Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We are motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cherish, preserve and uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, foster charity and justice, and embody Catholic social and moral teaching as we act to: PROMOTE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT by responding to major emergencies, fighting disease and poverty, and nurturing peaceful and just societies; and, SERVE CATHOLICS IN THE UNITED STATES as they live their faith in solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world. As part of the universal mission of the Catholic Church, we work with local, national and international Catholic institutions and structures, as well as other organizations, to assist people on the basis of need, not creed, race or nationality.

Rooted in Catholic social teaching and informed by our lived experience, our faith calls us to give a weighted concern to the needs, capabilities and hopes for the future of people living in conditions of poverty, violence, vulnerability and marginalization. At CRS we have developed a conceptual framework for our work—our integral human development model—that places the dignity of the human person at the center of all that we do. Our aspirations are to save lives and alleviate suffering, accelerate the end of poverty, hunger and preventable disease, and cultivate just and peaceful societies. We work to catalyze truly transformational change by meeting immediate needs while addressing—in close collaboration with local and international Church, civil society, government and private sector partners—the complex, multidimensional, and systemic nature of poverty, vulnerability and injustice.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: All people Live in Just and Peaceful Societies

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: All People Survive and Thrive in the Face of Disasters

Goal Type: New program(s) based on observed changes in needs among our constituencies/communities served.

Goal Three: All People Achieve Dignified and Resilient Livelihoods in Flourishing Landscapes

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Describe an investment in leadership

CRS is committed to supporting staff and leadership in their development of leadership roles. We are dedicated to putting our faith into action to catalyze transformational change. How we deliver our mission matters as much as what we do. This includes ensuring that our systems and structures are congruent with our agency values, vision and mission. Likewise, when our colleagues embody our agency’s values, our workplace culture exemplifies Respect, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) for all. CRS has created a REDI department to implement these efforts and ensure we are transforming our organizational culture, and representation of staff. This commitment will allow staff to grow into leadership roles, and our leadership to continue to lead, empower and develop inclusivity.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Mobilizing the mission of CRS is a leadership priority. Key staff, across all sectors, engage in thought leadership activities like presenting at conferences and publishing works. CRS also works in collaboration with other partners and organizations to maximize our efforts on the ground. These strategic partnerships allow us to focus our relief efforts without duplicating efforts. Additionally, CRS contributes to divisional movement building strategy by developing and implementing bi-lingual issue-based campaigns that engage supporters in the United States in strategic advocacy and fundraising action that directly supports CRS’ vision and goals. The campaign oversees bilingual and bi-cultural messaging and content development to support the establishment, growth, and retention of chapter members and chapter networks, as well as mass media audiences within key audience segments such as youth, young adults, Hispanic constituencies and others.

This past year, our goal has been to provide continue covid programming and emergency assistance to those affected by the ongoing Ukraine Crisis. Pandemic strategy prioritized several key areas to continue to inform country-specific programmatic actions to help families, communities and countries in the immediate and on-going response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our strategy, utilizing the different partners and networks we have, works to reduce transmission, decrease morbidity and mortality, and mitigate economic and social impacts. This strategy prioritized several key areas to inform country‑specific programmatic actions to help families, communities and countries in the immediate response to the COVID‑19 pandemic. We are building on our existing health programming, where we operate from the highest levels of health systems—delivering supplies at national levels and working with government partners to introduce new technologies for greater efficiency—to the most remote areas through our local partners and faith‑based networks. The Ukraine crisis Our foundation for coordinated and effective programming as the crisis evolved, and leveraged the unique strengths of CRS and our partner network. Our strategy depended on effective coordination among multiple actors, especially governments, civil society and faith‑based organizations, to provide immediate supplies and meet the needs of refugees. Now more than ever, a coordinated system‑wide response has been necessary to reach extended numbers of people with limited resources, and in alignment with government recovery programs. We continue to draw from lessons of prior responses in places of conflict. We are building out our emergency programming, where we operate from the highest levels – delivering supplies at national levels and working with government/private partners to promote highest levels of efficiency – to the most affected areas through our local partners and faith-based networks.