Will Presbyterians bail out the NCC?
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, November 17, 1999
CLEVELAND – Presbyterian Church (USA) officials are being asked to help bail the National Council of Churches out of its 1999 $4-million deficit. The deficit is so deep that it has seriously eroded the NCC’s reserves and threatens the organization’s viability.
One Presbyterian agency, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, has already agreed to contribute $100,000 to the bailout. The other agency, the General Assembly Council, has not yet responded. Presbyterian ecumenical officer Eugene Turner says he hopes the two agencies can come up with a total gift of $600,000. This money would be in addition to the more than $2 million in budgeted funds that have been forwarded to the NCC in 1999.
John Detterick,
General Assembly Council executive director$500,000 recommended
The next meeting of the General Assembly Council will occur on Feb. 15, 2000. On the council’s agenda will be a recommendation from its Staff Leadership Team that the council contribute $500,000 to the NCC bailout fund. “Cliff [Kirkpatrick] and I, and the Office of the General Assembly and General Assembly Council leadership team feel that something like $500,000 would be a reasonable maximum contribution,” John Detterick, the council’s executive director, told The Presbyterian Layman.
Detterick said the staff leadership group was willing to make the recommendation subject to the following conditions:
- The contribution will not be funded until the balance of the full amount needed to cover the deficit is subscribed by other denominations.
- Recognizing that different members carry different loads, each member of the NCC must contribute to the fund. If receipts exceed the deficit, the balance is to be placed in the NCC’s reserves.
- The NCC Executive Board must approve a balanced budget for the year 2000 that includes a provision for rebuilding NCC reserves.
- A provision must be made to cover health care costs in the NCC pension plan.
Detterick, whose background is in banking and finance, was asked for his reaction to management letters disclosing “reportable conditions rising to the level of material weaknesses” that have accompanied NCC audits in recent years. He said that he has not studied the audits and is therefore unable to comment on them.
“I can make a general statement about the NCC,” he said. “The NCC has parts, namely Church World Service [a humanitarian aid and relief agency], that are important to the church. Church World Service does many good things. There are other parts of the NCC that have struggled and aren’t working as well as they should.” Detterick expressed his hope that a major reorganization of the NCC would help it become more viable.
Methodists freeze
The United Methodist Church pledged $700,000 toward the bailout fund, but its board recently put a freeze on the gift due to questions raised regarding NCC budget and management issues. Independent audits of the NCC have included management letters expressing sharp criticism of its financial practices. Presbyterian officials say they share the Methodists’ concerns, but not the strategy they are employing to pressure the NCC.
How do you spell ‘relief?’
The NCC’s “financial recovery plan” envisions collecting $2 million from member denominations and an additional $1.4 million from Church World Service. The Church World Service board – which sponsors “CROP walks” and other activities to raise funds for assisting needy people – has not yet agreed to NCC demands, but because it is a subsidiary in the NCC structure, it appears to have little choice in the matter. In recent years the NCC has drained assets of Church World Service by forcing it to use NCC finance, administration and program managers and then pay heavy fees to the NCC for these services. Negotiations are now under way on a reorganization plan that could redefine this relationship.
Clifton KirkpatrickPresbyterian involvement
Presbyterian Church (USA) officials have been deeply involved in developing the NCC’s recovery plan. General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, Director of Ecumenical Relations Eugene Turner, and Director of the Washington Lobby Elenora Giddings Ivory are all members of the Transition Management Team that was created by the NCC Executive Board to find a way out of its financial crisis.
It was announced at the NCC General Assembly that Clifton Kirkpatrick has agreed to lead the campaign among member denominations for contributions to the NCC’s bailout fund.