MUMF is not simply a bucket that is filling – it is a serious generator of new resources constantly flowing into ministry. From 2017 through 2023, about $30.6 million was deposited into the Foundation. During that same time, the Foundation distributed about $48 million, while total assets under administration grew by about $15.5 million.
(Read that again and let it really sink in!)
The Foundation Fountain
56 Years: Millions Flow to Ministry in Missouri
Along with the green shoots of spring, there is good news to celebrate from the Missouri United Methodist Foundation.
Highlights as of 12/31/2023 include:
- From 2017 through 2023, about $30.6 million was deposited into the Foundation. During that same time, the Foundation distributed about $48 million, while total assets under administration grew by about $15.5. million. And this is during a pandemic, disaffiliations, and a volatile stock market! MUMF is not simply a bucket that is slowly filling – it is a serious generator of new resources constantly flowing into ministry.
- Total assets = $116,930,300 (a 15% increase since 2017).
- 181 churches and 32 agencies are invested with MUMF as of 12/31/2023. Showing continued resilience, the Foundation added 48 new accounts, including 15 new endowments.
- In 2023, the charitable distributions from the various MUMF endowments reached nearly $1.7 million. These are distributions from all sorts of donor-designated charitable funds. In other words, everything from Ministry Grants to Scholarships to distributions from donor endowments that automatically provide annual income to a particular local church or ministry.
- In 2023, seven churches disaffiliated and withdrew a little over $1 million. While this was certainly not required, some funds were needed by those churches to pay the disaffiliation costs to the MOAC. The Foundation is pleased that several disaffiliated churches have maintained the MUMF investment accounts totaling $2.9 million. The Foundation remains committed to maintaining relationships and basic services to the entire Wesleyan community.
As Foundation president David P. Atkins explains, “Back in 1967, a lot of visionary Methodists lit a candle that is shining more brightly than ever. Nevertheless, our staff is constantly meeting with church leaders and individuals who have never heard of the Foundation – it’s still a well-kept secret!”
Atkins points to two of the Foundation’s newer programs as helping to reach a broader audience, “First, the Putting Your House In Order workshop presented by Rev. Laura Murphy (MUMF’s Director of Development) reached over 650 laity and clergy last year alone, and her 2024 calendar is filling fast.
Second, we are entering our eighth year of the C2FM program funded by grants from the Lilly Endowment and directed by Rev. Mark Struckhoff. Most of our active clergy have been positively impacted by this program through financial coaching, student debt forgiveness, and over $1 million in direct aid.”
“A hallmark of the Foundation since its beginning has been outstanding lay leadership,” adds Atkins. “The board of trustees, the investment committee, grants, and scholarship committees have all benefitted from extraordinarily wise, talented, and dedicated lay leadership from churches across the state.”
“We are truly blessed to be a beacon of good news in this challenging season for the church,” says Atkins. “I often say that endowments are little Wesleyan engines – earning, saving, and giving all they can in perpetuity. The result is a growing fountain of resources – to help us meet the challenges of this day and to become the church that God imagines.”
To get your church connected with your Foundation, contact David Atkins at datkins@mumf.org or 573-875-4168.
