I want to open with clarification of a statement I made in my last article. I stated that, per my resource, we must follow the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Treasurer’s Manual. While reading the Voters Meeting minutes of September 19, 2021, I read, “Pastor Richard commented that the District and Synod are advisory bodies only. The church is free to spend and manage its money as it sees fit without their input or approval.” So, I stand corrected.
The documents I researched included the St. Paul Lutheran Church Council Meeting Minutes – August 19, 2021, the St. Paul Financial Secretary Edward Jones Investment Account Report to the Voters August 19, 2021, and VOTERS MEETING September 19th, 2021 minutes.
In early 2020, the church’s General Fund received $57,107.86 from the Elsie Borcher’s Estate. These funds were already invested in an Edward Jones account. The monies received from the estate were transferred into a new account set up for St Paul, titled Edward Jones Church-1 Guided Solutions Flex Fund (aka CH-1).
During the voters meeting on 6/28/2020, Chuck Gollnick made a motion to move up to $100K from the checking account to the Edward Jones investment account so that it could receive better earnings. On March 17, 2021, $65,000 was transferred from US Bank Checking General Fund to the CH-1 account at Edward Jones.
At this same meeting, there was a subsequent motion by Council to move $140K from the LCEF stewardship account which had been earning only around 0.25%. These funds were transferred to our US Bank account. On June 10, 2021, these funds were transferred to a new Building Fund account at Edward Jones (CH-2). While the $140K Building Fund is restricted, the proceeds/profits earned are unrestricted income.
At the September 19, 2021, meeting, Tim Grace acknowledged that there is risk with investing. He also discussed during times of inflation, money that is not earning is losing money. Our two accounts invested with Edward Jones were doing nicely, with positive net earnings during fiscal year 2020-2021.
Unfortunately, the stock market took a turn for the worse during fiscal year 2021-2022. Next month, I will share the current status of CH-1 and CH-2 accounts.