Note #9111 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06069 Feb. 9, 2006
WMD panel mulls over proposal to create relief-and-development agency
Plan has widespread support, but some worry about moving too quickly
by Alexa Smith
LOUISVILLE - Whether to recommend the creation of a new charitable corporation for Presbyterian relief and development work - and whether to do it now - dominated the agenda of a Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD) subcommittee meeting late Wednesday (Feb. 8).
When the session ended, no resolution was in sight.
The Global Service and Witness (GSW) subcommittee was to resume work Thursday morning and planned to have a recommendation for the WMD in the afternoon.
Nearly everyone - including the General Assembly moderator, the WMD director and outside consultants - seems to believe the new corporation would enable the church to expand its outreach, attract more money and enhance public awareness of Presbyterian disaster assistance and economic-development programs.
The bigger question appears to be when to do it.
Some advocates want to hurry to have it ready for this summer's Assembly and to have the new corporation up and running by next Jan. 1. Others would prefer to go slower - to aim for approval by the 2008 GA and a 2009 start date. Still others are flat-out opposed to the whole idea.
The programs that would be included in the new non-profit corporation are Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) and the Jinishian Memorial Program, an endowed assistance program for Armenians.
The International Health Ministries Office and Self-Development of People (SDOP), which funds development in poor communities, also are part of the GSW unit, but the proposal recommends further study before deciding whether to include them in the new corporation.
SDOP doesn't want to be called a charity because it funds self-help projects and isn't involved in traditional alms-giving.
"I think this is exactly the direction that's needed," GA Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase told the committee. "But having said that, I feel anxiety. We're trying to move the church to a different place without building consensus. ... Let's be bold, but do so in a way that brings us all (together) and not spend the next two years fighting battles."
Proponents of the change say delay would be costly in both time and money, and would reduce the number of people reached by Presbyterian aid.
That's the view of the Rev. Jerry Bedford, a retired Presbyterian minister and former executive of the Heifer Project International who chaired the work group that came up with the proposal. He said waiting would cause the denomination lose out to other organizations with 501c3 tax status that are eligible to accept corporate matching gifts and federal funds.
Bedford said there are five reasons to hurry:
Agility: In the face of large-scale disaster like a hurricane or earthquake, current denominational protocols slow down emergency response
Visibility/Fundability: Donors seek out charity Web sites and look for corporate matching programs - for which churches are not eligible (although non-profit church corporations are)
"Registerability": Overseas governments will allow relief and development organizations to register and work, but deter churches, who are suspected of wanting to proselytize
Governance: PDA alone pulled in $40 million to $50 million last year, and that kind of money requires the sort of oversight best done by a board of directors
Furthering Partnership: Better oversight might enable PDA, PHP and Jinishian to collaborate better in relief efforts.
The study was commissioned by WMD during its September 2005 meeting in Sacramento, CA, which intended for the results to be presented to the 2008 Assembly. The target date was moved up because GSW officials discovered that it take three years for the new corporation to pass the necessary audits to establish its legitimacy.
If the relief and development agency were approved by the 2008 Assembly, it would not be operational until 2009, and wouldn't be qualified by the charitable-giving community until 2012.
However, the matter is complex.
For example, three of the programs (PDA, SDOP and PHP) are funded by the One Great Hour of Sharing offering, the largest of the denomination's four special offerings. That raises the question: Should a corporation with a marketing component be eligible for money from church offerings?
Would waiting be an advantage in terms of building consensus? Or would it be better to get the agency up and running and build consensus around its activity? Would creating a new entity invite more inter-agency conflict?
Gary Cook, WMD's coordinator for GSW, told the committee that the proposed bylaws of the new corporation specify that its president would report to the WMD director and to the GAC, which would name 16 of 18 board members. "This is not to be something other than the GAC, but a tool of the GAC," he said.
Cook said he initially was hesitant about forming a non-profit corporation, but now favors the idea. The Methodist Church created a similar corporation nearly 70 years ago, he said, and the Episcopal Church did the same recently. Officials of both churches told the Presbyterian study team that they were happy with the results, Cook said.
WMD Director Marian McClure said, "Personally, I want to see this happen." But she warned against moving too fast, noting that the GAC's Staff Leadership Team doesn't want to rush things.
McClure cited an African proverb: "If you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
She told the committee, "It can be better to go together."
Former Moderator Susan Andrews of Bethesda, MD, asked the group to articulate its fears about moving forward.
The GSW chair, Carolyn McLarnen of Mississippi, answered: "I think we're afraid of change. ... We're always comfortable with what we know."
David Nelson, coordinator of the Jinishian Program, added: "There's a fear we might make a mistake." He said he isn't fearful, "but I hear that."
The creation of the new corporation would have to be approved by the General Assembly.
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