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Endowment and Memorial Gift TrustRequest for Special Project Funding
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JUC
EMGT 2005-06 Annual Report Directors The Directors of the Endowment and Memorial Gift Trust (the EMGT or the Trust) as of July 1, 2005 were Lois Abbott (Secretary), DeDe Cross, Dave DiGiacomo, Stan Hamilton (Chair), Kay Kerlin (Treasurer), BJ Meadows, and Jay Wilsey. DeDe moved to another state and resigned in January 2006. We continued the 2005-06 year with six Directors. Directors are elected for three-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms. Jay is completing the third year of his second term. He is term-limited and will be leaving the Trust. We heartily thank Jay for his faithful service, hard work, and many thoughtful contributions to the Trust. He served as Treasurer for almost four years, and has been chair of the Investment Subcommittee this year. BJ is completing the third year of her first term and has agreed to be nominated for a second term. Stan is completing the second year of his second term, and Kay is completing the second year of her first term. Bob Brayden has been nominated for an initial term to serve the last two years of the three year term to which DeDe was elected. Peter Lohaus has been nominated for an initial three-year term. These terms will begin in July 2005. Subcommittees The Trust established three subcommittees in June 2004 to facilitate fulfilling our responsibilities by setting up subcommittees for the following projects: Investments, Planned Giving, and Special Projects Selection Process. Their purpose is to develop and bring recommendations for action to our regular meetings, thus making those meetings more productive, effective, and efficient. Directors are asked to volunteer for these subcommittees based on their particular interests. It is permissible to have non-directors as subcommittee members with the agreement of a majority of the Directors. Dave DiGiacomo and Kay Kerlin are the members of this year’s Planned Giving Subcommittee. DeDe Cross was a member until her resignation. The Subcommittee focused on increasing planned giving by JUC members and friends by developing increased knowledge and appreciation within the congregation of the significance to JUC, the denomination, and the larger community of the projects that the Trust funds. The Planned Giving Program was formalized in February 2004 when the congregation voted unanimously to approve a document entitled “Planned Giving Program.” That document was added to the EMGT Charter. As part of the Planned Giving Program, one Sunday is to be calendered each year at which a portion of the service is devoted to the importance and value of planned giving. During this portion of the service, people who have remembered JUC in their estate plans during the past year and who wish to be are recognized as members of the Legacy Circle and are presented Legacy Circle chalice pins. In addition, the purposes of the Trust and the projects we have funded are pointed out. Planning and presenting our portion of the service, traditionally in April, is one of the duties of the Subcommittee. Due to other church activities and programs in April, DeDe’s absence, and other Trust priorities, we did not do a Planned Giving Sunday this year. The Directors approved an Investment Subcommittee charter in November 2004. Among the provisions of that charter are that the subcommittee shall consist of between two and four members, a least two of which shall be current EMGT Directors and that persons other than EMGT Directors may be members with the approval of a majority of the EMGT Directors. In addition, the EMGT chairperson, treasurer, and a Taguchi Social Action Fund director shall be ex-officio members if these EMGT directors are not full members of the subcommittee. The voting Subcommittee members this year have been Jay Wilsey (chair), Kay Kerlin, Randy Kuehn, and Bud Meadows. Tom Storm has been the Taguchi Social Action Fund representative. Randy was a Trust Director for a three-year term that ended in June 2005. Bud was a member of the Subcommittee last year and agreed to continue. BJ Meadows developed the Special Projects Selection Process. The process is a way to streamline project selection, make quality decisions, and communicate to the congregation the reasons behind project selection. That process worked very well at our March and April meetings where we selected Special Projects for funding. Since the development and implementation of this process has been essentially completed, this subcommittee has been refocused to “market” the availability of our Special Project funds and develop a new EMGT brochure. Investment Highlights The Trust’s Investment Policy Statement and socially responsible investing were subjects on the agenda at many of our meetings during the past year. Dave DiGiacomo pointed out the need to review our investment policies, particularly with respect to socially responsible investing, to be sure that we follow the policies in the Statement or revise the Statement to be consistent with our practices. The discussions led to the recognition that the Investment Policy Statement needed to be revised. Dave took on that task and presented a draft of the revised Statement for review and discussion. The draft is more suggestive of our philosophy and less rigidly directive than the existing Statement. The Directors made a number of suggestions, and Dave will produce a second draft. Finalizing the revised Statement is a task for the coming year. As of April 11, 2006, the Trust’s total assets were $640,219. There were no liabilities, and therefore our total equity was $640,219. That is an increase of $44,307, or 7.4% from the April 2005 equity balance of $595,912. In May 2005, $36,800 was disbursed for 2005 Special Project grants. After that disbursement, the equity balance as of May 24, 2005, was $562,706. In the eleven months (May 2005-April 2006), the total equity has increased by $77,513, or 13.8%. Essentially all of that increase was from our investments, as only $50 in contributions was received between April 2005 and April 2006. A total of $30,075 was disbursed from the Trust’s assets after April 11 to fund Special Projects. As of April 11, 2006, about 65% ($416,335) of the Trust’s total assets ($640,219) were in the following four stock mutual funds: the Vanguard Calvert Social Index Fund ($27,595), the Vanguard International Value Fund ($149,935), the Vanguard REIT Index Fund ($32,723), and the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ($203,452). Fixed income investments and other assets that make up the remaining 35% include the Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund ($109,200) and the Capital Project loan to the Jefferson Unitarian Church ($111,772). The other assets are a Wells Fargo checking account ($2,912). The McDevitt Promissory Note was paid off in March 2006. That note was transferred to the Trust’s balance sheet in March 2004 with the other assets of the Foreman Intern and Scholarship Fund. A number of changes were made to the investments held during the year based on recommendations from the Investments Subcommittee and approved by the Directors. These changes were made to sell a low-performing fund (Weitz Value), take gains from a performing fund (Vanguard REIT Index), maintain our diverse asset allocation among international, and small, mid, and large cap domestic funds, and continue to reduce fund expenses. The Weitz Value and $20,000 (38%) of the Vanguard REIT Index were sold. Half the proceeds ($59,000) from the Weitz sale is being invested in the Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund (NAESX) and the other half in the Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund (VIMSX). The proceeds from the Vanguard REIT were added to the Prime Money Market Fund from which $30,075 was taken for Special Project grants in late April. Loans to JUC The EMGT Directors and the JUC congregation approved a loan of $115,000 to JUC at various times from August to December 2003. Those approvals are fully described in the 2003-04 Annual Report. The initial approvals were for a construction loan. Subsequently, approval was given to continue that loan as a long-term loan. Both parties agreed to the form of the long-term loan note prior to the execution of the construction loan note. The First National Bank of Colorado construction loan terminated on April 21, 2005. Therefore, the construction loan Note also terminated on that date, and the $115,000 long-term loan closed on that date. The Promissory Installment Note for a Term Loan with a Balloon Payment to Jefferson Unitarian Church from the JUC Endowment and Memorial Gift Trust was submitted to JUC for review on April 29, 2005. JUC approved that Note, and it was signed on May 12, 2005. The term loan is for an initial five-year period with a balloon payment due at the end of that period (May 2010). The payments during this period are based on a twenty-year amortization schedule. The Note has an interest rate of 5.75% with monthly payments of $807.40. The EMGT will re-evaluate JUC’s financial position at or prior to the end of the five year period to propose terms for renewal for an additional fifteen years. It is the intent of the EMGT that the EMGT renew the Note at the Prime Rate prevailing on the balloon maturity date and that that rate shall apply for the remaining fifteen years of the twenty-year amortization period. The balance remaining on the term loan as of April 11, 2006, is $111,772. Special Projects At our regular November meeting, the Trust Directors designated $30,000 as the total funding available for Special Projects in 2006. That amount is $6,800 less than the $36,800 granted last year. This year’s funding was 5.2% of our total assets in November and was 4.7% of the total assets in April. We plan to continue annual Special Project funding at approximately 5% of total assets. An announcement of the available funds was placed in the newsletter and on juceALERT in early December. This announcement, the format for requests, and the Special Project guidelines were distributed to JUC board members, committee chairpersons, program council facilitators, ministers, and staff. Additional e-mail notices were sent to remind people to apply for the grants. Twelve proposals totaling $47,512 were received by the February 28 deadline. The Directors evaluated the proposals at our March and April meetings and voted at the April meeting to grant $31,425 for ten Special Projects. In making our selection of projects to fund and using our Special Process Selection Process, we rate each proposal on seven factors as follows:
The grants were announced with an article in the newsletter in early May. The ten projects that are being funded are described in the following paragraphs. We enthusiastically voted to fund the request for $12,000 for new sanctuary chairs. This request was submitted by the Board of Trustees, the Committee on Ministry, the Religious Services Group, and the Building and Grounds Authority. The grant will be combined with $7,000 of designated gifts to purchase 300 new chairs to replace the bench pews in the sanctuary. These individual chairs are designed to increase our effective seating capacity by 20% at each service. The combination of new seating and the addition of a third service will provide space in our sanctuary for another four to five years of growth at our present rate. In addition, the chairs will be more comfortable than the benches and will allow for more flexible use of our space. The second largest grant is for $6,000 to the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado (TIA-CO). These funds will contribute to TIA-CO’s 2006 budget of about $120,000 and help them hire and retain an executive director and a community outreach coordinator. The EMGT helped TIA-CO in its formative years with grants of $6,000 in 2000 and 2001 and $1,500 in 2002. TIA-CO’s mission and goals are directly aligned with the tenets of JUC and the UU denomination. JUC’s Social Responsibility Council supported the current proposal, and other individuals at JUC are strong supporters of the organization. Chuck Mowry is the immediate past president, and Rev. Peter Morales is a member of the Board of Directors. The organization has pushed an essentially all volunteer organization to its limits. It has built cash reserves, increased contributions and grants, and put together a very strong funding committee. For TIA-CO to move forward, now is a critical time for it to hire experienced professional leaders. We support that goal. We are continuing to support the Music Ministry Group that adds so much to the life, vitality, and growth of our church with a total of $4,400 for two projects:
We voted to fund $2,500 of a $3,250 request from the Religious Services Group for an Assistive Listening System. This system will assist people attending our services and other events in the sanctuary who have hearing disabilities. The funds granted will provide for the basic equipment needed and the ability to add additional receivers. The basic equipment includes the FM transmitter system and related equipment, a 16-unit charger base, and four receivers. Ten receivers were requested, as recommended for a congregation of our size. Additional receivers can be purchased as needed using funds from donations or from the operating budget. We granted a total of $4,900 for four projects requested by the Building and Grounds Authority (BGA) as it continues its outstanding work to complete the landscaping projects that are a part of our Capital Project building plan. These four projects are:
We have funded the Fellowship Committee’s proposal for $175 for kitchen sanitation training. The training in food sanitation and food handling safety will be done at JUC by a professional from the Jefferson County Health Department for the estimated 35 Fellowship Cook Team members and Commons Coordinators. The training will ensure that food, cups, and utensils at JUC for Fellowship Dinners and other events will be prepared and handled in the safest, most sanitary manner possible. Included in the $31,425 total is $1,350 that was previously granted to fund the travel and housing expenses to bring Rev. C. Leon Hopper and his wife, Dorothy, to JUC in early April and to produce a plaque for the sanctuary honoring Leon. Leon was honored as our first called minister, and the sanctuary was named the C. Leon Hopper Sanctuary. One Special Project funded in 2003 for $3,000 has not been completed. That project is for Sanctuary Sound Improvement, in particular the elimination of the sound “dead spots.” The project has been delayed in part because of the remodeling of the sanctuary cupola. None of the $3,000 has been spent, and additional funds may be required. Tom Vincent and Tom Roberts are responsible for completion of the project. The EMGT has told them to spend the existing funds as they deem necessary, to request additional funds if necessary, and that it is the EMGT’s intent to approve a reasonable amount of additional funds outside the normal Special Project procedures in order to complete the project. Intern Ministers JUC plans to establish an ongoing intern minister program beginning in September 2006. The EMGT was requested to provide full funding ($12,600 per year) for the first two years (2006-07 and 2007-08) and half that amount for the third year for a total of $31,500. The remaining half ($6,300) in the third year and the total cost in subsequent years would come from JUC’s operating budget. The Directors unanimously approved a motion in February 2005 to provide $12,600 for an intern minister starting in September 2006 and to have a positive attitude toward the same funding in 2007-08. We recognized our obligation to provide funding for intern ministers since the EMGT absorbed the Foreman Fund in 2004. In February 2006, the Directors granted $12,600 to fund a second intern minister beginning in September 2007. The EMGT and the Taguchi Fund Jim and Til Taguchi gifted $100,000 to JUC to enable us to expand our congregation’s involvement in social action and to extend UU principles into social decision making in our wider community by making grants to appropriate JUC related groups. Five directors nominated by the LNC and elected by the congregation administer the Taguchi Social Action Fund (TSAF). At the request of the TSAF, the EMGT agreed to invest and allocate the assets of the fund in accordance with TSAF’s guidelines and general directives. The EMGT Treasurer does the accounting and has signing authority for disbursement of funds along with one or more TSAF directors. The assets have been entered into the EMGT’s financial tracking system and are accounted for separately from the EMGT’s assets. The EMGT has no involvement in determining how these assets are spent. Revised JUC Bylaws and the EMGT The congregation approved a major revision of the JUC bylaws in February 2006. Article XIV sets forth the responsibilities, composition, absences, and dismissal of the Trust’s Directors. The only significant changes from the previous bylaws relate to the Director’s responsibilities regarding investing of gifts to the congregation and socially responsible investing of the Trust’s assets. Section 1 of Article XIV states these responsibilities as follows: The Trust Directors are subject to the Articles of Incorporation, these bylaws and the Endowment and Memorial Gift Trust (EMGT) Document(s). The Directors hold, manage, invest, and disburse Trust Fund assets and carry out the responsibilities described in the Trust (and Fund) Document(s). All gifts to be invested on the congregation’s behalf will be invested by this Trust. If the entity receiving the gift(s) is not the Trust, the gift(s) will be invested in accordance with the directions of the receiving entity. Trust Directors are bonded at the expense of the church. The duties of the Trust Directors include:
The Future The most important tasks before the Trust Directors are:
Submitted by Stan Hamilton, EMGT Chair |
| Jefferson Unitarian Church 14350 W. 32nd Avenue ~ Golden, Colorado 80401 | Phone: 303-279-5282 Fax: 303-279-2535 |
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