wfn.org | Council approves LWF budget

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Encouraging financial news on various fronts

GENEVA, 23 June 1998 (lwi) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council
received encouraging financial news on different fronts. LWF Finance
Director Friedrich Manske reported that the final figures for 1997 show the
federation in the black. For the first time in many years the LWF Assembly,
which was held in Hong Kong, came in under budget. And the financial
problems of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem, which caused much
concern at the Ninth Assembly, seem to be sorted out; for the first time
since the early 1980s the hospital anticipates no operational deficit for
1998.

In her first report to the council, LWF Treasurer Sigrun Mogedal called the
LWF's financial situation "manageable strain." Though the financial books
are balanced, this is due to cost-cutting measures rather than expanded
income. For the future, Mogedal said, "the only predictable parameter is
continued stagnation or further reduction in income from the traditional
sources of funding."

Putting matters into perspective, Mogedal noted: "LWF is not a donor
agency, and membership in LWF is not a ticket to project funding. LWF is
also not a conveyor belt or passive channel for other agencies to serve
their purpose. LWF is an instrument for its member churches for making the
mutuality in our fellowship and our common call to witness and service
real."

A Norwegian medical doctor, Mogedal reported a positive situation with the
Augusta Victoria Hospital. "Major steps have been taken to consolidate the
financial situation," she told the council. "The situation is now largely
under control in terms of ongoing operations on a limited scale, where the
annual subsidy required from LWF is within the financial ability of the
organization."

With the drop in UN funds for Palestinian refugees and the changing
health-care system in Israel, the hospital, located on the Mount of Olives,
had been under severe financial pressures that seriously taxed LWF reserve
funds. The treasurer reported that the German government has provided a
special grant in support of the hospital operation and the Norwegian
government has agreed to take the lead in seeking to clear the accumulated
deficit, in cooperation with like-minded governments, to safeguard the land
on the Mount of Olives.

The council approved a nearly USD 70 million budget ("Summary of Needs")
for 1999. It also voted to increase LWF membership fees by 3 percent for
2000.

To help cover the general operating expenses of the federation, especially
Geneva operations, the Ninth Assembly established an LWF Endowment Fund.
The goal of the fund would be USD 50 million, so that earnings from such a
fund could be used for core expenditures of the LWF. Dr. Eugene Ries, who
chairs an ad hoc Advisory Committee on the LWF Endowment Fund, said he
hoped that initially USD 10 million could be raised by 2002.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/