Executive Council Approves Income Development: A Summary
Diocesan Press Service. February 19, 1975 [75065]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- An income development program, the purpose of which is to fund a program budget of $15.1 million for 1975, was adopted by the 41-member Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, meeting here Feb. 18-19, for its quarterly meeting.
Requests last summer for funding the proposed programs of the Church in 1975 amounted to $15. 1 million. A "measuring budget " of $13.9 million was adopted last December, meeting the balanced budget mandate of the 1973 General Convention.
" Income development, " said the Rev. Dr. John B. Coburn of New York City, chairman of the development committee, "is a process for securing funds over and above the apportionment, opening new channels of giving. "
Dr. Coburn and Dr. Oscar C. Carr, executive for development on the staff, outlined the procedures for presenting the program to the Church, including contacting the bishops, preparing and distributing a brochure, and sending teams to approach prospective donors.
The treasurer, Dr. Lindley M. Franklin, Jr., reported that "receipts are coming in at a record-breaking rate " designated for world hunger, in response to Presiding Bishop John M. Allin's special Epiphany appeal and to special appeals by many bishops in their own dioceses. To date, approximately $400, 000 designated for world hunger has been received by the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, and Dr. Franklin said " 100 percent will be allocated " for hunger relief.
The Council also heard initial plans for launching a three-year, $3.1 million development campaign on behalf of the Church's Cuttington College in Liberia, to increase its endowment, to construct new buildings, to purchase equipment, and to renovate and repair several buildings. A contract with Marts & Lundy, Inc., the fund-raising firm, was approved by the Council.
Support for a stockholder resolution to be filed with the Pittston Company, asking for a report on "the corporation's strip mining activities in Appalachia" was approved. By a vote of 12-9, the Council defeated an effort to secure support for a stockholder resolution to be filed with General Motors requesting "an independent social audit of the Corporation. "
The communication committee informed the Council that "after thorough study and careful consideration, and after discussion with a great many persons in the Church, we are firmly convinced that The Episcopalian, in its new form, is fully qualified to support " a church-wide information system recommended by the triennial General Convention in 1973.
The Rev. Dr. Robert R. Parks of New York City, chairman of the communication committee, said that under the leadership of a new president, Hiram W. Neuwoehner of St. Louis, The Episcopalian has seen its circulation increase from 100, 000 to more than 160,000 since it converted from magazine to tabloid format six months ago.
Ten of the 93 dioceses in the church are now inserting their diocesan news in The Episcopalian, Dr. Parks said, with the prospect of "at least 30 dioceses " publishing jointly with the national paper by the fall of 1976.
The publication, established by the General Convention in 1961, was not funded in the national budget for 1975.
The Rev. William Powell of Stillwater, Okla., chairman, reported that the Council's committee on education has decided to participate in the "Doing The Word" section of the four-part SHARED APPROACHES project of the ecumenical Joint Educational Development (JED). He said this " issue education" approach will provide packets of material on current concerns (such as hunger, racism, and eco-justice ), using extant and newly created resources.
Presiding Bishop John M. Allin was presented a check in excess of $950,000 by Bishop Robert R. Spears of Rochester (N.Y.) and Bishop Jose Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica, the residual bequest from the Margaret Woodbury Strong Fund which was turned over to the national church "for famine relief. "
The no-strings-attached gift was designated "for relief of the disaster stricken of the world, through the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and by such other means as are deemed appropriate to that end. "
The two bishops offered four recommendations about the use of the money: long-range development as well as immediate relief; planning groups to study and present alternative ways for the Church to respond to the hunger crisis; education and consciousness-raising on world hunger problems; and establishment of a low-interest revolving loan fund to enable parishes to engage in consciousness-raising.
The Council spent some time discussing misunderstandings about three black community grants in the Diocese of North Carolina made by the Community Action and Human Development (CAHD) Commission, the successor of the controversial General Convention Special Program (GCSP).
Bishop Thomas A. Fraser of North Carolina had protested that required procedures were not followed in making the grants, such as submitting field appraisals. In the case of a Warrenton radio station grant, George Guernsey, chairman of the ministries committee, conceded that the bishop was "absolutely correct" in that the appraisal was not referred to him and the diocese. This has now been done, he reported, and the bishop "has dropped his opposition. "
In the case of the N.C. Federation of Child Development Centers in Whitakers, the CAHD made a grant of $6,000 but declined to fund the centers for an additional $40,000 since the money seemed to be "available from other sources." Bishop Fraser's complaint to the CAHD, Mr. Guernsey said, was that he wondered why the second grant to the centers had not been made since he had approved it.
In the third case, that of the Joseph Waddell Free Ambulance Service in Winston- Salem, Bishop Fraser's objection was that he read about the funding in the press before he received a field appraisal. Mr. Guernsey pointed out that the grant was approved by the CAHD last November, subject to "favorable field appraisal" and to the bishop's approval, because that was the last meeting of the commission before the end of the year.
Bishop Fraser's office has now received the field appraisal, which was sent to him in late January, and the CAHD awaits consideration by the diocese. No final action can be taken, Mr. Guernsey said, until all the procedures are followed.
Dr. Franklin reported that 1974 was one of the best years, financially, in the history of the Church. He said that 99.7 percent of the pledges in support of the national budget by the 93 domestic dioceses were paid in full, with only three dioceses paying less than pledged, and that 98.2 percent of the amount that was assigned to the dioceses by the 1973 General Convention formula were paid.
The Council voted to accept an invitation from the Diocese of Colorado to hold its May 14-16 meeting in Denver, provided it can be determined that the cost does not differ markedly from the cost of a meeting at Seabury House, Greenwich, Conn.