\u201cA general theme of MRTI\u2019s General Assembly business before the Financial Resources Committee is related to \u2018reform,\u2019\u201d said Simon Doong, associate for Corporate, Community & Church Engagement in the PC(USA)\u2019s Office of\u00a0Faith-Based Investing and Shareholder Engagement<\/a>, \u201cespecially regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict and discussions by many different types of institutions about what to do regarding the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n In summary, FIN-01<\/a>, an overture from the Presbytery of Pittsburgh<\/a>, is about reforming General Electric (GE) and Palantir Technologies, Inc., by directing MRTI to begin focused engagement with the companies. FIN-02<\/a> calls for the creation of a task force to reform the 1984 policy that sets forth the Divestment Strategy of the PC(USA), while FIN-03<\/a> is about removing HP Inc. (HPQ) from the 2025 General Assembly Divestment\/ Proscription list since HPQ, a legal successor of the Hewlett-Packard Company, is no longer out of compliance with church policy.<\/p>\n \u201cMRTI wants to be responsive to the calls it has heard to review the [1984] policy and consider potential updates,\u201d said Katie Carter, director of\u00a0Faith-Based Investing and Shareholder Engagement<\/a> for the PC(USA), referencing FIN-02. \u201cIt will also be important that the task force balance the social witness of the church with the fiduciary responsibilities of the investing agencies, something the 1984 policy does very well.\u201d<\/p>\n The report of the PC(USA)\u2019s Special Offerings Task Force is contained in FIN-12<\/a>. According to the Rev. Wilson Kennedy, associate director for Special Offerings and Appeals for the PC(USA), the task force is recommending \u201cseveral strategic shifts to the largest way Presbyterians come together to share Christ\u2019s love here and around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe recommendations are designed to align the Offerings to the emerging structure, while creating flexibility, nimbleness, and creativity for future agency and board leadership to make mission funding decisions,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n A recording of the town hall, \u201cExploring the Recommendations of the Special Offerings Review Task Force,\u201d held on June 5, 2024, is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to reducing the number of Special Offerings from four to three, the task force\u2019s report recommends removing specific program designations in favor of cause areas that align with giving patterns to alleviate a feeling of donor fatigue that was reported in a survey conducted by the PC(USA)\u2019s Research Services<\/a>; changing the review cycle from four years to six years to allow for the proposed Offering cycle to grow and evolve; and the creation of a grant program to support all councils (sessions, presbyteries and synods), regardless of support of the Offerings, who are engaging in ministries aligned with the values of the proposed World Communion Offering (Proposal 2.c.).<\/p>\n \u201cI am grateful for the faithful and creative work of the Special Offerings Review Task Force,\u201d said the Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson, director of Ministry Engagement and Support for the PC(USA). \u201cTheir discernment process \u2014 extensive consultations, a deep data dive and reliance on the Holy Spirit \u2014 led them to a series of recommendations, approved by the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board<\/a>, that both meet the needs of a changing church and continue to support vital Presbyterian mission and ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n Special Offerings will be further highlighted at GA226 with a celebration of 75 years of One Great Hour of Sharing<\/a>, the single largest way that Presbyterians come together to serve individuals and communities in need. Participants are invited to provide people with safety, sustenance and hope by marking this special anniversary with a gift of $75<\/a> in support of causes enacted by the General Assembly.<\/p>\n In other business, the committee will hear and take action on the seven recommendations from the Presbyterian Foundation<\/a> contained in FIN-08<\/a>, as well as entertain FIN-06<\/a>, confirmation of those named as directors of the Foundation\u2019s subsidiary, New Covenant Trust Company, N.A.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking forward to our time in committee and sharing about the work we are doing to support congregations, ministries, and mid councils,\u201d said Robyn Davis Sekula, vice president of Communications and Marketing for the Presbyterian Foundation. \u201cWe will focus our time on how we gather, manage, and distribute funds for Christ\u2019s mission, and ask for the committee to approve our recommendations. Our hope is that the commissioners will find our report informative and engaging, and that they will walk away with a better sense of how we work with the entire PC(USA).\u201d<\/p>\n To round out its full agenda, in FIN-13<\/a>, the committee will consider approval of the 2025-2026 unifying budget for Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, including the Office of the General Assembly, the Administrative Services Group, and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. The committee will also act on FIN-14<\/a>, calling for the approval of a 2025-2026 General Assembly per capita apportionment rate of $10.20 for 2025, and $10.62 for 2026. These figures reflect an increase from the 2024 GA Per Capita Apportionment rate ($9.80) by 4.1% in each year, corresponding to the rate of inflation.<\/p>\n Finally, the committee will consider two actions related to the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program, Inc.<\/a> (PILP), specifically FIN-04<\/a>, calling for the confirmation of the individuals named to PILP\u2019s Board of Directors, and FIN-05<\/a>, requesting confirmation of the election of Clare Lewis<\/a> to the office of President and Chief Executive Officer of PILP for a four-year term.<\/p>\n Members will also act on FIN-11<\/a>, a recommendation from the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board to form a Clergy Pay Equity Task Force, and hear a variety of reports, including FIN-INFO-04<\/a> from the Funding Model Development Team, which was appointed in December 2022 to engage both the history and complexity of how to fund the higher councils of the church.<\/p>\n Additional Town Hall recordings related to the Committee\u2019s business are accessible here<\/a>, including \u201cIntroduction to the Committee on Mission Responsibility and Investment (MRTI),\u201d \u201cUpdate from the Funding Model Development Team,\u201d and \u201cThe Unifying Budget for 2025-26.\u201d<\/p>\n Plenaries of <\/em>The 226th General Assembly<\/em><\/a>\u00a0will be held on site at the\u00a0<\/em>Salt Palace Convention Center<\/em><\/a>, Salt Lake City,\u00a0June 29\u2013July 4.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Committee will consider recommendations from MRTI, the Special Offerings Review Task Force, the Presbyterian Foundation, among\u00a0others Emily Enders Odom | General Assembly News – June 13, 2024, Louisville Hewing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":46230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46229"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46232,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46229\/revisions\/46232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}