Survey Results
Two months ago, we invited you to participate in a survey about what’s most important. 159 people took the time to respond. Thank you so much! Today we’d like to share a little bit about what we learned and how we’re responding to your feedback.
Of the services we already offer, you ranked investment management and endowment consultation as the most important. Many of you were surprised to learn that we offer so many different services! That tells us we can do a better job communicating about what’s available to you through the Foundation. Most of you said you hear from us at about the right frequency, and prefer receiving information via statements, personal emails, and our website. We’ll focus on those formats, and on increasing the quality of our communications rather than the quantity.
Of the services we may offer in the future, the one that got your biggest positive response was best practices training for finance/endowment/trustee committees. With a former DS on staff, along with a combined 55 years of experience consulting with church committees, we’re uniquely positioned to meet this need. We expect to begin working on this just after the first of the year, with the goal of having resources available to you beginning in spring of 2021. (Update: finance training videos are now available here!)
When we asked you what characteristics were most important in your choice of financial service providers, most of you said that you prioritized socially responsible investments that perform well relative to the market. We’re proud that every portfolio we offer represents a conscientious choice that grows your money while expressing your faith. And we’ve expanded our offerings to include conservative and aggressive blends of our Fossil Free Portfolios.
The fact that we exclusively serve UMC churches and agencies is relatively unimportant to most of you. This surprised us. It’s helpful feedback for our team, and we’ve calendared some time for discernment in 2021 around our core values, purpose, and organizational identity. As our denomination shifts and potentially splinters, our priority is to adapt in a way that will allow us to keep serving every current customer, no matter where they end up in relation to the UMC. (Update: as of September 1 2021, our organizational identity has shifted to Faith Foundation Northwest in order to accommodate the complexity emerging around what it means to be United Methodist, and even what it means to be church. The data gathered in this survey was a key part of our decision-making process.)
One more area you told us we need to invest in is the ease of doing business online. In response, we’ve purchased an e-signature program. This means that the next time we ask you to update your account access authorization forms, you’ll be able to do it from the comfort of your home computer. We’ll continue to explore ways to streamline our work online. Thank you for telling us how important this is to you. (Update: in April 2021 we switched to a more user-friendly portal for online statements. Since July 2021, all of our forms have been available for electronic download and completion.)
We are so grateful for your feedback. It helps us be better partners in ministry, which is what motivates our team to get out of bed and come to work each morning. It’s our honor and our joy to walk this path with you.