On April 29, 2021, UMF president Chris Walters and investment advisor Jim Lumberg hosted a video presentation, “Investing lessons from a really difficult year,” to discuss the first quarter of 2021. Please feel free to share this video with whomever you feel will benefit.
During the Q&A time after the presentation, participants highlighted several topics of interest to local churches. See below after the video timeline for more information.
| Segment Time | Segment Content |
| 00:00 – 01:29 | Introduction |
| 01:29 – 04:05 | Value of Staying the Course |
| 04:05 – 05:25 | Benefits of Diversification |
| 05:25 – 07:36 | Periodic Table of Investment Returns |
| 07:36 – 08:13 | Model Allocations |
| 08:13 – 09:51 | Model Fund Performance as of March 31, 2021 |
| 09:51 – 12:20 | Three Simple Rules as Investment Practice |
| 12:20 – 14:52 | Measuring Portfolio Returns in New Ways |
| 14:52 – 15:25 | Conclusion |
- How many churches invest through the Foundation?
- Currently the Foundation manages approximately $90 million:
- 118 churches have investment accounts
- 14 agencies have investment accounts
- 32 churches benefit from permanent funds owned by the Foundation
- 200+ charitable gift annuities for approximately 170 annuitants
- Several grants and scholarship funds, donor advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and other funds owned by the Foundation.
- Currently the Foundation manages approximately $90 million:
- How can we (local church) better resource people within the church for leadership?
- Please visit ThreeSimpleRules.org, which is a new Foundation website devoted to this purpose.
- What is UPMIFA?
- Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act is state law (similar laws in 48 other states) governing the management of endowment funds. The principles of UPMIFA provide excellent guidance for local churches managing long-term funds that are often called “endowments” but are not “true” endowments. See this excellent article from the National Council of Nonprofits for more information on this distinction.
- What is a Gift Acceptance Policy?
- Every church and nonprofit should have a gift acceptance policy. See this portion from the Planned Giving Handbook for a sample policy.
- Can communicating more effectively and broadly about the Foundation’s ESG investment strategies encourage donors?
- Yes! See the PDFs on the top of the Investment Overview page of this website. The Foundation is working on more concise and distributable materials with share with individuals. The Foundation also has access to numerous excellent resources for print through our Crescendo Interactive subscription. See the Crescendo website here for examples and contact the Foundation office to learn more about how we can assist your local church in this regard.
- What other planned giving resources are offered by the Foundation?
- Visit the Foundation’s planned giving website (UMFGift.org), hosted by Crescendo. See the bottom half of the Resources page for the Planned Giving Handbook and other resources, such as sample policies.