New Congregational Foundation

Churches Approve at NACCC Annual Meeting

"No matter where we are on our faith journeys as Congregational Christians, we all have been called to further the Kingdom of God on earth. As individuals and faith communities, we have found many ways to respond to God’s call. To respond more completely, to share more fully the light that came into the world in Christ, and to become salt to one another in the world, we embark on this quest to strengthen our resources in support of God’s Kingdom, trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide and encourage us."

Matthew’s words form the call for a Congregational Foundation. Spokane, June 2002

 

The organization of a Congregational Foundation took a step forward when the assembled churches approved the concept at the Annual Meeting in Spokane. The churches directed that next level implementation action begin and that progress be reported next year in Milwaukee.

The idea of a Foundation has been discussed in various forms for many years. Organized action began a year ago, in June 2001 when a broad discussion about fundraising led to the appointment of an Ad Hoc Committee charged to investigate the subject and recommend action. The Committee began meeting immediately and presented its first conceptual plan to the leadership team in October 2001. The discussion that followed led to conceptual modifications and strong encouragement to continue. The final proposal was approved by the Executive Committee in February and by the delegates in June.

The origin of the Congregational Foundation lies in the belief that the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) should begin to focus on fundraising as a deliberate, ongoing task. Past efforts have been very good. But they focused primarily on funding annual budgets, seeking endowments for special purposes, or responding to donor wishes. The Foundation will coordinate fundraising for future issues by forming a group with the sole task of raising funds not only from Congregationalists but also from other sources, including grants. It will encourage, facilitate, and structure bequests, and will seek funds for present day prioritized needs, primarily in support of new initiatives. To fund these needs, the Foundation will build unrestricted and restricted endowments and will obtain and manage grant funds.

While some might like the Foundation to assume the task of fundraising for annual budgets as well as future needs, that cannot happen now in the formative years. Whether it will ever happen is a question for another day. The Foundation will, however, coordinate fundraising efforts so that many groups are not soliciting the same people for many purposes. The wishes of all NACCC Divisions, Commissions, and Committees will be gathered periodically, prioritized, and formed into a needs statement that becomes the basis of the Foundation’s appeal for funds. In this way the Foundation will address the broader, larger needs of our Divisions, Commissions, and Committees in their quest to serve local churches. The need to support these initiatives is clearly evidenced by the many pleas, from every Division, Commission, and Committee, which begin with "If only we had the funds we could implement this grand idea." Congregational Church Development (CCD) is always frustrated by not having sufficient funds to properly start new churches. Division for Ministry (DFM) laments being unable to adequately fund support for small church pastors. This list would grow with the addition of worthy projects from Congregational Foundation for Theological Studies (CFTS), the Missionary Society, Church Services, NAPF, and HOPE. With the Foundation’s process in place, these dreams will be heard, prioritized, and at least some supported.

This proposal would not have come to this point without valuable input from dozens of NACCC leaders. We give special credit to Art Wallach, First Congregational Church, Akron, Ohio, who first proposed the idea of a Congregational Foundation. During his last year of service on the Executive Committee in 1999, he made a specific recommendation for a foundation based on year-long interviews with divisions of the NACCC. Since then, the endorsements of Rev. Dick Adair, Rev. Dr. George Brown, Rev. Dr. Harry Butman, Hal Frentz, Gus Goldshine, Tom Lootens, added to questions and encouragement of others, helped bring this to our Annual Meeting in Spokane.

At an undetermined future point, the Foundation will begin a major fundraising drive, but when that will happen is not yet determined. In the near future, the Foundation needs to receive structure and become organized.

The structure of the Foundation is one of the next steps being addressed by the Ad Hoc Implementation Committee. The present plan calls for a governing Board of Directors linked to the Executive Committee. We believe that fundraising is a significant and important task and that delegating that task to the Foundation both addresses a need and frees the Executive Committee to focus on other long-range priorities and activities. In crafting the link to the NACCC Executive Committee, the Implementation Committee will rely on the advice of legal and financial counsel. Federal and state law, rules for managing grant funds, and the experience of other foundations will determine the degree of separation and independence required.

The Foundation plan also calls for a large, broad-based Advisory Council that will fill many functions. It will provide an opportunity for many people to contribute to the work of fundraising. It will provide an advisory seat at the table for many constituencies such as Divisions, Commissions, Committees, and Regional Associations. It will make available a potentially wide array of skills and talents in fundraising, grant writing, local area knowledge, and program competency. It will provide talent that, when asked, will share in the work of grant and proposal reading, writing, and evaluation. Finally, it will provide a strong, ongoing diverse group of fundraising champions. To minimize expenses, the Council will meet only during NACCC Annual Meetings.

The "dream power" of Art Wallach, shown behind Jim Hopkins, sparked the idea of a Congregational Foundation.

The idea has been embraced. The concept is approved. The implementation process has many steps. Comments from churches, sent to the NACCC office, are welcomed as the Implementation Committee continues its work. Those sent promptly will have the greatest impact since they can be considered in the early stages of the Committee’s work. What we need more than anything right now is the power of your prayers of encouragement.

To learn more about the Foundation proposal, ask for a copy of the Foundation Brochure and Question ∓ Answer sheet (Phone 1-800-262-1620). It is possible, but not certain, that parts of the June Foundation presentation will be available at the NACCC web site, www.naccc.org. Click "Streaming Media". Then click on the Executive Committee Report for the presentation and on Open Leadership Forum for the Question and Answer session.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". Matthew 6: 21

Jim Hopkins, an active member of the Riverpoint Congregational Church, West Warwick, Rhode Island, is the chairperson of the Foundation Implementation Committee.