Westminster’s Endowment Fund: A Tale of Two Givers

---

A Tale of Two Givers

By Dave Wright

Al Arensfelder and Zoe Zigenhurst joined Westminster Presbyterian Church in the same new members’ class shortly after graduating from college and starting careers in Ann Arbor. Al and Zoe were what psychologists refer to as “A-person” and “Z-person” individuals—their personalities were exact opposites! Al squeezes his tube of toothpaste from the middle; stands in front of an open refrigerator to decide what to have for dinner; surfs television channels with the remote control rather than watching a single program; wads a piece of paper on which he’s made an error and pitches it toward a canister across his office as if shooting baskets; prefers the more contemporary style of the first worship service at Westminster and usually arrives to worship so late that he must take whatever seat is available. Zoe, on the other hand, rolls her toothpaste tube neatly from the bottom; plans a week’s worth of dinners by making a list every Saturday morning; watches only television shows which seem interesting on the basis of the Sunday newspaper guide that she highlights with a yellow marker; neatly folds her scrap paper and places it in a recycling bin beneath her desk; and arrives early enough to sit in the same pew every week at the second service since she prefers the more traditional style of worship.

But Al and Zoe shared one thing in common. Each was committed to regular support of Westminster Presbyterian Church with a $l00 gift they made every week. Naturally, even in this they differ slightly. Al’s donation is in the form of an assortment of crumpled bills hastily pulled from his pocket as he scrambles to stuff them in an ordinary white pew envelope before the ushers pass him the collection plate. Zoe, of course, has written a check before the service begins and neatly seals it in one of the newly designed envelopes designating the gift to the Westminster endowment fund.

Time passed. Al’s contributions toward the work of Westminster Church were as regular as clockwork—$100 per week, faithful, true and constant. As for Zoe, while her weekly donation was the same, only the interest from her contributions was being spent by the Session-and not all of that. Indeed, only half the interest from the accumulation of her contributions to the endowment fund was spent—less than a dollar per week in the beginning! The rest was left in perpetuity inside an endowment fund invested with the New Covenant Fund of the Presbyterian Foundation. But as the fund grew from both her weekly contributions and the unspent portion of the interest, so too did the expendable amount of the interest going toward the ongoing work of the church. Little by little the expendable interest from her contributions was approaching Al’s weekly $100 gift. In fact, out of curiosity, Dave Hammond, the Westminster financial secretary, prepared a chart to compare the effective monthly support from the two giving strategies:

Dave Hammond will tell you that after 14 years the effective support toward the work and mission of Westminster is the same from Al Arensfelder’s $100 weekly gift as it is from the portion of the interest that Session spends from Zoe Zigenhurst’s gifts to the endowment fund. Moreover, he'll tell you that from that point on Zoe’s effective giving grows and grows at a faster and faster rate until it is many times over that of Al’s—to the extent that after 25 years their cumulative gifts are the same.

But the story does not end after 25 years. Because at the 25th reunion of their new members’ class Al and Zoe reacquainted themselves with each other, fell instantly in love, married, moved to Kerrville, Texas and joined another Presbyterian church. Al’s contributions to the ministry of Westminster ended.

But Zoe’s? Zoe’s portion of the endowment fund had grown to over $150,000 and continued to provide hundreds of dollars of weekly support to the life and mission of Westminster. For how long? For as long as Zoe lived, and Zoe and Al’s children lived, and their grandchildren lived, as long as there were stars in the sky, sand on the ocean floor, and as long as Michigan met Ohio State in a late November football rivalry—and beyond.

During their 25 years of membership in Westminster, Al and Zoe had contributed the exact same amount to the Lord’s work—$l00 per week. Furthermore, Al’s weekly $100 gifts totaled the same as the expendable interest on Zoe’s during those 25 years. But Al’s support ended on the day of his last contribution-while Zoe’s were making an impact for generations to come.

Now, no one suggests that we should curtail our giving to the annual ongoing budget of Westminster in order to give exclusively to the endowment fund. But Al and Zoe’s story does illustrate that more than one form of giving is available for those who want options. Moreover, the magnitude and longevity of various giving strategies can differ dramatically. If giving to the Westminster endowment fund interests you, or you simply want additional information about it, please contact any member of the Endowment Committee.

As for Al and Zoe, the true moral of their story is that A-people and Z-people can make perfect lifetime partners—as long as they own two tubes of toothpaste.

---

Part 2:

Al and Zoe continue their support of Westminster

By Mary Hammond

As chair of the endowment committee, I thought it would be nice to give an update on a recent conversation with Al and Zoe, the couple we had the pleasure of meeting in the August Link. Al and Zoe have decided that wintering in Kerrville, Texas is appropriate, but prefer to “summer” in the Great Lake State where they can foster their true-blue football blood types, and attend church at Westminster each Sunday. Yes, they still are very much the “A” and “Z” personality types who do not share a tube of toothpaste, but they are quite unified in their decisions regarding the on-going support of the church through weekly giving, both financially and with their time and talents.

They had the good fortune this year to be blessed with excellent growth in some of their investments. They are searching to make a meaningful gift to Westminster and also achieve a tax benefit. This insightful couple first thought of our endowment fund and wondered what they might do. While we as a committee are not in a position to counsel church members on ways to give, we love the opportunity to talk about the many available gift options such as cash, securities, or real estate. I suggested they speak with their attorney or tax advisor about ways to give that meet their financial objectives. They are in the process of doing this even as you are reading. We will be delighted to enhance our endowment fund with their year-end gift.

If you are in a position to make a difference with any size gift by way of year-end giving, any of us from the endowment committee would enjoy the opportunity to speak with you.