The image of a seed growing in the soil is an apt metaphor for an endowment. It’s hard to notice progress on a daily basis. Some days things seem to take a step backwards. But as the seasons pass, once-small seeds can become into a mighty forest.

Growing an endowment is difficult - primarily because it requires a tremendous amount of discipline. It requires saying “no” to dollars that could easily be spent today, in favor of investing in the unknown future. Even more challenging, it is possible that you won’t be around to enjoy the harvest from the seeds you’re planting today – some future board and staff of your organization will reap the reward of your forward-thinking leadership.

But if we’re being honest, in many ways you may be enjoying the harvest of seeds that were planted long before you showed up. This is the way the economy of God’s Kingdom flourishes: we play a part in a beautifully generous, never-ending circle of receiving and giving.

Strategies for Growing Your Endowment.  

Once you have established your endowment with In His Steps Foundation, the focus shifts to marketing and education. In establishing your fund, you have initiated a partnership that is ripe with potential, but it is a potential that you must cultivate to reap the benefits. Growing your endowment involves two aspects: Investment (time) & Development (intention).

Investment. It is reasonable to believe a well-managed investment program could produce an average return of roughly 7-8% a year over time. IHS Foundation has an investment program prudently managed by our Investment Committee. Our standard allocation for endowments has 30% of your fund’s value in fixed income (typically bonds that offer slower-but-steadier growth) and 70% in securities (we own stock in carefully curated companies that meet our “Biblically Responsible Investing” standards).

We encourage no more than a 5-6% annual distribution from your endowment fund, which creates reasonable opportunity for your invested endowment to grow.

Development. Behind every growing endowment is a committed Board of Trustees who have made the endowment a priority. While the Executive Director & staff are largely consumed with the demands of the annual budget, an endowment is easily forgotten or neglected unless the board champions its importance. One way leadership can prioritize an endowment is to differentiate between “Now” dollars raised for the current operating budget, and “Then” dollars (such as bequests, estate gifts, planned gifts, memorial gifts, or gifts of various property) that can be put toward the endowment.  

1.     Remember the six most important words of endowment building: “Please remember us in your will.”

2.     Consider a board subcommittee– partnered with a staff member – to market & promote your endowment. This could include:

a.      Develop an annual line item in the budget for marketing endowment, estate, and planned giving options. 

b.     Identify and steward individuals who are uniquely positioned to be an estate gift candidate: individuals 55 and older, preferably with no children, who have made gifts to your organization for many years (look for consistency more than the size of gifts).

c.      Establish a “Legacy Society” to recognize/honor the individuals who you know have named your organization in their will or estate plan. Steward them as major donors.

Make your endowment the “background music” of your messaging. It doesn’t need to always be front and center, but it should be consistent. Create space to tell success stories about estate gifts, and remind your audience about planned giving and noncash gift options in newsletters, event talks and literature, appeal letters, email signatures, envelope messaging, website presence, etc. IHS Foundation can be a resource to assist with this.

Please contact IHS Foundation President, Ben Lee, with your questions:

benlee@ihsfound.org | 330.528.1785