About the Foundation
Helping Congregations Build God’s Kingdom
The United Methodist Foundation of West Ohio is here to help pastors, church leaders and donors build the kingdom of God. With over $130M in assets under management including the Conference Board of Trustees assets, Board of Pensions and Health Benefits assets, church assets and other planned giving assets, we are your trusted source for financial resource development. We provide competitive investment services for WOC churches including administration and accounting services for local church endowment funds. And the Foundation offers a turnkey solution, specifically designed for UMC churches, that is low-cost, easy to use, and completely supported by caring, knowledgeable staff along with experienced, trusted and fully vetted financial service providers.
Our stewardship education program for churches, which includes a variety of educational resources from websites to assessments to classes, offers a pathway to creating a culture of generosity in your church among members of all ages. The stewardship program helps every local church develop an intentional discipleship system that helps build disciples who give out of their commitment to their faith. This approach helps disciples grow in their faith and determine the type of legacy they want to leave.
We help donors give to the UMC causes they care about: from help with identifying UMC organizations and missions they can support directly; to making gifts through Donor Advised Funds; to handling stock gifts or other charitable donations of appreciated assets. We offer a variety of planned giving vehicles like charitable gift annuities, endowments and Donor Advised Funds that allow donors to meet their personal financial goals while supporting the church financially.
Core Purpose
The purpose of the Foundation is to be the premier provider of best-in-class asset management services, and a trusted advisor offering expert stewardship education and guidance for WOC stakeholders.
Core Values
Abundant Gifts, Abundant Life
Throughout the Bible, God promises abundance and desires for us to share in it. God has given us everything we really need! Our cup overflows with gifts that are unmerited and available for all. When we believe in God’s abundance – -that there is enough for all – – we are inclined toward generosity and sharing.
We believe we are made in the image of a Generous God.
Giving is at the heart of God’s plan for God’s people and truly sums up the whole story of the Bible: our God is a giving God. Studying the Bible’s passages about giving and sacrifice, we begin to clearly see that, designed in God’s image, we, too, are designed for giving and generosity.
We believe generosity is something God wants for us, not from us.
Our intentions matter to God. We are to give cheerfully and purposefully, offering our best to God, making it a priority rather than an afterthought. To this end, God asks us to give in proportion to what we have. Tithing is just one aspect of giving that’s part of a larger expression of faith. In fact,God’s ultimate standard of giving is sacrificial giving, done for the privilege of sharing in the ministry of the saints.
We believe God uses generosity to draw people into relationships with God and build the kingdom.
While giving to your local congregation supports the resources needed to carry out its vital ministries in your community, giving to the West Ohio Conference supports the broader missional activities that impact our Conference, nation, and world. Together all these efforts help create disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World. Only through sacrificial giving beyond our own communities can we fully participate in the building of God’s kingdom and live into God’s desires for us.