Exempt - Winter 2008 - (Page 8)

COVER STORY Under for a tough ride Water Annuities in BY MARK HRYWNA W ith economic markets going haywire the past few months and investors looking for a safe place to park their money, some charities are stepping up their efforts to push charitable gift annuities (CGA). The American Bible Society (ABS), which created the ﬁrst individual annuity in 1848 and today has 13,000 annuities with a value of approximately $40 million, plans a year-end push to identiﬁed constituencies through direct mail and the Web. “Very much within our budget we’re shifting money to target very carefully where we can make a difference,” said The Rev. Simon Barnes, executive vice president, development, marketing and research at the New York City-based organization. Annuities are “now a very attractive instrument, and there are not very many people who have the ﬁnancial reserves to get into or expand their annuity programs,” he said. ABS has a unique opportunity because it could quadruple its annuities and still have enough reserves, Barnes said. “If you’re 60, 65, and looking for somewhere safe to put money and get a decent return, we’re one of the last shows left in town in that regard,” he said. Criticism over its conservative ﬁscal policy and large reserves has all but disappeared in recent months, said Barnes. “We believe that a rainy day will come,” he said. “We’ve seen it before, and it happens every 50 or 60 years. We’ve been around long enough to see a few of those. Because we take a much longer view than many institutions…we’re seen almost as archconservatives,” said Barnes. While ABS might not have enjoyed the substantial gains that other nonproﬁts did during the gogo days of the stock market, the organization also has not been impacted as much by the recent volatility. Barnes estimates the society’s assets are down 12 to14 percent in recent months compared to the market norm of about 25 percent. Barnes expects a number of smaller organizations engaged in the Bible cause to eventually fold into ABS. “We’re very open to that. We have a responsibility to continue their mission,” he said. “We can’t throw out ﬁscal lifeboats to people but we can look at ways to strategically help the Bible cause. I will expect those kinds of conversations,” Barnes said. “There will be times 8 | Exempt | Winter 2008

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Exempt - Winter 2008

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