Foundation gets $1.4
million gift from UM estate

The Austin-based Texas Methodist Foundation received a $1.4 million gift last month from an Austin couple’s estate.
This charitable gift boosted the foundation’s assets beyond $300 million. That increases the agency’s ability to support United Methodist congregations, institutions and individuals across the state.
The donors were dedicated members of Bethany UMC, Austin. In accordance with their request, the foundation will forever make annual distributions of income from their endowment to support several not-for-profit organizations.
Beneficiaries include Bethany UMC and the foundation’s own Grants Ministry to assist other United Methodist congregations and institutions in the Southwest Texas Conference.
The foundation’s Grants Ministry funded more than $584,000 in grants throughout Texas last year to churches and charities serving the needs of children living in poverty and crisis situations.
“Our reaching this $300 million mark is not only an accomplishment of the foundation’s current staff and board of directors but also a tribute to those who came before us, even back to our creation in 1938,” President Tom Locke said.
“People like Bishop A. Frank Smith, Walter Fondren, J.J. Perkins and the others who organized this foundation realized then, as we know now, that our growth is about much more than reaching milestones in total assets. Every gift and every investment we receive and manage helps us empower United Methodists to share the hope of Christ with others.”
The Rev. Mike McKee, foundation board chair and senior pastor of First UMC, Hurst, agreed.
“The real significance of this $300 million figure is the cycle of ministry it represents,” McKee said. “Our investors and donors help us provide resources for ministry to local churches who then use those resources to transform lives. What’s exciting about growth is what it enables us to do—help build strong congregations, both financially and spiritually, so they can reach out in God’s name to love their neighbor.”
The cycle of ministry that led to the asset growth created by this particular gift began in 1991. The late Harold Perdue, a former United Methodist minister and development officer for the foundation, worked with the family to establish the endowment and plan a future gift based on their charitable goals.
The largest United Methodist foundation in the country, the Texas Methodist Foundation is a statewide, nonprofit organization that offers assistance to United Methodists through loans, investments, grants, stewardship services, planned giving and endowment services, and clergy support and leadership initiatives.