The 213th Annual Council - Diocese of Virginia

Proceedings
But DMS’ work does not happen in a vacuum. It happens because of the investment
that parishes and related organizations make in DMS. Currently only 17 parishes and
one related organization—and that is Bloomfield Foundation—invest in DMS for a total
of $2.3 million. I know that sounds like a lot of zeros, but to continue DMS’ work we
probably would like some more investment and more help from the parishes. And I only
hope that your parish would consider investing to DMS to support our existing and
mission parishes, as well as our campus ministries. For it’s only through your abundance
of love that DMS will continue its work. And I hope that what I have shared with you
today, that the Diocesan Missionary Society will no longer be the best kept secret in the
Diocese. Thank you.
Report of the Treasurer
The president called on Mike Kerr, chief financial officer of the Diocese, for the
treasurer’s report.
Mr. Kerr addressed Council:
Thank you Bishop Lee. Bishop Matthews, Bishop Johnston, Bishop Jones, distinguished
guests and ladies and gentlemen of Annual Council,
Good afternoon. I’m Michael Kerr, the treasurer of your Diocese. I note that I seem to be
in the minority in that I am not related to Bishop Gibson in any way.
Part of my canonical duties is to speak long enough to put us back on schedule. My
apologies.
I bring you a report of the financial health of the Diocese of Virginia but I will start with a
report on the related organizations that I serve outside of DMS, as Karen Grane has given
an excellent presentation on the work of DMS. Pete Johnston, a prior president of DMS,
once told me that DMS was a small bank that makes bad loans.
The Trustees of the Funds is the diocesan investment trust for the Diocese of Virginia.
The Trustees manage investment funds for over 100 of our churches, as well as Shrine
Mont, the Diocesan Missionary Society, the ECW, the Virginia Diocesan Homes, several
of our diocesan schools and many others.
2007 continues to give me indigestion as I am sure it has you. What began with fits and
starts only got more interesting with the much discussed sub-prime disaster of midsummer.
The design of the Trustees of the Funds portfolio allowed it to weather this
storm, and in 2007 the Trustees showed what I consider excellent work in a preliminary
return of +10.2 percent, up from my initial 8.5 percent when I did this PowerPoint
Monday and ended the year with assets under management of over $87 million.
This follows a very good three year stretch from 2004 through 2006, each of which had
total returns of nearly 12 percent. Most important to me is the +12.8 percent annualized
return over a trailing five-year period ending 12/31/07. If you consider that our return
is net of fees, and being managed at a very modest 70 basis points, and that our annual
payout returned nearly $3 million to the work of the Church, it was an exceptional year.
2008, as you well know, is not off to the best of starts amid talk of recession. Actions
by the Fed this past week, an expected additional interest rate cut next week, and the
working agreement on taxpayer rebates should help a fragile economy.
The Diocese of Virginia t Journal of the the 213 th Annual Council 89