Message from the Executive Director Sid Johnston

Thank you for visiting our website. I’m honored to be a part of this great Church and enjoy serving you as Executive Director of the Foundation.

The purpose of the Foundation is – and always will be – to assist in preserving the church’s magnificent facilities and supporting the vital programs and ministries of the church body.

If you have any questions about our Foundation, or would like to make a donation, please feel free to contact me personally. My phone and email are under the Contact Us button above.

May God bless you.

Sid Johnston, Blog Posting June 13, 2018:

Serving the Church Financially - The Foundation's Annual Distribution Gift to the Church

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace”

1 Peter 4:10

The Foundation has been blessed yet again this year! Every year, we are privileged to be able to give a distribution gift to the Church; this year is no exception.

The annual distribution gift is mandated by the IRS and calculated on 3.5% of the preceding year’s ending value of our investments portfolio. It is determined once the IRS Form 990 is completed (typically in the months of May or June). 3.5% may seem small to some, but when you are talking about millions, it actually is quite a lot. For instance, in the past 4 years, the Foundation has released to the Church an average of $2,000,000.00 each year for a total of $8,400,000.00.

The Foundation is grateful that we will be able to add to that total again this year. After submitting the IRS Form 990 in late May, we have calculated the amount to be released to the Church. The Foundation will be distributing $2,140,112.00 to the Church in 2018. The Church has already received $800,000.00 of this money in payments of $400,000.00 each paid in January and May. The remaining amount of $1,340,112.00 will be paid in two payments of $670,056.00 in September and December 2018.

The distribution that the Foundation gives to the Church annually is unrestricted by the Foundation. This means that the Church can use the money however they see the need within the Church. The Foundation also distributes an annual ministry fund amount that is restricted money. This is gifted to the Church in February and this year was a total of $118,843.52. This annual ministry gift serves a lot of different purposes and is donor/fund specific as to how it is spent. Some of the money goes to the Justice Ministry, some of it goes to the TV Ministry directly, and part of it is given to the Mission – to name a few of the purposes.

When you combine the annual ministry fund distribution and the general use distribution to the Church, the Foundation will release a total of $2,258,955.52 in 2018 to the Church. The Foundation is excited to see how the Church will use this money throughout the year. One way that the money from the Foundation is being used is for the 11:11 Worship Service on Sundays move to Historic 512 (formerly the YWCA). The Church has a significant amount of infrastructure that must be maintained and repaired throughout the year and the Foundation funds this needed maintenance.

Church leaders and the Church business office decide how the money is spent and when, so the Church will have to wait and see how they continue to use the money from the Foundation throughout the rest of the year. For now, though, the Church can rest assured that the Foundation has been blessed with many gifts of which the earnings from these gifts are released to the Church for God’s work in our community. If you would like more information on any of the financial information discussed in this blog or to review the Foundation’s financials in general, we have added our 2017 IRS Form 990 and our Audit from 2017 to our website. The Foundation staff would also be happy to discuss any of the information in this blog with you. We can be reached at 817.339.5072 or at sid.johnston@fmcfoundation.org.

Since the Foundation was started in 1964, the total funding released to the Church, including 2018 distributions, is $55,058,792.29. Our Church was blessed by God’s when the founders created an endowment for the Church and allowed it grow into the charitable blessing that it is today. Let’s see how this money can positively change and shape 2018 into the best year yet for our Church!