CNA Staff, Mar 8, 2024 / 17:35 pm

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago announced large-scale job cuts this week amid a plan to move away from “increasingly complex and uncertain” government contracts and rely instead more heavily on charitable donations.

In a March 7 statement shared with CNA, the organization said as part of a strategic plan it will transition out of 75 government contracts that together fund 12% of its current operating budget. The contracts cover various services, from child care and youth programs to behavioral health counseling, senior care, adult protection, veteran services, and call centers, the group says.

The transition will result in the elimination of roughly 300 jobs, the vast majority of which involve the affected government contracts. “Nearly 1,000 staff” will remain after the cuts, the statement noted.

Catholic Charities Chicago is the official charitable arm of the Church in the country’s third-largest city, which is home to more than 2 million Catholics. The organization reported $179 million in program expenses in 2023 and says it serves more than 350,000 free meals each year to people in need and has resettled 20,000 migrants over the past 18 months.

“Over the last decade, navigating the government services sector has grown more complex, and funding has not kept up with the high rates of inflation,” said Sally Blount, CCC’s president and CEO.

“That means that many contracts no longer cover their direct costs, much less the increasing costs of administering them … Going forward, Catholic Charities will continue to serve the same populations and provide many of the same services but will do so with greater reliance on private funding.”

Currently, CCC annually obtains about $42 million in revenue from private donations and bequests, compared with $142 million from government sources.

“We are lucky to have incredibly generous donors…We regularly raise over $30 million in private funding annually. We are not cutting programming that is funded through our generous private donors. In fact, over time we will be increasing that part of our portfolio,” Blount told CNA.

“As the largest human services provider in our region, Catholic Charities is responsible for regularly engaging in financial and strategic planning. We embarked on a comprehensive, year-long strategic planning effort that resulted in Vision 2030, a seven-year strategic plan designed to ensure CatholicCharities’ long-term mission, financial vitality, and service impact for generations to come,” she said.

Under its new strategic plan — done in concert with a consulting firm called The Bridgespan Group — CCC says it will pilot several new programs and expansions designed to increase services for low-income mothers and seniors across Cook and Lake counties in Illinois. The CCC board also recently voted to open a new community center in the southwest suburb of Summit in fall 2025 and to fund a standing Rapid Response Team, the statement continued.

CCC was in the news last fall after Jim Irsay, the billionaire owner of the Indianapolis Colts, made a $5 million donation in honor of his late cousin, Sister Joyce Dura, who ministered in the Chicago area for decades. Catholic Charities renamed its five-night-a-week supper program at its headquarters in Sister Dura’s honor.