FAQs

All United Methodist Churches and Organizations of the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church may invest through the Foundation in funds currently managed by Wespath Investment Management and Fidelity. An account may be opened with an amount of $5,000 or more. The Account Information Form and a copy of the Investment Agreement, all properly completed by the church organization, should be sent along with the check for deposit to the Foundation Office. Arrangements can be made to accept electronic transfers of funds. Contact the Foundation Office for details.

The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation does not manage client’s money. The Foundation acts on the organization’s administrative behalf with Wespath and Fidelity, who oversees socially responsible investing once your organization’s account has been established. The Foundation manages the dispersal of monthly and quarterly statements, administration behind establishing accounts, and executing deposits and withdrawals at the request of the client.

The foundation aims for a total return (income plus growth in total value) to exceed the benchmark over a complete market cycle (3-5 years). As with all investments, no guarantee of profitability can be provided. There may be a period when the market value declines, however, the Trustees believe that, over market cycle, the performance goals will be achieved or exceeded.

The Foundation can accept donations of securities, including most mutual funds. Please contact your account manager for additional details.

A formal Investment Agreement is completed in duplicate by the officers of both the investing Church Organization and the Foundation and sent either by mail or electronically to the office with an opening deposit. One copy is retained by each party.

Additions to the Fund can be made at any time and withdrawals from the Fund can be made at any time as well. Single Withdrawal Requests must be submitted into the DonorView portal and be authorized by the pastor/primary signer and one additional authorized signer unless it is a percentage based recurring withdrawal of which the account manager will assist in initializing. Once received, additions to the fund will be deposited in the Foundations bank account and wire transferred to Wespath Investments and/or Fidelity with the inverse occurring for withdrawals to be distributed once per week. Please feel free to call your account manager if you require assistance navigating the DonorView portal or setting up a withdrawal.

All statements monthly and quarterly can be viewed within the DonorView portal. Income will be automatically reinvested, unless otherwise designated by the investing church. Churches may elect to receive either regular annual or quarterly withdrawals by completing the Account Information Form at the time of account opening. You may also call or email the account manager or director at any time for any questions or concerns about your account and its performance.

The Foundation will charge each investor within Wespath a tiered structure of an annual fee of 0.55% for total balances under $500,000.00, .50% for balances $500,000.00 to 1M and .45% for balances over 1M calculated and deducted quarterly, on the average daily value of the account for the quarter to cover costs of administration. This fee is in addition to the asset management fees charged by Wespath, which is deducted incrementally on the ending balance of the day. All accounts pay a total of no more than 1.13% a year for fees. The FIGXX Fidelity Money Market service offered is currently not charged any fees from the foundation.

If you are having difficulties logging into Donor View please contact your account manager. Also, your username and password in donor view are specific to that website. They are not a part of one’s Arena login credentials.