Council to Hear PB Fund Policy Recommendations
Episcopal News Service. July 14, 1977 [77237]
New York, N. Y. -- The Board of Directors of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief is expected to place before the Episcopal Church's Executive Council a number of recommendations on policy matters which are the result of several years of study and thought on the Fund's role in the Church.
Most of what will be recommended has its roots in these last five years of study and work the Board itself has undertaken, but a few suggestions may stem from the report of an outside consultant whose recommendations have been in the Board's hands for only a few months.
Whatever is recommended will be the result of the Board's grappling with the Fund's greatly increased income and rapid changes around the world that have seen the Fund grow into a major relief and development arm of the Episcopal Church. What began in the World War II era as an agency to assist refugees from Nazi Germany had become -- by 1975 -- a $2-million annual operation, worldwide in scope.
In the early 1970's Christians in the western world had also begun to reexamine their responsibility to the developing nations and had begun to reject old notions about dispensing the largesse of the Church.
In an attempt to respond to this trend, Presiding Bishop John E. Hines appointed a special committee in 1972 to "review the Presiding Bishop's Fund in all its aspects. " The committee was chaired by the late Bishop Frederick J. Warnecke of Bethlehem. Specifically, the group was asked to look at the success of the Fund; changes in the world; the philosophy of the Fund; the question of developmental programs (as opposed to those for immediate relief); administration; and the future role of the Fund.
A year later, shortly before the Church's 64th General Convention in Louisville, Ky., the committee made its report, and changes began to come to the Fund.
The Warnecke report recommended a new emphasis on rehabilitation and development projects, suggested a shift in the make-up of the Fund's management, and called for the establishment of a criteria task force. It was as a result of the Warnecke study that the Board, in roughly its present form, came into existence. Prior to that time, the Fund had been managed by a committee of the Executive Council.
The 18-member Board is composed of churchpeople appointed by the Presiding Bishop; while still ultimately responsible to the Council, the Board is able to carry the increasing load of ongoing work between regular Council meetings. The Board meets three to four times a year to review grant applications and disburse funds, and to determine and refine policy for the Fund. In addition, several subcommittees of the Board meet frequently between regular sessions to prepare work for the entire Board. Individual Board members are also assigned responsibility for monitoring major grants and implementing agencies.
The second major Warnecke recommendation was carried out in 1974, when a special task force presented the Board with its first set of written criteria. The criteria were based on four broad categories which have been used by Board members as general guidelines for disbursement of monies: crisis response (30%); general response -- rehabilitation and development (50%); constituency education (10%); and promotion (10%).
Widespread publicity about the world food crisis and personal appeals from Presiding Bishop John M. Allin in 1974 and 1975 resulted in a dramatic increase in income for the Fund. With the increase in available monies, and the concurrent increase in potential grantees, the Board also found itself reviewing the channels through which it operates. Several years ago the Board began informal discussions with Church World Service (CWS), the ecumenical relief arm of the National Council of Churches, and in early 1975 a regular, ongoing dialogue was begun with the agency. A large percentage of Fund grants have been channeled through CWS. CWS is supported by 36 Christian denominations, each of which pays a specific amount of overhead support. Since 1970 the Presiding Bishop's Fund has assumed responsibility for the entire Episcopal Church share of CWS's administrative costs, an amount previously paid out of the General Church Program Budget.
In 1976 the Fund began exploring other potential granting avenues which might be able to reach areas in which CWS was not active. This process is still going on and was furthered by a report undertaken by the Rt. Rev. Willis Henton, a former Board member who presented to the Fund an outline of ways in which the increasingly vital world-wide Anglican Communion might serve as an effective network for grants.
All these changes meant that the Board had to look constantly at its own role -- at how efficient it was; at its goals; at the way in which members worked together; at how the Fund related to other parts of the Church.
Study of these issues led the Board to a number of concrete decisions during 1976. First, the Board lengthened terms of office from three years to four and expanded its membership to assure continuity and to enable the Church to benefit from the accrued experience.
Second, Board members have been struggling in their deliberations to draft a succinct statement of purpose which will allow responsible growth and enable clearer criteria to be developed.
Third, the Board has reorganized itself into an executive committee and three working subcommittees for grants, administration/finance, and communication/education. The committee structure allows large amounts of work to be prepared in advance of Board meetings and facilitates an otherwise unwieldy agenda.
Fourth, a series of consultations was held in the spring of 1977 -- after several months of planning and recruiting -- which brought together diocesan Fund representatives to help them strengthen the role of the Fund at all levels of the Church.
Finally, the Board hired an outside consultant, John R. Schott, in June 1976 to engage in a study of what had already been accomplished and to suggest ways in which what had gone on could be consolidated and clarified. Schott's report -- which assesses management and staffing needs of the Fund and its relationship with CWS and other agencies -- is one of the final pieces of information the Board is considering as it prepares its policy recommendations for presentation to the Executive Council. A first presentation by representatives of the Board is expected at the Council's fall meeting at Greenwich, Conn., September 16-18.