wfn.org | World Methodist Council moves forward with endowment plans

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Sept. 28, 1999       News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.     10-21-71BP{496}

NOTE: This story is related to UMNS #478, 488, 497 and 498. Photographs will
be available.

By Tim Tanton*

HONG KONG (UMNS) - Leaders of the World Methodist Council took a major step
toward ensuring the viability of the financially struggling organization by
moving ahead with plans to establish an endowment.

"It is tremendously important because we have to undergird the council for
the next century," said the Rev. Joe Hale, top staff executive of the
council.

"We do need a much stronger financial base than we have to do what is
expected of us," he said.

The council's executive committee approved several resolutions related to
the council's "Achieving the Vision" plan during its Sept. 20-24 meeting at
the Chinese Methodist Church in Hong Kong. More than 230 people, including
150 committee members, attended the meeting. They represented branches of
Methodism from all over the world.

"Achieving the Vision" was one of several key topics on the committee's
agenda. Others included approving the membership of the Church of the
Nazarene (see UMNS #478) and adopting a resolution in support of the Jubilee
2000 campaign, which is aimed at forgiving the debts of the world's poorest
countries (see UMNS #488). 

Through "Achieving the Vision," the council plans to establish an endowment
fund of at least $20 million.

"I would say we're about 20 years behind launching such an endowment fund,"
said council Chairperson Frances M. Alguire of New Buffalo, Mich. Funds even
had to be borrowed for the executive committee meeting, she noted. "That is
not the way to remain a viable organization."

Hale said that at least 20 people should have been at the executive
committee meeting, but they couldn't afford the trip and the council didn't
have enough money to help.

The endowment money would be invested, and a board of trustees would be
responsible for decisions about how it's used, said Dr. James Holsinger,
council treasurer and chancellor of the University of Kentucky Medical
Center in Lexington. That group would determine the investment policies and
track the funds, and the World Methodist Council officers and executive
committee would decide how to spend the money.

The $20 million would be held in perpetuity, he said. Only its earnings
would be spent.

The goal that's been set is a bare minimum figure, according to Hale. "The
earnings from that could help us be what we could be."

The executive committee approved four resolutions related to the initiative.
The measures empower the "Achieving the Vision" steering committee to make
the necessary decisions regarding the World Methodist Council Endowment; to
act as interim trustees and to develop operational policies for the fund;
authorize Hale to invite member churches by letter to participate in the
fund; and designate First Union National Bank as investment manager and
Hale, Holsinger and assistant treasurer Edna Alsdurf as representatives of
the council in dealing with the bank.

The executive committee had voted in Rome to do the feasibility study. The
resolutions adopted in Hong Kong are the committee's way of saying it sees
light on the horizon and that this is the direction in which the council is
being led, Hale said.

"It's a giant step forward," said the Rev. William K. Quick of Detroit.
Quick, who has attended the council meetings since 1966, said that this
executive committee session was the most significant since 1971, when the
council named Alan Walker head of world evangelism and embarked on a program
that doubled Methodism around the world.

The council has a staff of roughly a dozen people, some of them part time.
That includes staff at the headquarters office in Lake Junaluska, N.C., the
World Methodist Evangelism office in Nashville, Tenn., the World Methodist
Evangelism Institute in Atlanta and a part-time position at the Ecumenical
Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters of the World Council of
Churches.

"If we are anything in this organization, we are not overstaffed," said
Donald V. Fites, chairperson of the finance committee and the "Achieving the
Vision" campaign. "We are already lean and hungry."

Hale is the only staff member authorized to travel outside Lake Junaluska on
assignment, and ecumenical officer Ralph Young in Geneva has little travel
money. Holsinger pointed out that Hale's and Alguire's reported expenses are
quite low for the amount of travel they do, indicating that both pay some of
the expenses out of their own pockets to keep the costs down.

Alguire is budgeted $7,000 for travel this year and had spent $2,701 as of
Aug. 31, and Hale had spent $4,936 of his budgeted $13,000.

A team of 14 people met in Chicago on March 5 to identify leading Methodists
and others who might be interested in supporting the campaign, Fites said.
Interviews are being conducted with 82 of those people. As of Sept. 5, 31 of
the interviews had been completed.

One woman interviewed, who has been a benefactor to the council over the
years, agreed to make stock gifts in the next three years that could reach
up to $500,000, Hale said. That was an encouraging sign.

"It sent a message to all of us here: it's doable," he said.

Of the initial interviewees, less than half have strong ties to the World
Methodist Council, Fites said. Almost two-thirds felt the "Achieving the
Vision" campaign prospectus was effective, and most of them felt that the
$20 million goal was attainable, he said.

Sixty-three percent of the 31 initial interviewees said they would consider
making a gift, although only a few said they would make a pacesetting, or
lead, gift, according to Fites.

A final report on the study will be completed in November, and the findings
will be analyzed in November and December, Fites said. During the first
three months of 2000, the campaign steering committee will be organized, and
materials and literature will be generated. Later, pacesetters will be
solicited. The campaign probably will be wrapped up around the end of 2001,
Fites said.

The first dollars from the campaign will enable the council to build a firm
financial base, Holsinger said. Additional dollars will be used to expand
the council's programs, he said.

The council's standing committees, with the possible exception of world
evangelism, are just "limping along," said the Rev. John Barrett of
Cambridge, England. "We ought to be enlarging our vision."

Speakers during the session emphasized the need for the fund-raising effort
to be international. The executive committee's discussion got sidetracked on
the fact that initial fund-raising efforts would be focused on North
America.

The campaign also must show how the church is changing lives, several
speakers said.

The addition of the Church of the Nazarene to the council's membership was a
highlight of the Hong Kong meeting and gave the organization a financial
boost. Jack Stone, top staff executive of the denomination, presented a
$5,000 check as the church's membership contribution at the executive
committee meeting.

# # #

*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

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