The First Congregational
Church Endowment is a Texas nonprofit and a 501(c) 3 established
in 1977. It is operated exclusively for religious and charitable
purposes tied to the life and work of First Congregational
Church. The Endowment Board’s policy is to divide grant awards
equally between the church’s internal needs and its benevolence.
From a modest beginning, the
Endowment Fund has grown to a total corpus value of over $500,000
at the end of 2007. Of this, 5% of the two yearaverage corpus balance is available for grants each year.
Approximately half of this resides in eight namedfunds which can only be awarded for specific purposes, in
accordance with the donor’s wishes. Depending on the fund and
the restrictions that guide the Board in its use, grant awards can
be given to individuals or organizations. In general,
organizations considered for awards are non-profits. The
Endowment Board is strictly prohibited from making awards that
support or influence political causes or candidates, legislation,
propaganda or advocacy.
The restricted funds allow
carryover of unspent money from the previous year, thus the amount
available for award may increase from year to year. The Board has
no mandate to spend down any of the funds.
