Last week I talked about whether your endowment should support new programs, that is be a vehicle for the future or support legacy programs, a bridge to the past or to the traditions of the church. Judging from your emails, this resonated with a number of you.  One of the themes seemed to be why I […]

It was a question I hadn’t had before.  I like that kind of question. “So what makes for an effective endowment?” The questioner was a woman who is new to the Endowment Chair position.  She and I had been talking about endowments and policies and procedures.  When she asked me, I was about to launch […]

I guess I have been following the Ebola outbreak in Liberia closer than most have.  I check the news articles to see if I recognize the name of a city I visited and see if it seems to be a problem near Camphor Mission Station where I spent a lot of my trip in February.  So […]

I had a wonderful conversation with an equally wonderful woman a couple of weeks ago.  She has done a great deal of mission work in the last several decades, some here in the U.S. and much of it internationally.  The conversation wound around to accountability in the missions field. Accountability is a big word in […]

After seven years at the Foundation there aren’t a lot of phone calls I haven’t had at least once before.  But six months ago I got a new one.  It was from an endowment chair at a local church vetting what he was trying to decide was an opportunity or a big problem: A member […]

Last night I met with a local church’s Finance Committee.  They spent a few minutes going over the financials, discussing the pluses and the minuses.  They they got to me to talk stewardship. Here’s the problem.  It was the Finance Committee.  They had just looked at financial statements.  And they wanted to talk about money.  […]

I’ve been interested to see the ads in favor of Issue 7 in the Cleveland area.  This is a renewal of the tax on tobacco and alcohol to pay for improvements to Quicken Loans Arena, First Energy Stadium and Progressive Field. Raising taxes to improve a place where a bunch of millionaires, employed by a […]

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! If our social principles allowed gambling I would bet $5 that this phrase will be heard in practically every United Methodist Church on Sunday.  I thought it was required in the Book of Discipline but I can’t seem to find it. But there is another phrase that should […]

Last week we talked about how a single generous major donor can be a blessing or a curse.  The same is true for a significant bequest. It seems whenever I talk with church leaders about a planned giving program, they are worried about it ruining their church. I don’t blame them, I’ve seen it happen. […]

In Vegas they call them “whales.” Major universities call them “investors” or “special friends.” But in a church setting individuals who give very large amounts can be a curse, if we let them. In the last several months I have had two conversations on the topic. The first is the pastor at Hasbeen UMC. This […]