Sound Footings — Spring 2024

Greetings Virginia Conference members and affiliates!

Spring is traditionally a time for change, and so it is with the Virginia United Methodist Foundation. Since last summer, our board leadership has been in consultation with Virginia Conference leadership to discern the best ways the Foundation and DevCo might serve the conference in the coming years. Those conversations are ongoing, and we’re hopeful that in the not-to-distant future you’ll be hearing more. Expect the same services to continue with more on the way.

Over the past five years together we’ve been able to grow the Foundation, stabilize operations and put the Foundation in a better financial position than we found it. With the headwinds of disaffiliation, Covid, market instability and rising interest rates, those outcomes were not assured. In our current strong financial position, now is a good time to look to the future.

The Virginia United Methodist Foundation continues to grow. At this writing, our independent auditors are completing their work and will soon issue the final draft of their 2023 audit report. Already they have completed the 2023 audit of the Virginia United Methodist Development Company (DevCo), which has been accepted by DevCo’s Board of Managers. We expect both audit reports to carry unqualified opinions.

You may have already read that I will be retiring on May 1. Although I’m looking forward to exploring what is next, let me say I have immensely enjoyed developing relationships with others in the United Methodist Church and working with our staff and boards at the Foundation and DevCo. Most of us have been a team for five years, and I’ve already promised them that I tend to hold onto friends for a long time. We’ve all experienced much in that short period, and I’d like to express how grateful I am to everyone on the team, our clients and all who read this.

I’ll still be around, participating in missions and ministries in other ways. With God always at the helm, good things are ahead.

See you on the trail!

By Bo Bowden
President
Virginia United Methodist Foundation