Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund  |  Grant Information

In recent months, Catholic parishes and schools across Minnesota have increasingly been called upon to provide basic charitable assistance, including food, pastoral presence, and short-term emergency support, to individuals and families experiencing hardship. As trusted institutions embedded in their communities, Catholic parishes and schools are often among the first to respond when individuals and families face fear, vulnerability, or disruption. While these efforts reflect the Church’s longstanding commitment to human dignity, compassion, and care for those in need, responding to heightened and often unpredictable demand can place additional operational and financial strain on parishes and schools that already operate with limited resources.  

The Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund (MCRF) is designed to provide coordinated charitable support to Catholic parishes and schools as they provide care to their communities.

Program Goals

The Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund (MCRF) has two primary objectives:
1. to help parishes and schools respond to urgent and basic needs within their communities by providing flexible financial support for charitable assistance to families; and
2. to ease the unexpected financial pressures on parish and school operating budgets that arise from meeting these increased needs.

Current Round Timeline

  • Application deadline FRI. FEB. 13
  • CCF funding proposal sent to committee for review by TUE. FEB. 17
  • Committee convenes THU. or FRI. FEB. 19 or 20
  • Announcements made by MON. FEB. 23
  • Checks mailed WED. FEB. 25

CCF and its partners will continue to encourage gifts to the MCRF with the hope of offering additional grant rounds in the future.

Eligibility

The MCRF will prioritize funding for those parishes and schools recieving the most requests for assistance, and those for whom providing assistance is threatening their own financial stability.

Decision-Making

An Advisory Committee has been formed to oversee grant distributions. It includes religious and lay leaders within our Minnesota Catholic community who collectively have material insight into the challenges our parishes and schools are facing

 

Questions?

Please call CCF Vice President of Impact, Meg Payne Nelson, at (651) 389-0882.