Endowment Fund 2024

Endowment Fund Committee 2024
The Endowment Fund of Wesley United Methodist Church has been established and is subject to the Disciplines of the United Methodist Church, and to the actions of the church conference.  The Endowment Fund was created and exists solely for the charitable purpose of the church with its principle objectives being the promotion and the development of religious, charitable and educational activities.  It is also for nonrecurring purposes not regularly budgeted.  The Endowment Fund will not be used to support the operating budget of the church.

Committee Members:
Keith Nakashima (Chair), Chris Koshiyama, John Moody, Mark Yamamoto and Marcia Yasukawa

For the year 2024:
1.  2024 has been a rewarding and successful year in granting funding for scholarships, tuitions, and charitable projects.  We had a total of $21,029 in interest, dividends, and realized long term capital gains in 2023 which is the amount we could grant for 2024.
2.  We added Marcia Yasukawa to our EF Committee with the departure of Herb Nagamine.  
3.  We granted three $1000 Sanematsu Scholarships to our Wesley high school graduates on June 2, 2024.  The recipients were Tyler Bakoshi, Brady Williams, and Elise Haneta.
4.  We granted $600 to reimburse one of our staff members, Lauren Takaichi/Jr. High Camp Co-Director, for travel related expenses for her to attend four JHC Staff and Counselors training.  
5.  We granted $2,000 to Reverend John, who is the circuit leader (City Circuit) overseeing 7 United Methodist churches across downtown and east San Jose.  He/They were in the process of requesting a $20,000 grant from the El Camino District Union to increase the visibility of Wesley and the 6 other circuit churches through social media.  All monies went towards hiring a social media consultant to work with the circuit, which includes Wesley.
6.  We granted $250 to reimburse Hatty Lin for coursework supporting her role as God’s Garden Director.  Hatty took a course on Preschool/Elementary Curriculum.  
7.  We granted a $5,500 scholarship for Aton Abril, a Wesley member and El Camino Real District Lay Leader to attend the Spirituality in Practice Academy.
8.  We granted $582.84 to fund the purchase of 16 Bibles for our CAF/MYF.
9.  We granted $2,926 to Mark Teagle as a scholarship to fund coursework towards his requirements for Deacon Ordination.  Mark has registered for the fall term at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago.  This will be the 2nd to last course required to fulfill his Deacon Ordination education requirements.
10.  As of October 7th, our Endowment Committee has granted $14,859.
11.  During the course of 2024, we began discussions with Wesley’s Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair to see how we collaborate as part of an “Investment committee” to share and execute best practices relating to the investments we make on behalf of WUMC.  We anticipate further developments as we progress into 2025.

Respectfully submitted by:
Keith Nakashima,  Endowment Fund Chair