07173
March 22, 2007

PC(USA) Foundation has a record-breaking 2006

New funds total $37.5 million, $6.3 million higher than last year

by Toya Richards Hill

LOUISVILLE — According to the numbers, 2006 was a good year for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation.

     The foundation, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), reported $78.5 million available for mission in 2006, an increase of $6.3 million from 2005.

     The gain reflects an overall return on the foundation’s investments of “more than 10 percent,” according to Robert Leech, president and chief executive officer for the foundation. The church’s Board of Pensions also reported a double-digit investment return for 2006, coming in at 14.5 percent.

     “There is still a general increase in giving within the denomination,” Leech said. “It’s probably growing a lot more at the local level … but I think that follows the trends that we are seeing in the denomination.”

     “Presbyterians are still generous people,” he said. “We’re building on this.”

     New gifts and accounts for the foundation, based in Jeffersonville, Ind., amounted to almost $37.5 million, including $15.6 million in endowment funds.

     As one of the largest religious foundations in the United States, the Presbyterian Foundation and its subsidiary, New Covenant Trust Company, are accountable for more than $1.8 billion in charitable endowments, life income plans, trust and investment management accounts.

     The foundation’s purpose includes furthering the mission of the denomination and growing the resources that support future mission giving, and in the last five years the foundation has made available more than $375 million.

     Leech said although the numbers go up and down, 2006 was “a record year” partly because of “the state of the economy and the market.”

     “I would say the long-term trend is up,” he said, also predicting that 2007’s numbers would be up, too. “The early results are looking petty good. It certainly will be an up year again.”

     Included in what will account for that expected increase for 2007 is the $10 million gift from the Geraldine C. Heiserman Trust, $2.5 million of which was approved by the General Assembly Council Executive Committee last spring for mission co-workers.

     Other beneficiaries of the gift, as approved by the GAC at its meeting March 13-16, include the Synod of the Rocky Mountains, 1 percent; the Presbytery of the Plains and Peaks, 3 percent; the Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Yuma, CO; 1 percent; and the National Mission Partnership Funds, $996,653.