Endowment Funds for Christian schools

How can you bring up endowment when we can't even raise the Annual Fund to cover the "gap" that is required to make budget? Can't we just discuss endowment when (and if) we get caught up?

I don't think so. Here are a few reasons to begin to think, plan and act in this direction:

1. Prudence - it is good stewardship to plan for lean times. Remember Joseph's planning during the seven years of abundance (Ge 41:46ff).


2. Donors - many donors do not prefer to give to "keep the lights on", but want to build future capacity for the school.


3. Future - schools have longer-term plans that require larger amounts of money. This could be funding annual scholarships (the annual earnings of the endowment could fund scholarship for that year). It could also fund other initiatives not covered in the operating budget.

There are two arguments I have heard against funding endowments:

1. Accumulation - building more storehouses for grain only to have this taken away.


2. Current period starvation - money invested for the future may dissuade donors from giving for current-period needs; they believe they have done their part.

To both of these I say, come to the Lord humbly and ask for direction. He will guide if there is too much accumulation; He will direct the monies to be used for other purposes. We must trust the Lord that He is working in donors' hearts and telling them where He wants them to invest.

Our job is to make our schools worthy of investment, communicate with donors and trust them to follow the Lord's leading. We cannot and should not attempt to engineer the giving.

If endowments are in your future, what should you do today?

1. Ask the Lord to assemble some people to help you think about the future needs of the school.


2. Pray for a vision for the school's future that balances current and future needs.


3. Remember that donors want to see us continue in our mission. That means that they may be more forward-looking than we are.

Stewardship is Nurturing Spiritual Seedlings

While we in the stewardship world do not believe in using techniques to "move people along" to becoming generous toward God, it can be helpful to employ a semi-structured conversation that opens up the dialog to explore some critical background.

My friends, Scott Rodin and Gary Hoag in The Sower come to the rescue again when we have the pleasure of a face-to-face meeting.

"The Christian leader must focus on nurturing each person through personal interaction and correspondence, caring more about the spiritual preparation that the giving...Face-to-face visits scatter the seeds of truth...But how does a leader approach this important work?"

"When calling on someone, regardless of his or her connection to the ministry, approach with intentionality. say you are calling to set up a meeting to hear what God is doing in their life and to share what God is doing at the ministry. Use these five P's to remember the purpose of the visit."

1. Person - Learn about who they, not just what they do.


2. Passion - Find out what facet of God's work they are passionate about.


3. Permission - Seek permission to share about your ministry.


4. Participation - Share how stewards participate in the King's work.


5. Pray - Encourage them to pray about their response.

I had the opportunity this week to have this type of structured conversation. It doesn't feel as rigid as it may look. Remember that we care about the soul of our donor friends; we want them to experience the joy that comes when we release God's "stuff" right back into the Kingdom to do more life changing.

In that sense, this is ministry and discipleship.

Give it a try and tell me how it impacts you.

Young Stewards: "A Day of Service"

Is there an age that is too young to teach stewardship?

We tested this idea in April during an all-school Day of Service. The goal of the day was to share our blessings (time, talent and treasure) with many agencies within a 20 radius of the school. Also, we wanted to share Christ's love by going into the community and witnessing through serving.

One hundred parents and teachers joined in as we carpooled to 16 locations - all 320 of us!

Our students blessed the homeless shelters, Salvation Army, food bank, clothing bank, senior center, soup kitchen, retirement home, and others.

Here's how one of the parents described the day:

"I just wanted to express how much we appreciated the Day of Service. It was such a blessing to see first-hand the Kindergartners and First graders at the Friendship House in Wilmington. It was equally rewarding to hear how much my girls were blessed by blessing others at Shoes to Share and the New Castle Senior Center. We've always tried to instill in the girls how giving back is part of being a Christian and showing Christ's love. But, to have the entire school involved and seeing it on the kids faces and hearing the testimonies of their parents--- it made such an impact on our school family, I can't imagine what an impact it must have made on our community! I pray that this will become a yearly event and that the people of Delaware will not only see Tall Oaks as an impressive academic school, but as a school where God is alive and working in the lives of our staff and students and parents."

Biblical stewardship is a way of thinking, not merely an activity that we do. Please contact me if you would like to hear more about this stewardship day.

Psalm 8:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!