At the beginning of 2023, many investors expected an imminent U.S. economic slowdown, or even a recession, and a series of Fed rate cuts to go along with it. Fifteen months later, we are seeing substantial economic downturns in several countries, from the U.K. and Ireland to Japan and Germany. But the U.S. remains notably strong. Instead of a hard or soft landing, we’ve had no landing… yet.

Most of the money that Faith Foundation Northwest manages is owned not by the Foundation itself, but by conferences, agencies, camps, and congregations who choose to invest with the Foundation. Each of these bodies has the authority to set its own asset allocations within the Foundation’s family of portfolios. But a small portion of the Foundation’s 90M in assets under management belongs to the Foundation itself, and these monies are being moved into Fossil Free Portfolios this month.

For Marvin and Sandy Thompson, Camp Magruder held a special place in their hearts. It was the place where they experienced faith in Christ, new friendships, and leadership development.

Here are some reminders about how to get to our statement portal, what you will find there, and how to update who is able to log in and view fund information for your organization.

December is one of the busiest seasons for church leaders, so it’s easy to put fundraising on the back burner. But the truth is, if you’re not making a year-end-appeal, you’re leaving money on the table.

• The U.S. economy remains resilient; recession worries pushed to 2024; growth and employment beating expectations

• Inflation hits 3.7% year over year in August, up from 3.0% in June

• U.S. equities down 3.3% for the quarter, up 13% year to date

• Global equities down 4.1% on the quarter, up 7% year to date

• U.S. yields higher in Q3; bonds down 3.2% on the quarter and -1.2% year to date

John Wesley's legacy is marked by his teachings on social justice, compassion, and the vital role of actively expressing one's faith through acts of kindness, charity, and service to others. This philosophy urges individuals to consistently seek opportunities to create a positive impact in the world. The instructions to ‘Do no harm, do good and stay in love with God’ provide a simple-but-helpful perspective to guide that action!

Here at Wespath, I see clear connections between these rules and the work we do on behalf of our participants and institutional investors. For example, we are always called to empower our mission of ‘caring for those who serve’ and upholding our core values of Mutual Respect, Teamwork, Integrity, Stewardship, Customer Satisfaction and Spirituality. We also strive to live into our Wesleyan values more specifically through our investment work, including through the actions that guide our Sustainable Economy Framework and our ‘Invest-Engage-Avoid’ approach.

While we have always been able to highlight investment strategies and specific investments that help us achieve our aspirational vision for the economy, until recently we were not able to assess if our equity funds in totality are helping to move the world toward a more sustainable future.

To help address this challenge, we recently created an impact measurement and management (IMM) tool to help us understand how aligned—or not aligned—our investment portfolios are with the Framework.

In the simplest terms, the IMM tool is a resource that helps us understand how our investments align with our Framework by highlighting the positive and negative impacts of our portfolios

If you own a home in the U.S. and have noticed your insurance has increased over the last several years, you are not alone. The national average for homeowners insurance has been rising for the last five years, with a cumulative increase of 19.1% between 2018 and 2023. There are a number of reasons for this spike, including rising construction costs linked to inflation and, interestingly enough, the effects of climate change.

Last month, I attended an event in New York that coincided with the release of the first standards set by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). For me and others who have contributed to the development of standardized sustainability disclosures for years, it was a cause for celebration. I truly believe ISSB will become the leader in sustainability reporting, helping solve one of the biggest challenges facing sustainable investors today.

I also recognize that many readers have not heard of ISSB and do not know what challenge I’m referring to! With this in mind, I wanted to dive further into the topic in this blog.

In our latest quarterly takeaways blog, Wespath's Joe Halwax and Neil Sobczak break down market performance and news from Q2, highlighting trends like the rise of AI and recapping the latest on inflation and Federal Reserve policy.

While both equity and fixed income securities had significant negative returns in 2022, commodities were a bright spot. However, commodities were the worst performing asset class in the financial markets in 2023 through May. Wespath’s Andrew Steedman explains what has led to the negative performance of commodities in 2023. And he looks at the impact on Wespath.

May 15 Update: Negotiations to raise the U.S. debt ceiling are continuing ahead of the June 1 “X-date,” which is the day Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the government’s borrowing limits could be reached. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have scheduled meetings this week to discuss a potential deal. Remember that in 2011 a deal was reached just two days before the “X-date,” so while this can be nerve wracking, we have seen this before. To date, U.S. stocks have not seen much debt ceiling-related pressure.

My colleagues Trent Sparrow and Amy Bulger recently penned a blog describing the process for our recent review and refresh of Wespath’s Investment Beliefs. Likening the project to a modern “reboot” of a classic film franchise, Trent and Amy eloquently explained that Wespath’s core convictions haven’t changed. Rather, the subtle updates to our beliefs will help our stakeholders better understand how they influence the way Wespath positions its investments in alignment with our convictions.

I’d like to expound further on one of those beliefs—“Diversified, Long-Term Perspective”—and examine some of the specific investment strategies resulting from it…

Faith Foundation Northwest’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Julia Frisbie has been selected as the next executive director of the Foundation, effective July 1, 2023. Frisbie succeeds Tom Wilson, who previously announced his intent to retire after 32 years of service.

As long-term investors, we at Faith Foundation Northwest rarely react to or even address short-term market events. However, we’ve already received a few questions about the recent Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) situation and our answers to these questions are good news, so I want to share them with you today, along with the following brief from our investment partner Wespath.

Emily Leslie was a faithful United Methodist her entire life. Her faith was forged and nurtured in her younger years at White Salmon UMC. She raised her family at Pioneer UMC in Walla Walla. Emily earned her teaching certificate, bachelor’s, and master’s in education all from Central Washington University and spent 33 years as teacher, retiring in 1986 from the Walla Walla School District. She spent her last years connected to First UMC Pasco. In 2016, Emily contacted the Foundation about setting up a Charitable Gift Annuity.

After a remarkable career, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky is retiring at the start of 2023. She has asked that any retirement gifts benefit the Circle of Indigenous Ministries, which is part of an ongoing effort to heal historic trauma and dismantle racism.