Council approves two committees to study incorporating relief agency
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman Online, October 4, 2006
LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Council approved the formation of two committees to study the possibility of incorporating a Presbyterian relief and development entity as a 501c3 charitable non-profit corporation.
The first will be a study team that will develop criteria for the GAC to use when it considers requests to incorporate new entities. It will consider the impact on mission coordination and GAC “fragmentation,” Book of Order directives and relationships with all parts of the church.
The study team will consult with the stated clerk, representatives of middle governing bodies, entities and corporations.
The second committee will be a study team that will consider whether to incorporate Presbyterian relief and development, its possible nature, process of incorporation and stable business plan. It will consult with the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, U.S. Advisory Committee of the Jinishian Memorial Program, Advisory Committees of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Presbyterian Hunger Program and the staff of those areas, Medical Benevolence Foundation, Worldwide Mission in Partnership program area, representatives of Ecumenical Council of Churches, Special Offerings Task Force, middle governing body representatives, Mission Funding Task Force and the advocacy and advisory committees.
According to the recommendation, the first team should finish developing its criteria for incorporating new entities by March, so that the second team could use that criteria in making their recommendation on a relief agency by the September 2007 GAC meeting. If the recommendation from that committee is to go forward with the incorporation, there would still be time for the GAC to make any refinements to the plan and meet the 2008 General Assembly deadline for considering new business.
The idea for an incorporated non-profit relief agency came from the Worldwide Ministries Division, which thought that more funds could be raised, and possibly more work done, by incorporating a non-profit entity.
Gordon Edwards, a member of the council and chairman of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, supported the idea by arguing that the church’s relief groups could have more fundraising potential and media attention by not being specifically identified as a religious program. The idea was also supported by Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase.
According to a report out of WMD’s Sept. 2006 meeting, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance received nearly $23 million in donations for relief assistance in the areas hit by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. In 2005 it had expenditures of $2,703,722 and to date in 2006, the expenditures total $2,205,000.
PDA’s Web site states “The donation-to-expense timetable is purposely front-loaded to prevent PDA’s long-term response from falling short as media headlines about the disaster fade. PDA funds follow and do not replace governmental funds that are available in the early days of the disaster.”
It further states that a “long-term strategic allocation taking us through 2013” has been developed.