wfn.org | WARC sets up fund to safeguard its long-term future

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Note #6144 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

9-August-2000
00281

WARC sets up fund to safeguard its long-term future

Goal is to set up $10 million endowment by 2010

by Anto Akkara
Ecumenical News International

BANGALORE, India -- The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has
decided to set up an endowment fund "to strengthen its ability to contribute
to the quality of life for millions of people inside and outside the
church."
	Christians belonging to WARC's 215 member churches around the world and
others will be invited to contribute to the "Alliance for Life Fund," which
WARC officials hope will raise one or two million dollars before the
alliance's next general council, in 2004, and $10 million by the year 2010.
A more ambitious final target for the new fund will be set later.
	The fund is intended to secure the long-term financial future of WARC by
providing supplementary income from investments to complement annual
contributions from its member churches.
	"An investment in the WARC endowment fund is an investment in life,"
declared a resolution adopted during the annual meeting of WARC's executive
committee, held at the end of July in Bangalore, southern India. "The
assurance of a financially secure base will ensure that the vast network of
the alliance, with more than 200 member churches and 75 million people, will
be equipped, strengthened and empowered to address the evils that compromise
life and the quality of life."
	The endowment fund was just one of several fund-raising ideas adopted by
the executive committee.
	Church members and other donors will also be offered the opportunity to
contribute to three other funds: the Reformed Churches' Partnership Fund (an
interchurch aid fund geared mainly towards member churches in the South), a
new Emergencies Fund for short-term disaster relief, and a new Scholarship
Fund for Theological Education for Women from the South.
	In addition, they can contribute to current expenditure on four programs in
the alliance: work with young people, a program on economic injustice and
ecological destruction, theological dialogue with other Christian
traditions, and a program to bridge the information technology gap between
churches in the North and those in the South.
	The Rev. Setri Nyomi, WARC's general secretary, told ENI after the
resolution on the endowment fund was adopted that "the alliance has had many
life-enhancing issues (on its agenda) in the past, but (it has been) limited
by the financial resources to respond adequately to the needs of our member
churches."
	Nyomi, who has "eagerly pushed forward" the plan for the fund since taking
over as general secretary in April, said the fund would benefit "not only
Geneva (WARC's headquarters), but also the member churches."
	The income from the fund — details of which are to be defined by WARC staff
— would enable WARC "to respond effectively to the distress calls from local
churches to meet unexpected crises and (assist) in their mission for
empowerment of people. That is why we have named it the ‘Alliance for Life
Fund,'" Nyomi said.
	The guidelines adopted for the fund also specify that "even in the
collection of funds, we are committed to breaking the chains of injustice."
In richer countries, 100 per cent of donations will go directly into the
fund. But in nations of the South, 25 per cent of funds donated will be put
at the disposal of the local churches "to address their own challenges even
before they later benefit on a larger scale from the yields of the fund."
	"Our ultimate target is to collect something like $100 million to make the
alliance more independent and survive," Bill McComish, dean of Geneva's St
Pierre Cathedral and WARC's general treasurer, told ENI.
	He added that once the fund was established WARC would be "more independent
and could respond better to emergencies without waiting for support from
member churches."
	"This is the American way of ensuring financial stability. WARC will
definitely gain from this," said Dr McComish.
	Though the proposal for the fund has been under discussion for some time,
McComish pointed out that the appointment of Nyomi -- a Presbyterian
theologian from Ghana who has studied in the U.S. -- as WARC general
secretary gave a boost to the plan.
	"Our member churches already give generously to the alliance," McComish
said. "But we need to increase our income in order to do all that they ask
of us. Through the endowment fund and the other new fund-raising measures,
we will appeal to the goodwill of our church members and of others who share
our concerns."

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