Webinar focuses on planned giving and endowments
by Anne Clarke Brown
Mountain Echo, December 2009

Representatives of seven Vermont congregations opened their computers and logged on to a “Webinar on Endowment Funds” the evening of November 12. James Murphy, associate program director at the Episcopal Church Foundation, led the 90-minute session, with the interactive audio by telephone and a series of slides visible on computer screens.

The Rev. Angela Emerson, diocesan minister for stewardship development, organized the event to provide an opportunity for congregations to begin exploring new or more intentional ways of thinking about planned giving and managing existing endowment funds. Noting that congregations have become dependent on endowment funds for operating costs, she asked, “How do we celebrate past generosity and compound it with present generosity?”

Murphy began with his fundamental assumption that stewardship emanates from a sense of gratefulness: “Our support for the ministry of the Christian church is a response to God’s love.” He identified three essential elements in any stewardship campaign, whether it be the annual campaign, a capital campaign, or an effort to encourage planned giving (bequests and other forms of asset donation):
• a clear identification of vision and mission that shows why funds are being raised;
• clear investment policies and structures to show that funds will be safe and used in the way they are intended;
• continued education about the vision and mission.

Murphy explained the various types of planned giving and the advantages and disadvantages of each. He noted that the Episcopal Church Foundation has a variety of resources available (visit www.episcopalfoundation.org) and can also offer management services for donors.

A key part of Murphy’s presentation focused on what he labeled “endowment addiction,” the tendency to use endowments like checking accounts. Endowments, he said, are given for the future mission and ministry of a congregation and are intended to be permanent sources of income for specific purposes. Careless use of, or depen-dency on, endowment funds for regular operations can both have a corrosive impact on annual giving and be a turn-off to future donors. Making regular use of endowment principal is, he said, “like swimming naked and having the water go out of the pool.”

Participating congregations were Good Shepherd, Barre; Our Saviour, Killington; Zion, Manchester; St. Barnabas, Norwich; Trinity, Rutland; Holy Trinity, Swanton; and Calvary, Underhill. According to Emerson, “Two things have come up out of the program. 1) How do we start and continue the conversation about the use of planned gifts; where is the balance between not spending any of it and spending all of it; and 2) How do we take the conversation of building maintenance vs. mission deeper.” She and Murphy will follow up with resources for participating congregations.

For information and resources, contact Emerson at aemerson@dioceseofvermont.org or 802-299-5866.

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