Venture Funds Released For 10 Projects
Episcopal News Service. November 24, 1981 [81305]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- The 44-member Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has approved for the first time the allocation of undesignated Venture in Mission funds for seven world and national mission projects. The Council also approved the release of funds which had been designated for three additional projects.
Acting on the recommendations of the Venture Process and Funding unit, the Council approved funding with undesignated contributions for projects which will relieve the General Church Program budget the most, according to priority criteria approved two years ago.
While undesignated funds have been allocated in the past -- to pay Venture campaign expenses -- these actions by the Council at its Nov. 18-20 meeting marked the first actual projects from the national case book to be funded with undesignated gifts.
The Council approved assigning $3.075 million for the seven projects, three of which are in the United States, two in Africa and two in East Asia.
The largest allocation was $1 million which will begin the Tri-College Development Trust Fund, the income from which will provide educational services for students at three black Episcopal colleges -- St. Augustine's in Raleigh, N.C., St. Paul's in Lawrenceville, Va., and Voorhees in Denmark, S.C.
The three colleges currently receive $800,000 each year from the General Church Program budget. The endowment project in the Venture case book on behalf of the schools was for $15 million.
The Rev. Joseph N. Green, Jr., of Norfolk, Va., raised the question whether the income from the trust would be in addition to the $800,000 annual grant. The consensus of the Council was that while the General Convention asked the Council to guarantee $800,000 per year for the triennium, it did not specify the source. According to the Venture guidelines, the allocation of undesignated funds to relieve the budget has top priority, so the income from this trust fund would be applied to the $800,00The income from a new Ethnic Ministry Development Fund, established with $450,000 from undesignated Venture in Mission funds, will be used for the support of General Church programs to strengthen ethnic and minority ministries, especially in racially and ethnically changing communities.O grant in the budget for 1982.
A $500,000 allocation for a National Mission Indian Trust Fund from undesignated Venture gifts will assist dioceses with large concentrations of Native Americans to extend and maintain the Church's mission among those persons.
Two projects in Africa were funded with undesignated Venture contributions -- Cuttington University College in Liberia and the provincial secretariat in the Province of Central Africa.
An appropriation of $500,000 to the Liberian institution will enable the Diocese of Liberia to reduce its 1982 and future askings from the General Church Program budget.
A $75,000 appropriation to the Province of Central Africa will allow that jurisdiction to reduce its current and future askings from the General Church Program budget. At present the Episcopal Church allocates $7,500 per year to support the provincial office. The income from the endowment fund will cover this annual grant.
The Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan will be able to reduce its financial dependence on the national budget with income it will receive from a $200,000 allocation by Council from undesignated Venture gifts. An appropriation of $350,000 for St. Andrew's Theological Seminary in Manila will enable that institution in the Diocese of Central Philippines to reduce its askings of the national budget.
Funds for three other projects which were designated by the donors were also released. The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf will receive $1,250 immediately on a $10,000 pledge from the Diocese of Connecticut. The funds will help support the clergy in the Gulf region.
An allocation of $130,000 received for the Diocese of Lake Malawi in the Province of Central Africa will facilitate the relocation of diocesan headquarters in the capital city of Lilongwe, Malawi. This is part of a $300,000 pledge for the Malawi diocese from the Diocese of Texas.
The Council voted to forward $40,000 in designated Venture funds to the Episcopal Diocese of Ecuador as part of its self-support plan. This represents half of the funds pledged to the Ecuador diocese for 1981 by the Diocese of Connecticut, with a pledge of an additional $120,000 over the next three years.
Mrs. Carter C. Chinnis, West Palm Beach, Fla., chairman of the Venture Process and Funding Committee, reported that as of Nov. 17, a grand total of $134,708,221 has been pledged or paid to the Venture in Mission program, with $36.5 million of that total pledged for projects in the national case book. More than $12 million has been received for these projects.