Endowments can live for centuries

Across the United Church of Christ, many churches and organizations are reaping the benefits of contributions made 50, 100, even 200 years ago - evidence that an endowment lives as a legacy not only to members' faithfulness, but to the church or organization's importance in the life of its community: past, present and future. Because of the indefinite - and therefore very long-term - nature of an endowment, the investment strategy created for an endowment must be considered differently from the strategy an individual would employ.

When an individual creates an investment portfolio, s/he is generally building toward retirement: able to assume more risk for greater growth during the early earning years, reducing risk as retirement approaches, and investing primarily for income as retirement arrives and continues. But because an endowment usually has no financial "end time" for which to plan, most organizations choose a growth-oriented investment strategy - and the stock market, on average, has increased at an annual rate of more than 11% since 1925. An investment strategy adopted for an endowment, therefore, need not concern itself greatly with month-to-month - even year-to-year - market volatility, as its time horizon remains indefinite.

• Endowments can live for centuries
• Good stewardship claims a high priority
• Comparing Alternatives for Investment
• Investment selection makes a big difference
• Let the United Church Foundation assist your organization