Endowment
Endowment is an accumulation of gifts from the founding of an institution to the present that are invested to produce a steady flow of income, as their donors wished. It is a key factor in keeping an institution independent and innovative.
All charitable gifts are important, but what makes endowment gifts especially important is their permanence - they continue giving in perpetuity. Properly managed, they not only continue to provide annual operating income but also grow to meet the eroding effects of inflation. Endowments are a permanent, stable source of income.
Grace Cathedral's current endowment is only $3.8 million, while its yearly operating budget is approximately $5 million. For an institution of this size and complexity, this endowment is inadequate to support a Cathedral that must respond to the community's highest needs and opportunities.
Endowment income provides key benefits:
- Financial Stability - income from endowment can effectively smooth out rough spots in a fiscal year and enable Cathedral leadership to continue to move forward, even in difficult financial times. Endowment can provide a "safety net" when an unexpected financial crisis occurs. This "safety net" is especially critical for unexpected and unforeseen renovation and repair costs associated with a hundred year old national historic site.
- Involvement and Innovation- good programs and services are often discontinued, or new programs never begun, because they can't be funded. With income from endowment, the Cathedral can remain responsive to the community. Endowed institutions can fund new programs, start new initiatives, and reach out to provide more community services.
- Financial Control - because the Cathedral is a non-profit, its sources of income are difficult to forecast. There are good years and bad years for Grace's philanthropy and for earned income due to variables in the environment and economy that cannot be controlled. Income from endowment, however, can help provide security and stability for the Cathedral -and its many services - during unstable times.
- Permanence and Longevity - the evidence of a strong endowment indicates that an organization will continue to exist for a long time. Donors to Grace's endowment can see that their investment will continue to make a difference well beyond their lifetimes.
Gifts of endowment during the past 100 years have helped raise the Cathedral to its present stature, and the Cathedral has protected these funds by not dipping into principal. Most of these funds are named for their donors or for others the donors have chosen to honor. The Cathedral now looks to the present generation of its family and friends for the endowment gifts that will enable the Cathedral to launch another 100 years of expanded ministries, progressive thinking, and community leadership.
Please contact Jane Dickstein at 415/749-6319 or janed@gracecathedral.org to be referred to our planned giving specialist.
