The Catholic Diocese of Madison Foundation (CDMF) is blessed to hold many funds started by individuals from throughout the diocese, which make a meaningful impact on our community.

One of these funds is the Janice M. Weichmann-Werlein Catholic Education Music & Art Fund.

This fund makes grants each year to Catholic schools that provide financial assistance for art and/or music programming, and any needed music and art supplies for Catholic schools in the Diocese of Madison.

Last year, the fund made grants for the first time to various Catholic schools to support their music or arts programs.

The CDMF encouraged Catholic schools to apply for a grant, and the CDMF’s Grant Review Committee made determinations on how to distribute available grant funding.

Sacred Heart School in Reedsburg received $500 for art supplies to help start an art club at the school, Blessed Trinity School in Dane received $500 for new musical instruments and art supplies, and Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Monona received $1,000 for new musical instruments.

Upon hearing of the grant last year, Dani Binzak, music teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary School, said, “Thank you so much for this incredible news. The students at Immaculate Heart of Mary School will all benefit from this investment in the music program, and I look forward to the opportunities this brings.”

The application period for grants from the Janice M. Weichmann-Werlein Catholic Education Music & Art Fund for this year runs through Wednesday, April 15.

There is a streamlined online application form that Catholic school principals or music/art teachers can submit on behalf of their school.

We encourage all Diocese of Madison Catholic schools to apply.

An email invitation will also be sent out to all principals and music/art teachers with the link and application information.

We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to the generous benefactors whose support makes all of this work possible, including the Janice M. Weichmann-Werlein Catholic Education Music & Art Fund.

We encourage all readers to consider asking your parish priest if he has thought about the CDMF as an option for starting an endowment or non-endowed fund.

We also love to work with individual donors to start funds that positively impact the community.

We are happy to help in any way possible as we work together to serve Christ and His Church.

If you are interested in starting an endowment fund of your own, visit diocesemadisonfoundation.org or give us a call at 608-821-3048.