Endowment Fund

Our Congregation is fortunate that the UUCE Endowment Fund was created by past and current members and friends of our Congregation who had the foresight to lay down a financial foundation that ensures our church's long term growth and security. An Endowment Fund is often described as one leg of a three legged financial support stool. The other two legs are the Operating Budget and Capital Giving Campaign.

The Endowment has grown through memorials and gifts in honor of deceased members, outright donations and specific bequests from members' wills or trusts naming the UUCE Endowment Fund as a beneficiary.  These generous gifts have been made to honor the donor(s), leave their legacy and to provide long term support for UUCE.

The objective of the UUCE Endowment Fund is to provide for the long-term health and survival of our Congregation. As is customary with most Endowment Funds, Principal is held virtually inviolate. The Endowment is held in an account separate from other church funds and is independently managed by the Endowment Trustees.

Once the Fund reaches a certain amount, a Distribution Policy is developed and only yearly earnings are expended, thus allowing all gifts to carry out the Fund's purposes in perpetuity year after year. A portion of the income is added to the Principal to ensure that the fund keeps pace with inflation.

The Principal is to remain intact in perpetuity. This allows for donations to have an impact over a longer period of time than if it were spent all at once.

Most of the UUCE Endowment assets are invested in a Pooled Endowment Fund that is professionally managed by The Unitarian Universalist Common Endowment Fund (UUCEF). There are many ways to contribute, such as bequests in a will, memorials, and gifts.

The Endowment Fund Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to administer and protect the fund and are required to invest the funds prudently per the bylaws and policies of UUCE.

UUCE Endowment Fund Trustees 2011

Marta Powers
Ruth Nelson
Monica Frank 

Ten Things You Can Do to Leave a Legacy to UUCE

 • Prepare a will. Only 50% of those who die have a will. Without a will, you can lose control over your belongings

 • Leave a gift in your will to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Eugene, and the other not-for-profit and charitable organizations that have made a difference in your life. Less than six percent of American households have included not-for-profits in an estate plan

 • Consider using assets for a gift to UUCE. Gifts of stocks, bonds, CDs, real estate, vehicles, art and jewelry may even provide a tax savings

 • Leave a specific dollar amount or percentage of your assets in your estate to UUCE

 • Name UUCE as beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy

 • Name UUCE as the beneficiary of your pension plan or IRA

 • Remember a loved one with a memorial bequest to UUCE

 • Encourage members and friends of UUCE to leave gifts to UUCE in their wills.

 • Purchase a new life insurance policy naming UUCE as beneficiary

 • Ask you finiancial advisor to include a charitable gift to UUCE as a part of your financial planning.

Planned Giving - in the works

Charge:

The Planned Giving Committee consists of three to five voting members appointed by the Board for staggered three-year terms. The Board shall appoint the chair, and the committee shall elect a secretary from its membership. The committee's duties shall be as follows:

   ·  Advertise and promote the Endowment Fund
   ·  Create a procedure for identifying prospective donors.
   ·  Develop a plan for accepting donations and recognizing donors and their bequests.
   ·  Become knowledgeable about the various ways people may bestow gifts.
   ·  Organize workshops and seminars on estate planning and planned giving with outside consultants, as needed.
   ·  Organize workshops to inform church members about wills, deferred giving, and other endowment-related activities.

Approved by the Board,
April 14, 2005. 

Board Policies on Giving (old page)