Trustees of Diocesan Funds
Overview and History
In 1849, the Maine Legislature incorporated the Trustees of Diocesan Funds to hold, manage, and distribute assets for the benefit of the Episcopal Church in Maine.
The Trustees of Diocesan Funds manage investments valued at approximately $25 million. Approximately 90 percent of these investments were left by will, trust and deed to the Trustees and designated for the benefit of individual congregations. The balance of the assets held by the Trustees is of congregation's funds, placed with the Trustees for custody and professional management.
How Are Funds Invested
Funds are invested in the Diocesan Trustees' Equity Fund and Diocesan Trustees' Fixed Income Fund, with the overall allocation of assets currently at approximately 65 percent in the Equity Fund and 35 percent in the Fixed Income Fund. Both funds are invested in accordance with the Trustees' investment policy. The Fixed Income Fund is invested 99 percent in "laddered" U.S. Treasury Notes with an average maturity of 5 years.
With 310 individual accounts invested in the two funds, the Trustees are expense-conscious. Custody and fund accounting is provided by Columbia Management Group, a Bank of America Company. Management of the equity fund is divided among two advisors, Head and Associates and Welch & Forbes, and two mutual funds; the Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund and the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. The Fixed Income is self administered and incurs no management fees. The entire operation has an expense total of forty basis points or .40%. The Trustees periodically put the investment management and custody of assets out to bid to ensure the best advice, service and competitive pricing.
How Can the Trustees of Diocesan Funds Help You
The investment management services of the Trustees of Diocesan Funds are available to all parishes and missions within the Episcopal Diocese of Maine. A congregation may choose and change its investment mix between the Fixed Income Fund and the Equity Fund. There is no load or sales charge, only the direct expenses of advisory and accounting services as described above. In recent years, numerous parishes in the Diocese of Maine have placed investments with the Trustees. In this litigious and complicated world, the proper emphasis for parishes seems better placed on gaining financial assets rather than on managing them. Effective investment management requires professionalism and continuity. Most congregations have rotating vestries. Managing endowments is quite different from individual investing in mutual funds or brokerage experience. Even if a congregation has members with investment committee experience, their interest and time are often subject to change. There must be a willingness to "stay the course," follow a determined investment policy, and to be responsible for all investment decisions, those that work well, as well as those that do not.
How to Establish an Account
It is very easy to establish an account with the Diocesan Trustees. To set up a new account, there is a minimum investment of $1,000. There is no minimum amount for additions after an account has been established. The congregations can make the decisions concerning allocation of assets between the Equity Fund and the Fixed Income Fund. The Trustees request that when a new account is established that the congregation provide directions concerning allocation of assets between the Fixed Income Fund and the Equity Fund. If no direction is provided, then a default allocation will be applied (usually 65 percent of the assets invested in the Equity Fund and 35 percent in the Fixed Income Fund, which is what the Trustees believe and recommend is a sound long-term asset mix for endowment funds). In addition, the Trustees request directions as to whether the congregation wishes to receive quarterly distributions of income from the account or to have the income added to the principal and reinvested within the account. Currently, quarterly income distributions are made from 80 percent of the account, with the income reinvested in 20 percent of the accounts. The custodian provides a quarterly statement for accounts under management with the Trustees.
Additions and Withdrawls
Additions to accounts may be made as of the beginning of each month. Withdrawls will processed at the end of any month. Checks for withdrawals (unless the account is being closed) will be mailed within 3 to 5 working days of month end. In order to obtain accurate fund balances, closing an account requires a waiting period after month end (approximately 14 days).
Trustees of Diocesan Funds
The Trustees of Diocesan Funds are a body incorporated under the laws of the State "to take and hold real and personal estate contributed for parochial endowments or other church purposes," including the support of the Episcopate. They "manage and dispose of the same in accordance with the terms of the several gifts, grants or endowments" and "keep an account with each endowment or gift comprising the fund, and shall report their actions in managing the fund and the condition of the fund, to the convention of the diocese annually."
Current Trustees
William S. Clark, Ellsworth, Maine has been a Trustee since 1990 and the President of the Trustees of Diocesan Funds since 1999. He is a parishioner at St. Dunstan's in Ellsworth, where he has served on the Vestry and as a Warden. Mr. Clark is a principal of Wind River Capital Management, and has been working in the investment business since 1963. He is well known for his world-wide flying adventures as a private pilot. He is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School.
Jean T. Wilkinson, Cumberland, Maine received a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Wellesley College and a Masters degree in Education from the University of Southern Maine. Her employment career has been primarily in finance, beginning as an Investment Analyst for Scudder Stevens and Clark in Boston and most recently as a vice President and Relationship Manager in the Private Clients Group of Fleet Bank of Maine, a position from which she retired in June 2000. Mrs. Wilkinson joined the Trustees of Diocesan Funds in 1989, and she has a long history of community volunteering. In addition to being a communicant of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Falmouth, she has twice served as Vestry member and in its Christian Education programs. She has also served as Chair of the Boards of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine, now Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield on whose Quality Management Oversight Committee she continues to serve, as well as having served as Chair of the University of New England, on whose Executive and other Committees she continues to serve. She also serves currently on the Boards of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine Humanities Council, Maine College of Art, Chewonki Foundation, and North Yarmouth Academy.
Nathaniel V. Henshaw, Brunswick, Maine is President of CEI Ventures, Inc., a for profit subsidiary of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Mr. Henshaw founded CVI in 1993 to manage the Coastal Ventures Limited Partnership and to direct the investment of venture capital into progressive Maine companies. He successfully raised $5.5 million for this small community development venture capital fund and is in the process of raising $20 million for the new fund. Prior to his current position, he served as a Loan and Investment Officer at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. He has also worked for other venture capital firms, such as Intersouth Partners L.P.; Kitty Hawk Capital Ltd.; and Chemical Venture Capital Corporation (now J.P. Morgan Partners). He holds a M.B.A. from Duke University Fuqua School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from Duke University. He sits on the boards of several CVLP and CVILLC portfolio companies as well as several voluntary civic and religious boards; Mr. Henshaw is a parishioner of St. Paul's Church in Brunswick.
Kenneth E. Barrett, Kittery Point, Maine has been a Trustee since 1994 and the Treasurer of the Diocese since 1999. A retired executive from the heavy machinery manufacturing sector, he is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and an AMP alumnus of the Harvard Business School. He serves St. George's Church in York Harbor as a member of the Finance and Stewardship Committees. In addition to his work with the church, he is Treasurer of Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth N.H. and a trustee of the Thompson Endowment Funds.
Lawrence E. Dwight, Kennebunk, Maine has served in the investment community since 1960, the last six years with Morgan Stanley in Portland. He is presently Vice-Chairman of the Maine Municipal Bond Bank. Previously, he was Chairman of the Finance Authority of Maine and is also active on committees in his home town. He is a parishioner of St. David's in Kennebunk, where he has served in a variety of lay leadership roles.
Betsey McCandless, Portland, Maine is a parishioner at St. Luke's Cathedral and for several years taught in the Sunday School program. She has been a partner at McCandless Epstein & O'Donovan L.L.P. since the firm, which restricts its practice to trust and estate matters was founded in 1992. She received a B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College in 1977 and a J.D. in 1982 from Hofstra Universtiy School of Law, where she was an associate editor of the Hofstra Law Review. Betsey moved to Maine in 1985 from New York City to raise her three children. She is Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and Chair of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's Advisory Committee on Probate Rules. She served as Vice Chair of the Board of the University of Maine Foundation and frequently lectures on charitable giving, estate administration and estate and gift tax matters.
Deborah F. Hammond, Cumberland Foreside, Maine, received a Bachelor's degree in Music from Grove City College (Penn.) and a Master's degree in Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She taught in Portland and South Portland schools for several years, and recently retired from the Portland Symphony Orchestra, where she was director of marketing and of development. She is president of the board of trustees of Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine, and a corporator of Maine Medical Center. Ms. Hammond is a parishioner of S. Mary the Virgin Church in Falmouth where she is treasurer.
The Rt. Rev. Chilton R. Knudsen, D.D, Bishop of Maine. Bishop Knudsen was consecrated the 8th Bishop of Maine on March 28, 1998. Her ordained ministry began in 1980, and includes service in parish ministry and as Canon to the Ordinary for the Bishop of Chicago. She has been a member and officer of many Boards of Directors, particularly those advocating for environmental stewardship, healthcare delivery and clergy personnel issues. She is presently a Senior Trustee of the Church Pension Group, Chair of its Benefits Policy Committee and advisor to the Committee on the Stewardship of Abundance. She and her husband Michael live in Bath.
For More Information
Additional information about the Diocesan Trustees, including performance and financial statements, can be obtained by contacting:
Pamela McLellan, Assistant to Finance
Episcopal Diocese of Maine
143 State St.
Portland, ME 04101
207-772-1953 ext. 30
Fax: 207-773-0095
pmclelln@episcopalmaine.org
