Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Nearly ten years ago, St. George’s Church in Valley Lee, Maryland undertook a comprehensive, detailed energy audit. This was built on top of the previous years in which their buildings and grounds leadership had begun to focus on building use and internal re-designs and renovations for great efficiency of spaces and needs.

It wasn’t the simple energy audit that utility companies readily provide. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) offers three levels of energy audits. Level 1 is what the utility companies offer, and they’re generally provided at no cost. From Better Buildings: a “Level 1 audit is a simple audit that involves a basic walk-through assessment, review of utility bills and other applicable operating data, and interviews with operations staff.” Level 2 audits “build on the level 1 analysis with more detailed energy calculations and added financial analysis of proposed energy measures. This level of audit uses utility data over a longer period of time so that the auditor can better understand the building’s energy use. The financial analysis at this level of audit is used to build the business case for implementing energy measures.” St. George’s invested in a Level 2 audit.

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When faith communities establish an endowment, they often begin with a simple purpose: to support outreach ministries, to enhance worship and music, or to provide long-term financial stability. This clarity of purpose is essential—it ensures that the funds are directed toward the intended ministry and that donors can trust their gifts will be stewarded accordingly.

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Many years ago, a couple I knew from the church where I served as curate came to visit me at my new church. My previous church was large, the largest in terms of Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) in that urban deanery, and this church – the congregation I still serve as rector – was small, quaint, historic.

At lunch that day, the couple asked me how it was going. Even though it was early in my ministry, and I was dealing with all the issues that go along with moving to a new state and and learning a new community, I shared that I got the sense that I would likely be just as busy as I was at that larger church. “But it’s hard to imagine,” I shared, “given that this church is less than a third in terms of membership of that previous church.” Maybe it was because, previously, I was one of three clergypersons on staff? Maybe because I came from a system in which there was greater staff support overall – a full-time parish administrator and part-time bookkeeper, not to mention a sexton and a youth ministry director?

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Thinking about creating a new endowment fund? Before making a decision, it’s important to consider key factors like governance, investment strategy, and long-term impact. The guide below outlines five essential steps to help your church navigate the process.

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This story begins at a time of genocide, when an evil ruler set out to wipe a race of people off the face of the earth. A baby boy was born to them, and though his mother tried to hide him away, a growing baby can’t just keep quiet. In desperation, she floated her infant son in a basket on the big river. The ruler’s daughter found the baby and took him home to raise him in the palace.

Moses grew up in comfort and privilege, insulated from the suffering of the people outside his cocoon. Then one day, as a young man, he began to explore the city outside the palace walls. Men who looked a lot like him were working at hard, physical tasks. Women surrounded by skinny, wide-eyed kids peered at him out of their half-open doors. Soldiers roamed the streets, lording it over the men and leering at the women.

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The Chapel at the Seminary of the Southwest has a wall of glass. It looks out over a lawn, some beautiful native live oak trees, and a large, three-dimensional, weathered metal cross. It stands over 8 feet tall. The cross is placed outside the chapel. Whether pausing between classes or worshipping in a community Eucharist, you can’t miss it. It beckons. The life and work of the faithful is calling from beyond the chapel walls.

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As an endowment committee member, you carry the significant responsibility of managing your church’s endowment—an essential resource that funds its mission and supports its future. This responsibility requires thoughtful oversight, strategic planning, and a clear understanding of your fiduciary duties. To help you stay on track, here’s a seasonal framework to guide your committee’s work throughout the year.

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All congregations are required, by canons or by-laws, to have annual meetings to discuss the current state of the church.

These meetings can be very tedious, with the leaders and members of the church going through the motions. Some overperform on the legalistic aspect, rush to complete the agenda, or use it as a platform to air all grievances. Whether the annual meeting occurs in January or November, it presents an opportunity for gratitude, reflection, and recommitment.

Within these annual meetings, we can be truly thankful and demonstrably celebrate the ministries that have thrived and produced positive results. In addition, we can reflect on those ministries that need to end and acknowledge their past contributions. We can especially explore diverse ministries and, with joy, consider launching something new.

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Our congregations are diverse - spanning multiple generations, different financial circumstances, varying interests, and different ways of connecting with the church's mission. The most effective approach to encouraging church giving, whether it is annual giving or endowment giving, isn't implementing a one-size-fits-all approach — it's about meeting each donor where they are in their giving journey and making it easy for them to support the church and the ministries that matter to them.

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In celebration of ECF’s 75th Anniversary, we have gathered together 75 of our most popular and evergreen resources across ten different ministry areas. We hope you enjoy reading them and find that they spark questions and ideas to enrich your ministry.

ECF Vital Practices, a ministry of the Episcopal Church Foundation, supports Episcopal faith communities by providing resources and tools to help them adapt to the changing needs of the Church. On this digital platform, ECF lifts up the stories, experiences, and best practices of lay and clergy leaders to make it easier for others who seek to improve the Church.

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ECF invites you to take the time 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 thirteen resources below. We pray that your Advent is filled with peace, health and hopeful anticipation.

1. Find Advent and Christmas resources from The Episcopal Church here, including an updated Journeying the Way of Love Advent calendar and curriculum, bulletin inserts, and Advent and Christmas Digital Invitation Kits. Most of their resources are also available in Spanish and French.

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My home church recently held its annual Steak Fry. I remember hearing about this event as a child, but it was never an option for us. It wasn’t really for my parents, either. Back then, it was an event for older, more mature (read: no small children at home) kind of adults.

That was the culture of my home church, my home neighborhood’s Old First Church. They excelled at all things social. There was the fall Harvest Home Dinner which, in previous generations, was a multiple day event. A bazaar in the fall featured an elegant luncheon in the room children were never allowed. My mother, in fact, is still a member of the ‘circle’ she joined in the 1970s. Evidently, there were lots of women’s circles – and they all had strange-sounding names (there was even a circle called “octagon”). One time, I asked her what they were, these ‘circles’. “Our group of women,” she replied. I tried to dig a bit more into what, precisely, their purpose and mission and objective were. Those weren’t exactly fruitful questions.

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Arrest the church’s numerical decline. Raise up more lay leaders. Simplify governance structures. Create multiple fresh expressions of church. More effectively utilize technology. Turn the clergyperson’s role from primary do-er to supporter of ministries led by others. These are a few of the desired outcomes of the (UK) Diocese of Winchester’s “Growing Rural Parishes” project. Initially called ‘The Benefice of the Future,’ this pilot-project recognizes that team ministry – groupings of multiple parishes into collective benefices – have become the standard operating system for most congregations in the Church of England. For example, 80% of the population in the Diocese of Winchester lives in urban areas, but 60% of the diocese’s nearly 400 churches are in the countryside.

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As the calendar year draws to a close, church leaders have a special opportunity to encourage year-end charitable giving. Not only is this a time when parishioners are reflecting on their faith and generosity, but it's also a moment when they may be considering how their gifts can leave a lasting legacy. For churches managing endowments, the end of the calendar year presents an especially powerful time to invite contributions that will support the mission of the parish for generations to come.

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L to R: Jo Ann Roberts, Toni Daniels, The Rev. Tim Murray, Devorah Crable, The Rev. Cynthia Rigali-Lund, Tom Lund, Yvonne Lembo, Donald V. Romanik, Ann Ryan, Margaret Romanik, Cecelia Mowatt, The Rev. Matthew Hanisian and Sr. Warden, Gary Martin in Chicago, IL.

I announced my retirement as president of the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) in November 2023, effective at the end of 2024. Yvonne Lembo, our Director of Development, and I considered how to commemorate this transition year, especially since 2024 also marked the 75th Anniversary of ECF. We decided on a five-city farewell tour nicknamed “Faithfully Yours.” We selected venues in Austin, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Chicago and decided that the main purpose of these events would be to thank donors, clients, constituents, and friends for their loyal support of both ECF and me over the last 19 years.

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Less than 200 yards down the lane from St. Andrew’s Church in Bemerton, just outside Salisbury UK – best known to Anglicans as George Herbert’s church – is the Church of the St. John the Evangelist. Compared to humble, rustic St. Andrew’s, St. John’s is massive. From St. John’s churchyard, one can see the roof line of St. Andrew’s. Standing in that very spot it appeared to me, at least, that St. Andrew’s could fit entirely within the chancel, alone, of St. John’s! Whereas St. Andrew’s is a small, intimate 13th century building, easily filled with 30-35 people, St. John’s is a much larger edifice, built in the 19th century. According to the Parish website: “The foundation stone of the church was laid on the 9th April 1859 by Elizabeth, wife of Sidney, 1st Lord Herbert of Lea.” Did you catch the family name? It was something of a Victorian vanity project, by which I mean no disrespect: so-called ‘vanity projects’ at one point did actually involve libraries and schools and churches. Shortly after its consecration, St. John’s became the parish church of Bemerton Parish, which included St. Andrew’s.

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In our new series, “In Conversation,” Aline Sun, Program Director in the Episcopal Church Foundation's Endowment Management Program, interviews Simona Mocuta, Chief Economist at State Street Global Advisors. They discuss the crucial role economists play in investment management, providing valuable perspectives on how economic trends impact investment strategies. This conversation offers key insights for those involved in endowment management and anyone interested in understanding the intersection of economics and investment strategy. Watch the full interview below.

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Year-End Giving is a wonderful opportunity to:

Here’s a few ways you can make the most of this important season of provision in the annual life cycle of your congregation:

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“The way we’re trying to change the world is not going to work,” says Deborah Frieze, “and it’s never going to work.” That’s how she begins her 2015 TEDTalk, “How I became a localist”.

“You can’t fundamentally change big systems,” Frieze claims. “You can’t undo, fix, reverse engineer, redirect or reassign these systems. That’s because they’re not machines: they’re living systems.”

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I am one of those clergy who live in a rectory, which might be a small number of us but not so tiny that it’s statistically uncommon. “Church-provided housing,” the official terminology for rectories or vicarages or deaneries or parsonages, can be a great blessing and can in some cases be an incentive for calling a pastor.

I’ve greatly enjoyed living in our rectory. Plus, I have a great Vestry and excellent Buildings & Grounds Committee (and wardens and B&G chairpersons) who work closely with me and my family to make sure the house is in tip-top shape. It’s both their house and our house at the same time, after all.

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