2025 Year-End Giving Reminders

As we head into the holiday season and you consider your charitable giving for the end of this taxable year, please keep in mind the following dates and details.
As we head into the holiday season and you consider your charitable giving for the end of this taxable year, please keep in mind the following dates and details.
As we process the events at Annunciation, mourning the loss of innocent lives and praying for healing for all those affected, we are called to step into action. “When you pray, move your feet,” said Annunciation Principal Matt DeBoer. Although we may not be the ones to heal the injured, or counsel the affected, but we can support this community through generosity.
It is hard to put into words the sorrow, pain, and grief that our Catholic community is experiencing right now. Our hearts and prayers are with the students, families, teachers, school and parish staff, and other worshipers whose lives were forever changed — during the sacred celebration of the Eucharist — by these tragic events. May God heal the schoolchildren who are lost and frightened, who witnessed unfathomable horrors. May God ease their pain.
When you think about estate planning, your goals are likely simple: take care of loved ones, support causes that are meaningful to you, and make things as smooth as possible for everyone involved. That’s exactly where a donor advised fund at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota (CCF) can help.
After more than 17 transformational years at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota, I write today to share that I will be retiring from my role as President in January 2026.
Behind the images of floodwaters on television are stories of heartbreak — lives lost, families shattered, homes and entire communities swept away. Generous Catholics have already begun responding to the needs of their brothers and sisters affected by this disaster, providing immediate assistance and hope amid heartbreak.
As Catholics, we feel God’s love in our lives. Most of us have experienced that love through the parishes and schools that have welcomed us and helped us grow in faith. These communities bring us closer to God and to one another. Yet you may have walked into a parish or school that holds a special place in your heart and wondered … “will this still be here for my grandchildren or great-grandchildren?” Maybe your heart has felt moved to help make that legacy last.
Amid the papal transition, as we reflect on Pope Francis’s legacy and welcome our new shepherd, Pope Leo XIV, it’s a moment of hope and renewal — a chance for our Church to come together, to pray for the future, and to trust in the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The spirit of renewal we’re seeing across the universal Church is also alive here at home. One small example can be found in CCF’s flagship unrestricted fund, the Salt & Light Fund. This fund was known as the CCF Legacy Fund until last year, when our team went through a process to find a name for it that better reflected its purpose: to support urgent and unmet needs emerging within our community.
A simple act of generosity can create lasting change, impacting lives, strengthening faith, and shaping the future of our Catholic community. This vision of faithful giving has guided the CCF Legacy Fund for more than a decade, and enabled it to support important needs within our Catholic community. That same vision continues today under a new name that more clearly reflects how the fund helps us, as members of God’s Church, live out our mission: the Salt & Light Fund.
Catholics are known for their generosity, both during their lifetimes and in their estate plans. We take the call to give seriously and share with those most in need. By planning your charitable giving, your gift can go farther and have an even bigger impact than you might think possible.