A Word from Session

Your Session sat, via Zoom, for its regular monthly meeting last week.

The main topic of the evening was to hear from the investment fund task force, led by Elder Jennifer Druliner.

It’s no secret that Western is the beneficiary of a substantial endowment – a legacy from our move to Virginia Avenue 25 years ago. Over the years, it has been used for much (or most) of the operating costs of the church, not to mention the considerable expense to maintain our building. This investment fund has allowed us to operate our 200-member church (staff and facilities-wise) like, say, a 500-member church.

The investment fund task force recommended that the endowment should be governed by a separate, independent body – an Investment Fund Committee -- along the lines of the Nominating Committee that the congregation elects.

The Session accepted the task force’s recommendations, and we expect to act on a draft charter for the new Investment Fund Committee at our next meeting.

This sounds very bureaucratic, but it’s an essential (and overdue) step to ensure that our endowment funds are secure, professionally managed and properly disbursed over the long term – beyond the purview of one Session term.

That’s it for this month. Thanks for reading.