First Universalist Church

Annual Report 2005–2006

Report from the Endowment Committee

Members of the Endowment Committee of the First Universalist Church of Yarmouth include Roger Comstock, John Dyer, and Brent West (Chair).

As background, the committee oversees four funds, as outlined in Article XII of the Church By-laws. These four funds are as follows: 1) the Spirit of Life Fund, 2) the Building Endowment Fund, 3) the Outreach Endowment Fund, and 4) the Restricted Gifts Endowment Fund.  Income from the Spirit of Life Fund is unrestricted, while use of monies from the other three funds may only be used for specific (restricted) purposes. A summary of the balance and 2005-2006 activity in each of these accounts is provided below.

Spirit of Life Fund

As of 31 March 2006, the market value of the Spirit of Life Fund was approximately $58,000. This includes $10,000 in an account held within the UUA General Investment Fund and $48,000 in an account within the Vanguard Social Index Fund. The Committee intends to transfer during 2006-2007 all Spirit of Life assets into the UUA General Investment Fund; per the direction of the committee, the UUA will distribute 5% of fund assets to the Church as a revenue stream within the annual operating budget.

During the fiscal year, the Treasurer transferred into the Spirit of Life Fund approximately $48,000 from monies raised during the capital campaign. This brings the total capital campaign contribution into this fund to $58,000.

Building Endowment Fund

During the course of the year, the Endowment Committee initiated this fund with $10,000 raised during the capital campaign. This fund is invested in the UUA General Investment Fund.

Outreach Endowment Fund

During the course of the year, the Endowment Committee invested $10,000 from the capital campaign to raise the total value of the fund to approximately $11,000. These monies also are invested in the UUA General Investment Fund.

Restricted Gifts Endowment Fund

The Restricted Gifts Endowment Fund contains the Edward H. Smith Fund, which is held in trust by Citicorp. The Smith Fund balance as of 31 March 2006 was $289,833, an increase of $6,423 during the year. The estimated annual income distribution from this fund is $8,860. Per the terms of the trust, the Church is to use 60 percent of the distributed income for philanthropic purposes, and, accordingly, the Treasurer has transferred this portion into the Outreach Reserve Fund; the remainder of the distributed income has been deposited into the Church’s operating reserve and is a revenue line item in the budget.

A Final Comment

With the Endowment Committee actions during 2005-2006, the Church has now fulfilled a major commitment from the capital campaign: to dedicate 30 percent of campaign receipts (approximately $79,000) to the Church’s endowment. With these additional funds, the Church now has a significant set of endowment funds, which, along with the Smith Trust Fund, will support a healthy Church community for future generations.

Respectfully submitted
Brent West
May 2006