone are the 50+ students in a classroom with a stern but caring teacher in a nun’s habit. Gone are the days when the pastor hand-delivered the report card with a relevant comment, and you prayed it was good.
Sports were limited to the playground, art and music were after school options, everyone brought a brown bag for lunch, and each class had Mass once a week in the parish.
Today, Catholic schools have evolved and adapted to a changing world with smaller classroom sizes, individual attention, competitive sports programs, with art and music programs integrated into the daily classroom routine and a focus on STEM keeping students on the edge of technology - the language of generations today.
Most important of all, is the continuing commitment to teaching the golden rule – having respect, love, and compassion for all.
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Kathy Anderson
President and Executive Director
Catholic Community Foundation LA
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From The Family Office:
The clients that make up the CCF-LA Family Office overwhelmingly support Catholic education: 97% of total funds granted went to support Catholic education at the elementary, high school, and collegiate levels.
Catholic schools are one of the crown jewels of the Catholic Church in the US and our clients take great pride in them. Leaders like Ashley Giron, the Principal of St. Jane Frances de Chantal School, make our clients proud because donors want to see their funds being used to successfully increase enrollment and provide state of the art facilities and resources for our students.
And the children are both grateful and made aware of their benefactors. One Family Office client, who supports a handful of particularly underserved Catholic schools in the Los Angeles area, related to me recently she was brought to tears by feedback she recently received from one student.
When asked, this young student said she thought this donor supported her school “because she wants to make my life better.” How right she was. And what a joy it is to be involved.
I remember my Catholic school days well, and I am grateful for them: Catholic school uniforms, weekly mass, sports gear for the Incarnation Eagles (Go Eagles!), serving as an altar boy. After all these years, I feel fortunate to continue to be involved in Catholic schools through the work of our clients.
Matt Moreno
Head of Family Office
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From The Development Department:
We work with our individual clients to administer their Catholic school giving, arrange school tours, and provide information on the schools they support. For our Catholic school clients, we participate and sponsor their events, assist in documenting their funds with us, and offer support for their development efforts.
- Over half of the number of grants issued by CCF-LA each year support scholarship programs, faculty and staff, and school facilities for Catholic schools and their dollar far exceeds 75% of all grants made.
- The Catholic Education Foundation (CEF) was one of our first clients when we opened for business almost seven years ago.
- We manage charitable, donor-designated agency funds for 9 local Catholic schools and administer annual scholarship programs for another 8 schools.
Our high level of client service and deep knowledge of our Catholic school community makes CCF-LA the perfect resource for donors and beneficiaries alike!
Below is a sampling of our Catholic school clients, for a more extensive list, please visit the website or ask for our Annual Statement.
Endowment Fund Management:
St. Philip the Apostle School, Pasadena
Cathedral High School, Los Angeles
Don Bosco Technical Institute, Rosemead
Sts. Peter and Paul School, Wilmington
Scholarship Fund Management:
St Mary Magdalen School, Camarillo
American Martyrs School, Manhattan Beach
St. Patrick School, North Hollywood
Damien High School, La Verne
Timithie Norman
Head of Development Dept.
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From the Desk of the CFO
The returns in our pooled funds this year are a result of the stock market selloff in January, following a strong overall performance in 2021. For the pooled funds we manage, the Balanced Pool portfolio returned -4.22% in January and the Intermediate Fund pool returned -1.98% for the month. The current yields on the STIF and Cash accounts remain at 0.02% - 0.05%.
The markets suffered their worst month since the pandemic began. The S&P 500 Index posted a return of -5.2% and all business sectors posted negative to flat results (with the exception of Energy which was up over 19%). As for the bond market, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index declined -2.2% for the month of January. Tightening financial conditions due to the Fed’s signaling of faster and earlier rate hike schedules on top of continued higher inflation pressures drove yields higher.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Andrew O'Boyle
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
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February 5, 2021
Pathway to Priesthood Campaign Celebrates Completion of
Queen of Angels Center for Priestly Formation
Campaign Chairs, Janet Feeley and Pep Valdez were on hand to thank the generous donors present for the success of the campaign. Archbishop Jose Gomez reflected on the transition of the Juan Diego House in Gardena to the new campus in Torrance. The new Center provides for up to 40 young men discerning a priestly vocation during their undergraduate college years.
Also, on hand and pictured here (r to l) were Fr. Parker Sandoval, Vice Chancellor, Bishop Marc Trudeau, San Pedro Region, Fr. Marco Durazo, Rector of St. John’s Seminary and Joe Sanders, President of the Dan Murphy Foundation.
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The Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles empowers charitable individuals and organizations across cultures and generations through professional philanthropy management solutions that allow clients to develop and sustain their philanthropy in support of Catholic values. |
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