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ELCA Foundation Legacies November 2002
Congregations Using Endowment Funds for Mission and Outreach
In the early 1800s, a member of First Lutheran Church in Greensburg, Pennsylvania left money in trust for the congregation to ensure children were taught German. From that beginning, First Lutheran members have continued to make gifts and bequests, placed in an endowed trust fund, to support he mission benevolence and outreach of the congregation. That initial amount in the 1800s has grown to more than $3 million, with the congregation using a percentage of the fund to give more than $100,000 this past year to local and churchwide ministries beyond regular benevolence giving.
First Lutheran Church in Fullerton, California began its mission endowment fund in the late 1980s when the congregation sold property, used some of the proceeds to make needed capital improvements and placed the rest into endowment, with distributions made to local and churchwide mission outreach.
Members at Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Batavia, Illinois established their mission development fund about one year ago after the church received a large unrestricted gift. The congregation used part of that gift to begin their mission development fund, and in September 2002 awarded their first annual distributions to local and churchwide ministries.
These congregations have diverse histories and their mission endowment funds differ in longevity and size. But the common thread weaving through their stories is the commitment of these congregations to establish a fund in perpetuity and to make distributions each year to reach out in love and service through ministries beyond their local congregation.
Donn Scherer, a member at Bethany in Batavia, says that “the congregation’s mission is to worship God, grow in faith and reach out to others.” Their mission development fund becomes one additional way in which they can expand their outreach to others. Working with the ELCA Foundation staff, members of Bethany formed a committee to create the fund and establish the guidelines. The recommendations went through the congregation’s finance committee, the congregation council and finally to the congregation for vote. Bethany decided to annually distribute five percent of the fund’s value to four categories of ministries: local, synodical, ELCA churchwide and ministries within the congregation that are not included in the annual operating budget. This September, the congregation awarded its first distributions of $14,000.
“Anything new takes time, but the ELCA provides wonderful resources to help congregations to establish an endowment fund,” says Scherer. “Once we got into it, it was both challenging and fun. It doesn’t have to start with a large amount of money. What’s important is the motivation of mission outreach behind the fund.”
Members at First Lutheran Church in Fullerton also used the ELCA Foundation guidelines to help establish their fund, says member Janet Shellenberger. The committee meets once each year to decide on distributions according to percentage guidelines: gifts are made each year to ELCA-related outreach ministries, community outreach and for the congregation’s programs that are outside the annual budget.
When members were talking about establishing the fund, there was some concern that people would top giving because they thought the financial future of the church was secure, says Shellenberger. But that simply hasn’t proved to be true, she says. “People really want to preserve our ability to do outreach,” she says. “It’s very important for the congregation to be able to give money outside of itself in outreach. We keep the focus of the fund on mission to help expand the ministries of the larger church.” In addition, the congregation rotates people who make decisions about distributions to involve more members, and, says Shellenberger, “people discover that it’s fun to give money away.”
Once the fund is established, the investments must be managed. Both Bethany and First Lutheran in Fullerton use the ELCA Endowment Fund Pooled Trust to manage their fund’s investments. Whether a congregation chooses to use the Pooled Trust or an investment firm, it is strongly advised that members choose an outside investment firm to handle the mission endowment fund investments. (See insert on Pooled Trust.)
In addition, congregations must continually lift up their mission endowment funds to educate, motivate and thank those who have made gifts. The Rev. Allen Scanlon, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Greensburg, says, “We’re continually looking for ways to increase the sense of ownership and participation in the fund on the part of all our members.” To continue educating members about the fund and encouraging their gifts, the congregation annually lists the amount of money distributed and the ministries supported. The church newsletter also regularly lifts up opportunities to give through bequests, charitable remainder trusts, gifts of insurance and other vehicles that allow people to give and also meet their own stewardship and financial goals. This year the congregation is encouraging further participation in the fund by setting aside a small portion of the annual distribution as a dollar-for-dollar matching opportunity. Of the total amount to be distributed, $15,000 has been earmarked for selected ministries and as congregational members make gifts to these ministries, their gifts are then matched by the fund.
“It’s important for the fund to be seen as an instrument of outreach, not as a mechanism to perpetuate ourselves,” says Pastor Scanlon. “We see it as a tool for going into all the world with a vision for ministry and outreach.”
ELCA Endowment Fund Pooled Trust
The ELCA Foundation invites ELCA congregations and other ministries to invest in the Pooled Trust. The ELCA Endowment Fund Pooled Trust, Fund A, administered by the ELCA Foundation with the ELCA Board of Pensions acting as investment advisor, invests assets entrusted to it by congregations, synods and other organizations of the church.
For more information on the Pooled Trust, contact the ELCA Foundation at 800-63703522, ext. 2970.
Raising up a New Generation of Leaders
Raising up a new generation of leaders is a priority for the ELCA as the church moves into a new century filled with opportunities to spread the radical hope and grace of Jesus Christ. Always avid spokespersons for efforts to recruit and prepare faithful and promising people for lay and ordained ministries, each of the ELCA’s three presiding bishops, Herbert Chilstrom (1987-1995), H. George Anderson (1995-2001) and now Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, continue that support in a number of ways. Pastors Chilstrom and Anderson serve on the Fund for Leaders in Mission Leadership Council, and Bishop Hanson lists equipping new leaders as one of the urgent priorities of the church. “If we are to answer the call of God to be engaged in the world, we need to be an equipping church,” says Bishop Hanson. “We need to begin by equipping both la people and clergy to discern their multiple callings from God in all areas of their lives.” A part of that discernment is recognizing and using the gifts of each individual and congregation and equipping people to live the faith in their daily lives. “People today are longing for bridges between the language of faith and the language of workplace and community,” says Bishop Hanson.
In order to build those bridges, the church continues to need leaders who are thoroughly rooted in Scripture and the great traditions of the church, as well as being able to creatively use new means of communicating the gospel, says Pastor Chilstrom. “People look for their pastoral leaders to be spiritual guides who walk, live and think the faith. They want congregations who can serve as both an anchor and a place of growth through Word and Sacrament,” he says.
Those moving into leadership face the challenges of increasing pluralism in the society, economic and global stresses and a nation less biblically literate, says Pastor Anderson. “There is a tremendous gap between the general understanding of the Bible and the population at large and the genuine proclamation of Scripture. We need leaders who are thoroughly rooted in Scripture. We need faith-drenched pastors who can put biblical knowledge not only into words, but who demonstrate by their very lives the truth of the gospel,” he says.
The Lutheran tradition has a strong history of well-equipped leaders who have faced the challenges of their particular times. “We can’t take leadership for granted and assume that it will always be there,” says Pastor Chilstrom. “Leaders don’t drop down out of the sky. Thy come out of the context of worshipping congregations and are prepared for leadership and service through theological education at our ELCA seminaries. We must constantly be encouraging faithful and promising people to consider the full-time ministries of the church,” he adds.
That’s particularly important in these times, which seminary students are required to bear more and more of the financial costs of their education, leaving many with debt burdens that hinder their ability to serve smaller or struggling congregations.
“When I ask bishops and other pastoral leaders what challenges they are facing, they often say, ‘We must raise up a new generation of leaders with a passion for ministry and mission,’” says Presiding Bishop Hanson. We now have more than 2,000 congregations in the ELCA that are without a called pastor. I ask, ‘What would have to happen to reverse that situation? What if we had 2,000 new seminary graduates we could not immediately place into congregations? What if they could be sent out as missionaries to begin 2,000 new congregations?”
In order to make that vision a reality, “we need to identify those who have the gifts for ministry, mentor them, encourage them, and provide the financial resources that will allow them to go to seminary,” says Bishop Hanson. “Certainly we must be responsive to the question, ‘What kind of churches need pastors?’ yet the deeper and even more pressing question is, ‘What mission needs leaders?’ Through our eight seminaries, we are preparing leaders for an apostolic church in an apostolic age, public leaders proclaiming the gospel, confronting principalities and powers, working for justice and peace. The Fund for Leaders in Mission is an initiative that provides the whole church with a way of supporting the preparation of future leaders through endowed scholarships for theological education. Through the Fund, and supporting our seminaries directly, we can reduce the debt burdens of graduating seminarians and make it possible for them to more freely serve where God calls.”
The Fund is a gift to students who are required to bear more and more of their educational costs, it’s a gift to the seminaries to know the whole church is supporting theological education and it’s a gift to all of our congregations who benefit by knowing that we are preparing a new generation of leaders who will nurture our children and grandchildren in the faith, says Pastor Anderson. “The Fund is a brilliant solution to a difficult problem, for often those we want as leaders need help with financial resources to prepare for that leadership,” he says. “Only by this broad scale effort can we ensure that people who are called will also be prepared.”
In addition, Bishop Hanson says, “we have to find ways for people to rediscover and celebrate what it means to be a pastor, and we need to create communities in which they are sustained, nurtured, fed and supported. I believe that congregations centered on word and sacrament and mission will receive pastors as gifts from God and will attract people to this calling.”
Great Joy in Giving
Giving is something the whole family grew up with in Ken and Joyce Bash’s clan. Not only have Ken and Joyce established a Donor Advised Fund in the ELCA Foundation, their son and daughter-in-law also have one. In addition, Ken and Joyce’s children will participate in deciding which ministries will benefit from the Bash’s Donor Advised Fund.
The Bash’s lives of stewardship began early. After they were married, Ken and Joyce gradually increased the percentage of income they gave, with a goal of becoming tithers by the time they were in their mid-30s. In addition to their financial commitments, both were active in their local congregation, as well as serving the wider church in various capacities. In those first years of their marriage, they moved 11 times in 10 years and the church was always home. “The friendships we developed through our congregations have been lasting sources of joy to us,” says Joyce.
Through all the years they have developed a love for the church in all its expressions. They have supported seminaries, missions, social service ministries, disaster relief and World Hunger, Special Needs Retirement, the Fund for Leaders in Mission, Stand with Africa and numerous local charities. In addition, Ken’s position as administrator of Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois widened his perspective as he traveled throughout the country. “I was fortunate to see so much more than I could see from the pew on Sunday morning,” he says. While they were still living in Illinois, Joyce served on synodical committees, which also gave her the opportunity to develop knowledge of the wider church.
Ken and Joyce are now retired and living in Arizona, but their participation in the church has never diminished. They volunteer for Lutherhostel at Spirit in the Desert Lutheran Retreat Center, and recently returned from a study tour in Africa through ELCA World Hunger Appeal and Lutheran World Relief. In addition, Ken now serves as a trustee of the ELCA Board of Pensions.
They have always been generous givers, but several years ago began to give increased attention to the legacy they would leave after their death. Their son and daughter-in-law were participating in Lutheran Brotherhood’s LifeMap program, which helps people connect faith, values and finances. Hearing about the program, Ken and Joyce decided to participate also, and found that the program gave them the opportunity to more fully communicate their life-long stewardship plans with their children.
In addition, they worked with Keith Nelson, ELCA Foundation associate director for planned giving, in developing their plans. In their conversations, Keith noted that the Bash’s had really lived as if the church is one of their children. “That’s exactly how we’ve lived, so why should it be any different after our death—we wanted to communicate that to our children and involve them in the process,” says Ken.
The Donor Advised Fund became the ideal vehicle through which to accomplish their goals. They wanted to use gifts of appreciated stock to support various ministries, but many of those organizations did not have the ability to easily convert stock. Through the Donor Advised Fund in the ELCA Foundation, the Foundation takes care of the stock sale and distributes the proceeds to the list of ministries that the Bash family advises annually. After their parents’ death, the Bash children will continue making those decisions about distributions from the fund.
“Stewardship is part of what we do to give back in thanksgiving for what God has done for us,” Ken says. “The needs of the church don’t stop at the time of our death. We’ve benefited from those who have faithfully gone before us and we want to continue that support of the church,” he adds. “We get great joy from giving.”
You decide: through a Donor Advised Fund with the ELCA Foundation, you can establish a fund with a minimum irrevocable gift of $10,000, receive an immediate tax deduction for the gift and each year advise the ELCA Foundation about the ministries of the church you wish to receive distributions from that fund. In addition, your donor advised fund assets have the opportunity to grow in value, thereby allowing you to give more to the ministries of your choice. For more information about Donor Advised Funds, call the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970 or visit our website at www.elca.org/fo for the name of the Regional Gift Planner nearest you.
Giving Through Stock
Do you have stocks or other appreciated securities that have grown in value? Are you looking for ways to remember ministries of the church with a charitable gift? Would you like to receive increased tax benefits this year?
Consider a gift of stock, mutual funds or other securities. Through this type of gift, you can give more to ministries of the church than you originally invested and take a deduction for the current market value on the date of the gift.
To take a deduction for gifts of securities at their current value, you must have owned them for at least one year and a day. Such gifts are deductible up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income in the year of the gift.
The ELCA Foundation can assist with gifts of stock for all ministries of the church. You can transfer securities into an ELCA account and we will distribute to ministries that you name. So, in one transfer you can make gifts to your local congregation, your synod, and churchwide ministries such as Women of the ELCA, World Hunger Appeal and the Fund for Leaders in Mission.
For more information on how you can give stock for the benefit of ELCA ministries, contact the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970 or email sgreene@elca.org.
Did You Know?
The ELCA Foundation serves individuals and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, helping them make gifts that support all of the various ministries of the ELCA. The ELCA Foundation operates as a pass-through organization that receives gifts and manages them for individuals and churches until they are distributed to ELCA ministries. All gifts made to ministry through the Foundation are ultimately distributed to the ministries designated by the donor either directly or through endowment distributions.
End of Legacies November, 2002 issue