Dan Butt, the director of the Episcopal Church Foundation in West Texas, gave the report for 2014, saying at the end of the year, the foundation’s total assets were $61.2 million.
The Foundation invests money for about two-thirds of churches in the diocese, and it invests all diocesan endowment funds investment with gains of $2.8 million (4.7%).
“This year the results were disappointing – the markets in general did better than we did,” said Butt.
2014 was a year when the broad markets – both stocks and bonds – outperformed most investment managers who were actively investing. The Foundation uses four model portfolios – those models equate to investment objectives from relatively conservative to moderately aggressive, said Butt.
The Growth Model – where 75% of the churches’ investments are – achieved investment gains of 5%, compared to 5.4% in a peer group in 2014.
Bishop Lillibridge said, “Even though we were a little underperformed , this was the first year in my episcopacy,” said Lillibridge. “There’s a bump every now and then, but Dan is doing a great job.”
As the saying goes, “it happens,” said Butt.
The Foundation handles 199 accounts, of which 144 are for churches, schools, others and total $33.6 million. There were 13 new church accounts in 2014. The Foundation also manages 55 diocesan accounts that total $27.9 million.
The endowment accounts managed for the diocese are used to support the operating budget. This year, 2015, the Foundation will dist $714,000 for the budget, based on a distribution rate of 4.25%. That rate has been gradually reduced. By 2016, it will be 4%.
More info on the Foundation in West Texas can be found at www.foundation-dwtx.org.
