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2008-01-22 issue:

Church schools have great fiscal years

Lilly grant boosts Goshen (Ind.) College endowment by nearly $25 million.

by Everett J. Thomas

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Higher returns in the endowment funds of  Mennonite Church USA colleges, universities and seminaries helped them all end their last fiscal year, on June 30, 2007, with significant increases in assets, according to a summary released by Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) on Dec. 17, 2007.

“Market value gains were substantial for the year ending June 30, 2007,” said MEA’s associate director Lisa Heinz, “and account for much of the revenue/gains showing for each institution.”

Heinz said that “market value gains” include realized capital gains (e.g. selling of stock), interest income and all other revenue and unrealized capital gains (fluctuations in the stock market).

The aggregate total of expenses reveals a 5 percent increase in expenses over the previous fiscal year but a 25 percent increase in total revenue and gains when compared to the aggregate for the fiscal year ending in June 2006.

“The ‘investments’—actually endowment funds —are long-term assets of the institutions,” Heinz said. “The endowments are set up to provide intergenerational equity over the long term while following socially responsible investing criteria so that the current income needs are in equilibrium with the income needs of future generations.”

Goshen (Ind.) College saw the biggest increase, at nearly $25 million, but half that came from the Lilly Foundation for a specific new program.

“We were given a great gift,” said Goshen president James Brenneman, “for the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning. It opens up great avenues to help make higher education accessible for Latino students in our community, who now make up 37 percent of the Goshen public school system’s student population.”

The other half of Goshen’s increase resulted from investments.

“The endowments do fluctuate from year to year,” said James Histand, Goshen’s vice president for finance, “and this was one of the best we’ve had in six years. We love to see it on the positive side, but it’s not something we rush out to spend.”

Histand said that Goshen spends only 5 percent of its endowment each year, and that percentage is pegged to a 10-year “look back” average.

Mennonite Education Agency coordinates higher education efforts for Mennonite Church USA, but its programs include more than oversight of higher education. One of the schools, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., is a binational school and is also a program of Mennonite Church Canada.

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