I’m pleased to share great news from the August meeting of the Vestry. A committee had been at work for some months to craft a proposal for a new St. John’s endowment fund. Energetically led by parish Treasurer Russ McCoy, the committee included Jim Barber, Carole Moser, Bryant Blakeslee, and Biff Blocker. They used model policies from the Episcopal Church Foundation in New York and selected investment strategies and a money manager. They Vestry approved these careful plans and created the St. John’s endowment out of various parish reserve funds in August. An endowment governing committee was also selected by the Vestry, to include Allison Gallagher, David Williams, Carole Moser, Bryant Blakeslee, and Rich Linden.

Much of the endowment will support repairs, maintenance, and improvements to our campus, including the Living Stones fund (1 Peter 2:5: You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.) That fund has largely supported the improvement to the church entrances now underway. Other funds will foster new ministries, like the Bishop Charles Duvall Fund. A portion of the Jack Fleischer Memorial Fund is also in the endowment, as a perpetual support to the retreat and formation ministries Jack loved.

The total value of the endowment fund is $1,150,000. Something like 4% ($46,000) of the fund will be made available each year for the purposes named above. Endowment income won’t pay salaries or plug holes in the annual budget. Your generous giving is still key to our ministry.

You can make a gift to the St. John’s endowment at any time and may want to include a gift in your estate plans. Church endowments are often built by bequests, which will grow our fund and allow us to maintain our beautiful campus and build new ministries. Remember your church as you make plans for the future; I’ll revise my will soon to include a gift to St. John’s. I hope you will say a word of thanks to Russ and others who have shared in this work. I am convinced they will have a positive impact on our ministry for generations. Nicholas+