LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 122

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122

SYNOD REPORTS

R6-04

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Foundation
Established in December 1958, the Foundation is now in its 55th
year of Linking Christians with Giving Opportunities®. At the heart
of this mission statement 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 Cor. 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.
Vision. The Foundation vision statement—Every Christian with a
Lifetime Plan for Giving Today, Tomorrow and Forever—proceeds
from its mission. In this vision, each person who has come by faith
to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ sees his or her life as a Godgiven resource “to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace
in its various forms” (1 Pet. 4:10b) and approaches personal stewardship joyfully, prayerfully, and conscientiously. The terms “today,
tomorrow and forever” each have distinct meaning within the context of the Foundation’s mission and 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 through the Foundation
by providing direct support for the ministries they love. In fiscal years
2010, 2011, and 2012, the Foundation processed and distributed
486,998 individual gifts for immediate support of ministry totaling
$142,210,182.
Gifts Tomorrow are deferred, or planned, gifts—including annuities, trusts, family gift funds, bequests, and other estate plans—that
support ministry efforts at some point in the future. Many deferred gift
instruments administered by the Foundation provide a stream of payments to individuals and married couples during their lifetimes, and
in some cases during the lives of their loved ones, with the remainder
value of the assets distributed to ministries named by the donors when
the instruments mature. During the last three years, the Foundation
distributed 11,901 matured planned gifts totaling $38,955,970 and
helped prepare 4,050 new gift plans with an estimated future value
of $187,154,345, which will be distributed as the charitable instruments mature.
Gifts Forever are endowed gifts that produce ongoing support
for ministry efforts. The Foundation administers 657 endowments
designed to support ministry in perpetuity. Current asset balance of
the managed endowments is more than $108 million. During the
last triennium, $11,628,815 was distributed from the endowments
to ministries of the church. At the end of fiscal year 2012, total assets
at the Foundation were $910 million. The investment performance
of assets under management did quite well during the triennium, a
period which included the worst global economic recession in the
last 80 years and significant investment declines in the financial markets. All Foundation funds have positive performance relative to their
benchmarks over both the short and long term. More than 560 unique
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, 61 voting members elect trustees and vote on other official actions. Foundation
Members currently include 35 LCMS districts, 10 colleges/universities, two seminaries, nine other Synod-affiliated entities, and five
LCMS Delegates. The Board of Trustees includes 11 voting members, of which seven are elected by the members, two are elected by
the Synod in convention, the Synod President or his representative,
2013 Convention Workbook

and the chairman of the Board for National Mission or his representative. The Chief Financial Officer of the Synod is an ex-officio
nonvoting member of the board.
The Foundation continues to partner with Concordia Plan Services
in the investment arena. Jointly using Wilshire Associates as an investment advisor and Northern Trust as our custodial bank, we have
further expanded the relationship to include five new investment
advisors. This is important to both organizations because investment
managers’ fees are based upon the amount of funds under investment.
With combined assets under the same managers (but with separate
accounts), we have been able to reduce investment fees to both organizations while continuing our distinct investment programs. We are
jointly looking for additional investment managers with Wilshire’s
assistance, so that we can expand our savings and strengthen our
investment programs.
Leadership and Organization. In March 2011, the Rev. Thomas
Ries resigned his position as president of the Foundation. Mr. Wayne
Price assumed the position of interim president while the Board of
Trustees actively seeks to fill the president position. Four senior vicepresidents give leadership to the organizational functions of Finance
and Administration, Trust Administration and Customer Support,
Marketing and Communications, and Gift Planning. Sixty full-time
employees serve the Foundation.
The Foundation has full-time gift-planning partnerships with one
auxiliary (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League), Lutheran Haven
Retirement Center, and eight districts of the Synod. The districts are
California-Nevada-Hawaii, Eastern, Iowa West, Missouri, Nebraska,
Ohio, SELC, and Southern Illinois. In addition, the Foundation has
five gift-planning counselors at large and associate gift-planning
partnerships with 26 other districts and Synod entities, and serves
individuals, congregations, and organizations with gift planning and
investment services in all 35 LCMS districts.
In 2012, the Synod’s Board of Directors resolved to transfer from
the Foundation the responsibility for development efforts that benefit
the ministries represented by the Synod. Depending on the needs of
each LCMS program, the scope of these efforts has ranged from full
development services on the one hand to a more limited scope of services on the other. The term “full development services” is broadly
described on three levels: Level 1 is face-to-face contact with donors;
Level 2 is non face-to-face contact with donors; and Level 3 is nondonor contact activities such as gift processing, data management,
and reporting. Since 2001, some Synod programs have continued in
a full development services partnership. Others have migrated to taking responsibility for their own Level 1 activities while continuing to
work with the Foundation for Levels 2 and 3 services. The employees remaining in Levels 2 and 3 continue to be Foundation employees
until such time as both organizations establish an orderly transfer.
Overall, the Foundation has brought a high degree of consistency
and professionalism to every aspect of the development process and
continues to adapt to the development needs of the synodical programs as they evolve.
Goals. During the triennium, the Foundation continued its strategic focus on gift planning, endowment funding, and continued the
consulting and training services to help equip leaders of districts, congregations, and other ministries to conduct their own gift-planning
efforts. The goal of this focus is to increase the number of face-to-face
encounters with decision makers, who will create their own lifetime
plan for giving. The Foundation follows five avenues in pursuit of
this goal: congregations, existing accounts, referrals, organizations,
and training and consulting. Spotlighting the congregation avenue,
Transfer the Blessings, a program that equips an LCMS congregation
to identify and provide gift-planning services to benefit the congregation, resulted in 113 gift plans valued at more than $37 million. Each