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Imagine Indiana Transition Team Information
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Area United Methodist
Foundation
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
A Brief History of The Indiana Area Foundation of The United Methodist Church, Inc.
The Indiana Area Foundation of the United Methodist Church, Inc. was formed in 1922 under the first not-for-profit corporation laws of the State of Indiana. Bishop Frederick D. Leete instituted the proceedings. Although the basic idea behind the incorporation was for church extension in the Indianapolis Metro Area, the purposes of the organization were written to include general charitable, evangelistic, missional, and educational causes.
The Corporation was reorganized in 1962, 1971, 1974, 1996 and most recently in 2001. At the time of the reorganization of the Foundation in 1974, the total asset value was approximately $17,000. Steady income from a variety of support sources across Indiana, establishment of a number of trusts, receipt of individual bequests, and financial investing has increased the net financial assets at December 31, 2007, to 1.75 million dollars. Distribution in support of program ministries and higher education and mission grants have totaled nearly $1.7 million during the last 10 years.
Following World War II, the USO Program operated by Roberts Park Methodist Church, Indianapolis, was discontinued and $12,000 in unexpended assets was transferred to the Foundation.
Although little happened in the earlier years, Bishop Richard C. Raines found use for the Corporation as a means of establishing new programs in the Indiana Area. Programs for which the Foundation was utilized during his tenure included the Nurse Recruitment program at the Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, the establishment of the Indiana Pastoral Care and Counseling Program, and '"Operation Doctor" with particular emphasis on the, then, Belgium Congo. During the early sixties when Bishop Raines was the President of the World Division of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church, large sums came through the Foundation in order to make possible the funding of the first airplane ministries in Africa and to alleviate the dire medical situation in the Congo when Belgium withdrew and the Congo moved into its struggle for independence. Dr. Richard M. Nay was one of the first medical doctors to respond to the program and was a continuing force in "Operation Doctor" projects in the ensuing years.
In 1970, Dr. J. Kenneth Forbes, Executive Assistant to Bishop Reuben Mueller, expanded the outreach of "Operation Doctor" to Asia, and Central and South America with doctors, dentists, nurses, oculists, and pilots. He also secured, in 1974, a Federal Letter of Exemption qualifying the Foundation as a Public Foundation in order to receive larger gifts, trusts, and bequests, and to have recognized Federal Tax Exemption.
The Foundation's first gift in excess of $100,000 was a block of corporate stock to provide a retirement home for Bishop and Mrs. Richard Raines who served the Indiana Area from 1948-1968. This and other gifts given at the time of the Bishop's retirement were given to provide a retirement residence for Bishop and Mrs. Raines during their lifetime. Upon their demise, the residence was sold and the funds held in perpetuity and invested by the Indiana Area Foundation with earnings used for mission grants as the Board of Directors direct.
Ralph and Louise Harvey's generous gifts to the Foundation, including two separate Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts created in 1980, have been solely designated for the higher education of young people, and served as a catalyst for the expansion of individual trusts. Charitable Remainder Unitrusts have been created by Jack M. and Erma J. Byrum, and Grandin A. and Virginia P. Godley, naming the Foundation as the charitable remainderman.
Today, the Foundation is involved in providing grants in the fields of higher education, local, national, and world missions, outreach ministries of local church congregations, and its program ministries. Program ministries of the Indiana Area Foundation include Operation Classroom and Operation Doctor as reconstituted under Operation Classroom.
Beginning at the 2001 Annual Conference session, the Area Foundation awarded post seminary/ordination travel grant to each pastor ordained into the Order of Deacon and Elder of both the North and South Annual Conferences. These grants could be used for travel with the Area's Episcopal Leader in conjunction with an experience he or she may plan, e.g. travel to the Holy Land, Wesley Heritage Tour of England and the Journeys of Paul Cruise travel of the Mediterranean. These grants awarded to the class of 2001 and each succeeding Class of Ordinands, was made possible initially by an unrestricted $100,000 bequest from the estate of H. Wilber Hardacre, and the contributions of individuals and churches throughout the Indiana Area.
On July 1, 1996, the Rev. Richard L. Gongwer, retiring Executive Director of the North Indiana United Methodist Foundation, was contracted to develop a Foundation Manual encompassing legal, policy and administrative procedural guidelines for the operation of the Foundation.
Rev. James E. Gentry, retired clergy member of the South Indiana Conference, became the Executive Director (part-time) of the Foundation on July 1, 2005.