This is the first in a two-part series on the different approaches Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) Endowment Management clients have taken to responsible investing.
When the Rev. April Berends arrived as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in late 2017, one of her first questions at an endowment committee meeting was whether ECF/State Street offered a socially responsible investment option. At the time, the answer was “not yet.” Responsible investing options were still in development.
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Every endowment and finance committee reaches a point where the question of succession comes up. A longtime treasurer steps down. A trusted committee chair rotates off. A key voice retires from the congregation. These transitions are a natural part of committee life, but they do not have to catch your church off guard.
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What if your calling isn’t something you chase, but something that’s been subtly seeking you all along?
When I reached out to Sister Hannah, an Episcopal nun with the Sisters of St. Mary in Sewanee, Tennessee, she described her spiritual vocation this way: “Instead of a moment, it was more like a very slow and gradual awareness of my call.”
Her words invite us to lean in and trust in the slow work of God.
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I Worried
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.
Poem by Mary Oliver, Dream Works in1986.
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Churches celebrate milestones in many ways—new ministries, baptisms, confirmations, and anniversaries. But what about the legacy of generosity that sustains the church through generations? That's where Legacy Sunday comes in.
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The first months of the year invite reflection and reorientation—they’re a natural time for endowment committees to align purpose, process, and priorities. A thoughtful review during the first quarter can steady your church’s finances for the year ahead and provide clarity when uncertainty arises. At ECF, we believe that asking the right questions early in the year helps committees move beyond reacting to market performance toward building intentional, mission-driven strategies. When committees pause to plan, they strengthen not only the endowment but the church’s ability to carry out its ministry with confidence and purpose.
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Endowment gifts may come to your church in different ways. A longtime member may include your church in their will, or family may reach out after a loved one passes and wants to donate stock. Someone might pull you aside after a service and ask, “If I wanted to leave a legacy gift to the church, how would that work?”
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In his book Eleanor Roosevelt’s Nightly Prayer, Donn Mitchell explores the way this fierce advocate for justice and equality among human beings, both at home and abroad, was formed by her life lived in the liturgy and communities of The Episcopal Church. From childhood to wife of a president to leading participant in the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt was devout in her attendance in Episcopal Church liturgy and life.
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Are you pleased with the number of guests you had during Lent last year? And how involved they are now?
If so, don’t waste your time here. If not, here are some thoughts and ideas:
1) Key thought: new people are guests – not visitors. You do not ‘greet’ them, you ‘host’ them.
2) Always try to get contact information from any guests – and follow up!
3) How many people know where the ashes for Ash Wednesday come from? Make it a community event. Stress the spirituality – ‘We failed to follow Jesus and so burn the palms with which we proclaimed our allegiance.’
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Over the years, experience has taught me a lot about responding to tragedies. Yet, what I still find unexpectedly challenging is writing pastoral messages to our congregation about tragedies.
The questions that congregational leaders need to consider when writing pastoral messages like these are formidable: How will it impact someone who receives it alone without a support network available or someone who receives it at work without the opportunity to reflect on it privately? How will it resonate with parishioners who have their own experiences with trauma, tragedy, and loss? How can it speak theological truths in ways that can be received but in a format that does not allow for dialogue? How can it offer hope in times that might seem hopeless?
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My wife and I opened a Donor Advised Fund this year and it has changed our relationship with charitable giving.
My first question when our financial advisors recommended that we use a Donor Advised Fund was: What is a Donor Advised Fund?
In short, a Donor Advised Fund is an account that you open with a charitable foundation (including the Episcopal Church Foundation!*) to manage your giving. You give to the Donor Advised Fund when it makes sense for you to do so, usually for tax reasons, and then you “advise” the foundation when you want to disburse some or all of those funds to a charitable organization like your parish church. Donor Advised Funds are especially helpful if your income varies from year-to-year but you want to offer consistent support to your church – we should all want to give generously and consistently to our churches! – and to the other organizations you care about.
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As Episcopalians, we pray for the poor.
The Prayers of the People in our Eucharistic liturgy include prayers for the poor, often along with the sick, the oppressed, prisoners, the unemployed and the destitute. And in the Daily Office we pray:
“Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten.
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.”
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December in the Episcopal Church is full of beauty and motion. The Advent wreath is lit. The choir is layering harmonies over “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” The sacristy smells like candle wax and evergreen. There’s pageant rehearsal in the parish hall and a plate of cookies left behind from the coffee hour. And Vestries and endowment committees are squeezing in one last meeting before the year ends.
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I noticed something after my first stewardship campaign as a rector: Many of my parishioners were making their gifts through stock transfers, distributions from retirement accounts, or grants from donor advised funds and family foundations. They weren’t just writing checks from their bank accounts like I was.
At first, this all seemed curious but unimportant. Who cares how someone makes a gift so long as they make it? Yet, I soon came to realize that understanding our parishioners’ structures of giving made me a much more effective fundraiser and, frankly, a much more effective pastor too.
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When something doesn’t work out, what do you do? And how long does it take to try something else? How many times have you heard: ‘we tried that once before’? Ironically, it’s closely related to ‘…but we’ve always done it this way.’
About seven years ago, a beloved, visionary member of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Valley Lee, Maryland died – much too early, and after she bravely fought an aggressive cancer. She was a friend to many, in part because she straddled so many worlds. She was a resident of Washington, DC and St. Mary’s County, Maryland; down here in St. Mary’s, she spent weekends and summers. Her funeral at the National Cathedral and burial in St. George’s churchyard were well-attended. But I walked away feeling such a gap, moving forward.
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Every investment committee faces this question sooner or later: how much risk is too much? While investing plays a vital role in helping your church’s endowment grow and sustain its mission for years to come, achieving that goal means finding the right balance between risk and reward. Some investments provide steady, predictable returns with lower returns, while others come with more ups and downs — but also the potential for greater growth.
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The Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) invites you to take the time this year to celebrate Advent, a season to pause and reflect on the hopeful miracle that is to come. To help you in your preparations, we’ve gathered sixteen resources below. We pray that your Advent 2025 is filled with peace, health and hopeful anticipation.
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Episcopal congregations in Indiana continue to find new ways to thrive through the Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships (CBCP) initiative, as we first shared with Vital Practices in 2022.
CBCP provides a model that any church can follow to increase vitality and serve mission by making the most of their buildings as assets and by developing new and stronger community partnerships. Here are two examples:
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We’re entering the holiday season and during this time your church may receive more visitors, whether they’re coming for the first time or returning after some time away. Often these visits are prompted by a desire to reconnect with their faith or with familiar holiday traditions. The holiday season is a time of renewed connection, and it’s a chance to help people connect more deeply to your endowment and to one another.
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The vestry gathers for their monthly meeting. On the agenda: a proposal establishing an endowment fund to help secure the church’s long-term future. Some vestry members express enthusiasm, recognizing the potential for financial stability. Others, however, are hesitant. “If we start an endowment, won’t people think they don’t need to contribute to the stewardship campaign anymore?” one member asks. Another adds, “I’ve seen churches that became so reliant on their endowment that they stopped prioritizing stewardship altogether.”
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