LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 74

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74 SYNOD REPORTS

R4-01

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Foundation

During the next triennium, the LCMS Foundation (the Founda-
tion) will celebrate its golden anniversary. Founded in December
1958, the Foundation has pursued its mission for nearly fifty years.
At the heart of this mission is a core value of Christ-centered
financial stewardship, which properly views giving as a Spirit-
inspired act of sanctification motivated by the love of Christ
(2 Corinthians 5:14). The Foundation exists to offer comprehensive
charitable expertise and services to help individual Christians plan
and direct their passions for giving to family and all ministries of the
church today, tomorrow, and forever.

Mission and Vision. The Foundation mission statement is Link-
ing Christians with Giving Opportunities®. During the last trien-
nium, the Foundation adopted a vision statement to accompany its
mission statement: Every Christian with a Lifetime Plan for Giving
Today, Tomorrow, and Forever. In this vision, each person who has
come by faith to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ sees his or her
life as a God-given resource “‘to serve others, faithfully administering
God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10b) and approaches per-
sonal financial stewardship joyfully, prayerfully, and conscientiously.
The terms “today, tomorrow, and forever” each have distinct mean-
ing within the context of the Foundation’s vision.

Gifts Today are direct gifts used immediately to support ministry
efforts. During the last triennium many individuals throughout our
church body expressed their love for Christ by working through the
Foundation to provide immediate support for the ministries they love.
In fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006, the Foundation received and
distributed 533,058 individual gifts for immediate support of ministry
totaling $125,569,205. These gift totals included over $20 million in
direct contributions for tsunami and hurricane disaster relief.

Gifts Tomorrow are deferred, or planned, gifts—including an-
Nuities, trusts, bequests and other estate plans—that support min-
istry efforts at some point in the future. Many deferred gift
instruments administered by the Foundation provide a stream of
payments to individual donors during their lifetimes and the lives
of their loved ones, with the remainder value of the assets distrib-
uted to ministries named by the donors when the instruments ma-
ture. During the last three years, the Foundation distributed 13,433
matured planned gifts totaling $57,416,287 and helped prepare
4,235 new planned gifts with an estimated future value of
$172,222,355, which will be distributed as the charitable instru-
ments mature.

Gifts Forever are endowed gifts that produce ongoing support
for ministry efforts. The Foundation administers over 550 endow-
ments designed to support ministry in perpetuity. Current asset bal-
ance of the managed endowments is over $78,500,000. During the
last triennium, over $8,000,000 was distributed from the endow-
ments to ministries of the church. The income-producing assets
under management through the Foundation had very positive in-
vestment returns during the last three years. At the end of fiscal
year 2006, total assets at the Foundation were $741 million.

Over 600 separate ministries of the church benefited from gifts
received and distributed through the LCMS Foundation during the
triennium.

Membership and Partnerships. While the Foundation exists
to serve all congregations and entities of the church, forty-five vot-
ing Members elect trustees and vote on other official actions. The
Foundation Members include 18 LCMS districts, 7 colleges and
2 seminaries, 12 other Synod-affiliated entities, and 6 members-at-
large. The Board of Trustees includes 11 members, of which 7 are
elected by the Members, 2 are elected by the Synod in Convention,
one is appointed by the President of the Synod, and one is ap-
pointed by the Board for District and Congregational Services. The

2007 Convention Workbook

Treasurer of the Synod is an ex-officio member of the Board. In
addition to its Members, the Foundation has working relationships
with all of the other LCMS districts and universities and many
other Synod-affiliated entities.

Leadership and Organization. Since April 2004, the Reverend
Thomas Ries has served as President of the Foundation. Five se-
nior vice-presidents give leadership to the organizational functions
of Finance and Administration, Trust Administration and Customer
Support, Marketing and Communications, Gift Planning, and Min-
istry Resource Development. 99 employees serve the Foundation,
22 deployed as gift counselors and principal gift officers.

The Foundation has full-time gift planning partnerships with
one auxiliary and 12 districts of the Synod. These entities are the
Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and the following districts:
California-Nevada-Hawaii, Eastern, Florida-Georgia, Iowa West,
Minnesota South, Nebraska, New England, North Wisconsin, Ohio,
Rocky Mountain, South Wisconsin, and Southeastern. In addition,
the Foundation has associate gift planning partnerships with a num-
ber of other districts and Synod entities, and serves individuals,
congregations, and organizations with gift planning and investment
services in all 35 LCMS districts.

In 2001, the Synod’s Board of Directors assigned to the Foun-
dation the responsibility for development efforts that benefit the
ministries represented by the program boards of the Synod. De-
pending on the needs of each program board, the scope of these ef-
forts has ranged from full development services on the one hand to
a more limited scope of services on the other. The term ‘“‘full de-
velopment services” is broadly described on three levels: Level |:
face-to-face contact with donors; Level 2: non-face-to-face contact
with donors; and Level: 3 non-donor contact activities such as gift
processing, data management, and reporting.

Overall, the Foundation has brought a high degree of consis-
tency and professionalism to every aspect of the development
process and will continue to adapt to the development needs of the
program boards in the future. At the beginning of the past trien-
nium, the Foundation provided full development services for
KFUO Radio and the boards for Mission Services, University Ed-
ucation, and World Relief and Human Care.

During the last triennium the Board for University Education
left its partnership for full development services and the Board for
Pastoral Education entered a partnership for full development ser-
vices. Beginning July 1, 2007, the Foundation will provide only
level 2 and 3 services for the Board for Mission Services.

Since 2004, the Foundation has provided key leadership for Fan
Into Flame, the synodwide campaign of LCMS World Mission to
raise $100 million to support the Ablaze! movement. While most of
the objectives of Ablaze! need no funding, Fan Into Flame is being
conducted to gather support for those Ablaze! initiatives that do re-
quire funding within congregations, districts, national and cross-
cultural, and international settings. The Foundation will work
within each of the 35 LCMS districts through 2010 to assist with
Fan Into Flame.

Goals. During the triennium the Foundation operated under
seven strategic goals, which will continue to guide the Foundation
through the next triennium:

Goal1: Elevate the visibility of the Foundation’s mission both
within and outside of the organization.

Goal 2: Become better acquainted with the needs of the min-
istries served by the Foundation, and strengthen rela-
tionships with them.

Goal 3: Increase the participation of LCMS ministries in the de-
velopment process.

Goal 4: — Serve individuals through coordinated systems of con-

tact and care that address donor needs and are adaptable
to donor life situations.