IMMANUEL'S ENDOWMENT
Please watch the brief video below about Immanuel's Endowment.
Music composed for the Endowment by Brian Wilhour.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about Immanuel's Endowment
The Immanuel Endowment is a perpetual fund whose purpose is to help provide a stable financial foundation for the continuation of Immanuel’s work as the church looks ahead to the future. It was established by the Session on March 8, 1999.
The Endowment allows Immanuel’s family of faith the opportunity to make lifetime gifts and legacy gifts (particularly through bequests in wills and trusts, but in other ways, too) to ensure that Immanuel’s work will continue in perpetuity. We give so both current and future generations will benefit.
No, it is completely separate.
At the time the Endowment was set up a Planned Giving Committee (now called the Endowment Committee) was established which manages the Endowment. The Committee consists of one (1) liaison from the Session, and at least four (4) members-at-large elected to two –year terms by the congregation at the Congregational Meeting held each calendar year in May. An outside investment firm manages the fund with oversight from the Endowment Committee.
The investment philosophy seeks to provide real (after inflation) total returns from invested assets, to preserve the purchasing power of contributions, and to generate a current income stream to support objectives while assuming a prudent level of investment risk.
All gifts are welcome. There is no minimum gift amount.
The Session has approved a Gift Acceptance Policy which outlines the criteria used to determine if the gift is acceptable
IPC does not accept gifts that are inconsistent with its mission, purposes or priorities or are judged too difficult to administer.
A Gift Acceptance Committee consisting of the Pastor, and a representative from Finance Committee, Stewardship Committee, Endowment Committee and the Session will review all non-marketable gifts. The Session has the final say on what will be accepted.
Yes. There are two types of gifts-- restricted and unrestricted. Gifts for specific programs and purposes (restricted) may be accepted provided they are consistent with IPC’s mission, purposes and priorities. Both restricted and unrestricted gifts will be distributed in accordance with the Endowment Spending Policy.
No, it is not immediately available. The Endowment has a Principal Fund and a Spendable Fund. Initial deposits or additional deposits to the Endowment must be in the Principal Fund for a full calendar year before they can be considered part of the monies available for distribution to the Spendable Fund.
The current annual Spending Rate of the Principal Fund is 4.0%. Within thirty (30) days after the end of the calendar year, a transfer from the Endowment Principal Fund to the Spendable Fund is made. Those funds become the annual distribution.
As part of the prudent management of the Endowment, the Endowment Committee will monitor the Endowment Market Value to determine whether a distribution can be made from the Endowment that year.
The Session has the final word on how the annual distribution from the Endowment will be used.
Each year a Special Projects Committee made up of a representative from the Finance Committee, the Stewardship Committee and the Endowment Committee is appointed by the Session. In January, the Committee sends out RFPs (Request for Proposals) to IPC committees, the congregation, the confirmation class and beyond. The Committee then reviews the proposals and recommends to the Session the projects to be funded.
Immanuel is a 501(c) (3) organization. Gifts to the Endowment are taxed in accordance with the rates governing charitable contributions. Since tax laws change, you will need to consult with your tax advisor.
Yes you can. All contributions to the Endowment are held is strictest confidence by Immanuel’s Business Administrator (who will be receiving the contribution), and members of the Endowment Committee.
Yes. You many contribute at any time. Click on the Donate Now icon to find our on-line donation form.
You may also write a check with “Endowment Fund” in the memo section and send it to Mary Ann Vaughan, Business Manager, IPC 1125 Savile Lane, McLean VA 22101
Speak to your attorney or estate planner.
Immanuel does not provide personal legal, financial or other professional advice to donors or to prospective donors. Immanuel will not act as a trustee.
In extraordinary circumstances Session may borrow amounts from the unrestricted portion of the Endowment for capital or emergency needs.
Giving is always a personal choice. Giving to the Endowment is like planting the seeds of trees you may never see, but you know they will shade generations to come.
No. It is designed to continue in perpetuity.
Please contact any of the members of the Endowment Committee. We would be delighted to talk with you.
Marjorie Fox marjoriefox1968@gmail.com
Jim Magee jmagee@jmageelawfirm.com
Suzie Bissell suzannebissell@gmail.com
Kathryn Mackensen kathrynmackensen@gmail.com
Doug Hale drayhale@gmail.com
LEARN ABOUT IMMANUEL'S ENDOWMENT GRANT RECIPIENTS
2021 Grant Recipients
ArtStream’s ($2,500) two Virginia-based Inclusive Theatre Companies feature 30 people with Intellectual and Developmental disabilities (IDDs) – including Autism - performing in original musical productions. The actors, along with volunteer peer mentors and a professional production team, decide on a theme, improvise scenes and characters, and develop a script, songs, and choreography. Your generous sponsorship contributed to the production expenses for a Drive-In Theatre performance that bought the ArtStream community together to celebrate our actors’ achievements on the big screen!
Chesterbrook Residences, Inc. ($1,000). CRI owns and operates Chesterbrook Residences, a mixed-income assisted living facility in Falls Church. IPC is a member of CRI, as are Lewinsville Presbyterian Church and Temple Rodef Shalom. The residents of Chesterbrook faced very difficult restrictions during the COVID pandemic and need new activities that can help return their lives to normalcy. Cultivating flowers and other plants is rewarding in its own right and is just such an activity. CRI will use the 2021 grant to purchase raised planter boxes, a potting table, and other gardening equipment, which will be placed in the open air court yard of the Chesterbrook building for all residents to use.
Five Talents ($2,500) empowers the global church to minister to communities living in extreme poverty. We seek to transform their lives through economic empowerment and we work in remote and vulnerable communities in the most fragile regions of the world in Africa, Asia and South America. This $2,500 grant will purchase two cell phones and two laptops for our program coordinators in Burundi, a country in East Africa. New laptops will enable field staff to keep better and more secure records of funds, track data from Community Savings Groups, and write reports - which are important to accurately evaluate the program. Right now, our partners often use pen and paper for these tasks. The cell phones will give staff access to an app for conducting baseline surveys of new Savings Groups rather than relying on handwritten surveys. This grant will strategically equip our partners and greatly improve communications so that this program continues to grow.
Langley Residential Support Services ($2,500) believes that everyone deserves the chance to live a rich, full life. LRSS is a community nonprofit that has been providing residential and life-enhancing care programs for adults with developmental disabilities in Fairfax County for more than three and a half decades. What volunteers from Immanuel Presbyterian Church helped start in 1983 continues to thrive in 2021 with renewed operating support. The generous IPC Endowment Fund grant will help LRSS residents and community support program participants in their everyday activities and guide them into more independent living—from learning to cook and housekeeping to managing personal finances and personal well-being and engaging in wider community activities, such as a workplace, book club, or church.
Pathways Internship Fair ($1,500). The Harraseeket Foundation, which supports Immanuel’s Pathways program (see ipcpathways.org), will host an internship fair for high school and college students as well as potential mentors for these students. The fair will focus in particular on potential interns for the Pathways Internship Fund. The Pathways Internship Fund was seeded by a 2020 grant from the Immanuel endowment, and provides financial support to economically disadvantaged high school students. See harraseeketfoundation.org/pathways-fund/. Fair attendees will participate in discussions with intern employers and those with internship experience. Employers will be invited to interview candidates during the fair.
Synod of the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba ($2,500). In keeping with Immanuel's outreach mission as motivated by Mathew 25, this donation to the Synod in Cuba will provide much-needed support to the Presbyterian churches in Cuba as they face a "perfect storm" of COVID, U.S. sanctions, and inflation resulting from the Cuban government's transitioning to a single currency. As in the U.S., the churches have had to close due to COVID; their collections are down; their expenses, including salaries and utilities, are up due to inflation; and their parishioners are facing shortages of food, medicines and basic consumption items due both to inflation and the U.S. embargo.
The grant from the IPC Endowment Fund will contribute to a special appeal by the Cuba Partners Network (CPN, an organization of the PC(USA)) supporting partnerships between U.S. member churches and the Presbyterian-Reformed Church of Cuba (IPRC) The grant will be commingled with other funds raised by CPN and disbursed to the Synod in Cuba for its use in supporting the most pressing needs of its member churches and their parishioners.
The Yellow Door Foundation ($4,011) was founded in May, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia and provides free long-term lodging for the families of immunocompromised pediatric patients being treated at UVA Children’s Hospital. To date, we have welcomed 48 families, and provided close to 3,200 free room nights. The average age of our patients is just over 7 years, the average length of stay 63 days, and the average distance from Charlottesville a family must come for treatment is 120 miles. Each family gets their own one-, two- or three-bedroom apartment for the duration of treatment. All apartments are specifically outfitted for the special needs of our cancer and transplant patients, with the goal of ensuring best outcomes.
Thanks to a very generous grant, we were able to get our fifth apartment earlier this year. Immanuel is part of a collaborative effort, with other partners, to totally renovate and furnish the apartment to immunocompromised standards. We welcomed our first family, a leukemia patient, her parents and sister, April 1.
In addition, Immanuel’s grant has provided help as we replace items in our DREAMER apartment, after three years of service to families! The Dreamer upgrades will be completed by April 30.
2020 Grant Recipients
“Divinity Within Wellness” Retreat ($1,950). Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. This retreat will guide us in growing our ability to work with our own minds, bodies, and spirits as a foundation for extending non-judgement, compassion, and love to ourselves and others. Led by IPC's youth and young adult leaders, it will invite youth and young adults to engage with inter-generational speakers, spiritual practices, wellbeing techniques, positive psychology, and scientifically proven mindfulness practices to reflect on what it means, scientifically and spiritually, to truly love ourselves so that we can better embody the love of Christ in the world.
The Harraseeket Foundation’s Pathways Fund ($2,350). Harraseeket supports the IPC Pathways vocation exploration program for Immanuel youth and young adults. The Pathways Fund will award grants to Northern Virginia low income, at-risk high school students to encourage them to take unpaid internships that inform their vocation choices and to support career guidance programs for these students. Harraseeket is partnering with Communities in Schools of NOVA for selection of students and administration of grants.
Chesterbrook Residences, Inc. ($1,000). CRI owns and operates Chesterbrook Residences, a mixed-income assisted living facility in Falls Church. IPC is a member of CRI, as are Lewinsville Presbyterian Church and Temple Rodef Shalom. CRI will use the 2020 grant to help undertake an in-depth survey of Chesterbrook residents to identify measures to improve their quality of life. The grant will serve as seed money to help defray the cost of the project.
Memory Café for Seniors ($3,000). IPC’s Healthcare Navigation Team has received a grant to start a Memory Café at Immanuel. Memory Cafés engage those who are afflicted with memory loss (dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, etc.) and their caregivers by offering fellowship and a variety of activities: crafts, games, education, etc., along with refreshments. Immanuel's Memory Café will be open to Immanuel members and to the community.
Artstream and Immanuel’s Children ($600). IPC’s Children's Ministry Team has received a grant that will enable Immanuel’s children to stage a theatrical production with the performers of ArtStream, a local theater company for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The show will be open to the church and the community for a $10 minimum suggested donation per person. All proceeds will benefit ArtStream.
Allyship Workshop ($1,700). Funding from the endowment will enable IPC’s Spirituality and Learning Committee to bring Allyship Training to thirty members of our congregation as IPC’s next step in our education about dismantling racism. Allyship is "an active way of life that calls us to serve as bridge-builders: empathizing with those who are marginalized, engaging those who feel apathetic, and creating community with those who are disconnected.” Our Saturday day long workshop will equip participants with the framework, skills, and tools necessary to advance social justice in our everyday lives.
Children’s Books for Share ($400). Bill Pratt, a long-time volunteer at Share of McLean, is purchasing 50 children’s books in Spanish to give to clients of Share. Although Share receives donations of children’s books, most are in English, which many clients find difficult to read. During the coronavirus pandemic, Share is only accepting food and personal hygiene items; however, as soon he can, Bill will deliver children’s favorites such as Dr. Seuss, Jack and the Beanstalk, and a book of traditional Latin American tales, Beunas Noches Luna.
IPC Earth Day Native Tree Giveaway ($1,000). To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the spring season, Immanuel will be conducting a native tree give-away. Native Virginia trees were chosen because these species serve as the basis for local ecosystems. Planting a tree sets the framework for future ecosystems and future generations. This tree give-away seeks to honor God’s creation, Earth, and our collaborative responsibility to care. To reserve your tree for pick up on May 9th, click here.
Students Helping Honduras ($5,543). In 2012, SHH opened the Bilingual School in Villa Soleada, Honduras, with 48 students from a previous riverbed shanty slum. By this summer, the Bilingual School population has grown to 276, with the oldest students graduating from middle school. SHH is in the process of building a high school building for their ongoing education, but lacked funding for related bathrooms and wash stations. SHH's experience shows that students, and girls especially, are less likely to miss school if they have access to bathrooms. Immanuel's contribution means improved hygiene, sanitation, and health for SHH's Bilingual School students and a much better educational program.
IPC’s Community Garden ($618). Sam Bennett and Boy Scout Troop #128 will be automating our garden so it is watered and fertilized based on soil moisture and the weather. This will conserve water and should dramatically increase the crop yield. The control system of the project will be built from a microcomputer, called a Raspberry Pi, run by solar power, using weather data and an in-ground moisture sensor. If there is a high chance of rain in the forecast or the soil is sufficiently moist, the control system will not activate the watering system. If there is no rain in the forecast and the soil is dry, the watering system will be turned on. Every 10 days or so the control system will apply liquid Miracle Grow fertilizer.