A Stewardship
Ministry
Established in 1955, United Methodist Foundation, Inc. is a stewardship ministry of the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church.
UMF was founded with the vision to serve all churches, institutions and agencies in the NC Conference, acting as trustee for a variety of accounts including church building funds, mission endowments, and scholarships.
These accounts begin through the visionary leadership of those who care deeply about leaving a legacy for future generations.
Planned Giving Education
United Methodist Foundation, Inc. offers Endowment Program and Planning Giving consultation services.
The Endowment Program’s stewardship consultations help local churches and Conference institutions establish permanent endowment programs.
UMF consults with individual donors establishing permanent or long-term planned gifts to benefit ministries of the Church. This donor-focused service helps donors create the gift plan most appropriate for their situation. UMF works cooperatively with the donor’s legal, tax and financial advisors.
Socially Responsible Investment Management
The three investment fund options have a carefully diversified investment portfolio of socially responsible investment opportunities. The investment decisions made by UMF’s Board and Investment Managers are based on The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church as encouraged by The Book of Discipline and the Investment Guidelines of The United Methodist Church.
Customized Investment Agreements
Churches, institutions and individuals work directly with our staff develop individualized legal agreements. UMF offers Permanent Endowments and Revocable Investment Agreements to fulfill a variety of stewardship goals. The flexibility in developing these agreements ensures each account serves its intended purpose with regards to long-term growth, protection of principal, frequency of distributions, re-investment of earnings, and guidelines for distributions.
UMF has moved to new offices as part of the relocation of the North Carolina Annual Conference headquarters.
Our new street address is 700 Waterfield Ridge Place, Garner. Our new mailing address is PO Box 1970, Garner, NC 27529. Phone numbers and email addresses remain the same.
Stop by for a visit and take a tour later this summer!
UMF Seeks Your Input
As part of a strategic planning initiative, United Methodist Foundation, Inc. is asking local church and conference leaders to provide needed feedback through an online survey about the current ministry services of your Foundation. District leaders, pastors, local church financial secretaries or business administrators, chairs of church endowment committees, Legacy Leaders, and interested lay persons are all invited to reply to this performance survey. All responses are confidential and anonymous.
Your responses will help us gauge the effectiveness of our current programs. We also hope to learn about new or expanded services that would be of value to the conference. Responses from individuals and churches not currently using the services of UMF are especially desired as we strive to improve the work of UMF in the future.
To respond, please Click here to take UMF survey. For further information about this survey, contact Director of Planned Giving — Rev.
Davis Scholarship -
Gift Eases Burden
What do you give the pastor who turns 90 years old?
Rev. Jeff Davis and his wife Jean present the first scholarship to Rev. Pat Sykes.
That was the question facing the family of Jefferson W. Davis recently as the retired local pastor from the Sanford District approached his 90th birthday. Rather than a rocking chair or fancy watch, his family wanted to offer a gift that would have special meaning.
Their choice – create a scholarship through United Methodist Foundation, Inc. honoring Jeff Davis (and his wife, Jean) for their years of ministry service to the North Carolina Annual Conference. But this would be no ordinary scholarship program benefiting high school seniors moving on to college education. Instead, the scholarship program will benefit pastors who are just beginning their ministerial careers in the North Carolina Annual Conference yet are struggling to pay off student loans from divinity school on minimum salary wages.
According to Evelyn Davis Watson, his daughter, Rev. Davis began his ministry in 1956 as a second career after serving in the heating industry for many years. “With a young family to care for, Dad worked hard to achieve the academic proficiency he needed to serve the people of his charges. We struggled in those early days to maintain living expenses and family time together.”
