It's official: The United States re-entered the Paris Agreement last Friday, marking another important shift in global climate policy. The U.S. will now begin pursuing the goals of the landmark agreement—just one month after President Biden signed an executive order stating the world's largest economy's intent to rejoin the accord…

Late in 2020, investors began to notice a shift in leadership in the U.S. equity markets. For the first time in several years, smaller company stocks (small caps) meaningfully outperformed larger companies (large caps). Let’s take a closer look at this trend, which has continued into the early weeks of 2021…

As I reflect on last year's market performance, I cannot help but notice that, despite all of the new things that happened in 2020, one of the most prevalent themes was the familiar debate around growth vs. value investing.

For the uninitiated, "growth" and "value" are terms used to categorize stocks based on fundamental company metrics. Generally, growth stocks are expected to see growth—measured by sales and earnings (profit) growth—at a higher-than-average rate compared to the overall market. These types of companies often do not pay dividends…

Since 1908 Wespath Benefits and Investments protected the safety and futures of others. They are diligent in their research on potential investments, adapting to social changes and responsibly choose their investments to be good stewards of the United Methodist Church.

Although sustainable investing has long been part of Wespath’s fabric, the company recently has proven that an even broader perspective equals better performance for both their clients and the community as they have committed themselves to condemning racism, making boards more diverse and investing in minority-owned businesses.

“Our primary responsibility as a fiduciary is laid out in the Book of Discipline. That’s our guiding light,” said Jake Barnett, who is manager, Sustainable Investment Services for Wespath. “Within that there is also an aspiration to support the United Methodist Church’s social principles.”

With interest rates and building use both at historic lows, 2021 could be a great time for your congregation to tackle deferred maintenance or make a capital improvement that gives your ministry room to grow.

“We’ve been making these loans for 28 years, and today’s interest rates are the lowest we’ve ever been able to offer,” says the Foundation’s executive director Tom Wilson. “We’ve always set our interest rates by adding half a percent to the Morgan Stanley prime rate, and as of today, that puts us at just 3.75%.”

The Foundation has offered loans for church capital improvement projects since 1992. “I started the loan program because at that point, banks were asking pastors to co-sign loans for their congregations, and in an itinerant system that just didn’t make sense,” explains Wilson…

Two months ago, we invited you to participate in a survey about what’s most important. 159 people took the time to respond. Thank you so much! Today we’d like to share a little bit about what we learned and how we’re responding to your feedback.

Of the services we already offer, you ranked investment management and endowment consultation as the most important. Many of you were surprised to learn that we offer so many different services! That tells us we can do a better job communicating about what’s available to you through the Foundation. Most of you said you hear from us at about the right frequency, and prefer receiving information via statements, personal emails, and our website. We’ll focus on those formats, and on increasing the quality of our communications rather than the quantity.

When we began this journey with the COVID pandemic late last winter, almost everyone thought we’d be through this by now. We are blessed to have pastors and laity in our churches who have led effectively and learned more about technology and video production than they could ever have imagined. Now, into September, we still, with good reason, are a virtual church and stewardship season is just around the corner. The pastors we’ve talked to are mostly going with a modified version of programs they’ve used in recent years. Some are using components of Herb Miller’s Consecration Sunday (see resources below). Others are using letter writing campaigns and lay testimony shared via letter and perhaps video. Most of the published stewardship curriculum is designed for in-person gatherings and small groups and most of this curriculum can be modified to work online. We list a few…

This month we are praying for pastors who are getting to know new congregations while social distancing. An appointment change can be stressful even without accounting for the physical and emotional strain of the pandemic. On top of everything else, if giving is down due to the lack of in-person worship, new pastors may be forced to address stewardship earlier and more seriously than they might have otherwise.

Cesie Delve-Scheuermann, author of the excellent blog, “Inspiring Generosity,” encourages pastors to “take the bull by the proverbial horns” and face the topic head-on.

Burl Wyckoff and Aloha Maw met when they were teenagers at the United Methodist Church in Nyssa, Oregon. Burl was three years older, and four years ahead in school, on track to graduate at age 17. Most of the other young men from their small town went straight from high school to military service in World War II. But Burl’s dad wouldn’t let any of his boys join up until they turned 21, so Burl headed to college in Caldwell, Idaho, while Aloha started high school. They reconnected at Wallowa Lake Methodist Camp over the summer. The next fall, Aloha took a job as a nighttime telephone operator. One of its perks was the ability to make long distance phone calls to Caldwell in the middle of the night.

A bear market’s no fun for anyone, but it can be especially stressful for those with the responsibility of reporting on their church’s investments. We’ve created a sample report to try and make it easier. Please adapt it for your context and use it however is helpful.

The church’s long term investments continue to be held in a diversified portfolio, which we believe is the most responsible choice. As you know, the market has taken a hit in response to COVID-19. The value of our investments has declined, but because of the fixed income instruments that our portfolio contains, it hasn't dropped as fast as the equity funds we’ve all seen on the news.

Doug McKay’s life runs parallel to Wesley UMC. His parents were founding members. When he was a teen, the church met in a schoolhouse. As he started his own family, Wesley UMC grew with them, building its own sanctuary and filling it with children’s laughter.

Even when worship is cancelled, church leaders are still called to make critical decisions together. Videoconference tools make it possible to hold meetings from home. The Foundation uses software called Zoom to get our team together, conduct board meetings, and even teach workshops. We’re happy to share some of what we’ve learned to get you started. During the COVID-19 crisis, we’re also offering to work one-on-one with pastors and finance chairs to coach them on this technology.

Dear Foundation,

Our church just received an undesignated bequest. We’re thrilled, but we don’t have a policy in place about what to do with it! It will probably take us a while to decide, and we don’t want to miss out on interest that we could have earned during our discernment process. But if we put it in our endowment, does that prevent us from spending the principal in the future once a decision has been reached?

Congratulations on receiving a bequest-- your ministry obviously had a big influence in the donor’s life. Undesignated funds can be a huge blessing. As you described, they also force your church leadership to do some discernment together. You’re wise to want to understand all your options at the beginning of this process.

Dear Foundation, 

Our church has several CDs maturing this year. We usually use a small portion of these funds to balance the budget, but we plan to reinvest most of the money. We’d rather invest it with the Foundation than continue to buy CDs. What are our options? 

Lots of churches use CDs for low-risk investments, but this strategy requires someone to reinvest the money on an ongoing basis as the CDs mature. We often hear from congregations who are looking for a simpler way to manage these funds after a beloved trustee or finance team member retires from this volunteer role. So you’re definitely not alone! The choice you make will depend on your goals for this money. I’ll outline three possible approaches, and then your finance team can do some discernment together. 

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. An appeal doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, you could:

send out a letter from the pastor in the mail this week (template below)

print a brochure to use as a bulletin insert on December 15th (the linked file is print-ready, and includes crop marks for your local printshop to use) and make a brief announcement about it during worship

send a brief email on December 31st (template below)

If you haven’t made a plan already, you can adjust these templates, calendar them, and delegate them today. Then, let your year-end appeal run on autopilot while you focus on the coming of the Christ child.

Most planned gifts don’t benefit the church until after a beloved member passes away. But as we enter a time of year associated with generosity and giving thanks, you should be aware that there are other types of planned gifts that can benefit your church immediately. These gifts can also have great tax advantages for the donor. If one of your members wants to make a planned gift whose impact they can see during their lifetime, here are three options to consider.