Church Fund Defends Its Financial Plans

To the Editor:

It was disappointing to read Tom Cullinan’s recent letter to the editor (“Church Fund’s Commercial Plans Are Disturbing and Mutinous,” February 26). The Chronicle’s coverage of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation’s response to an increasingly complex environment (“Putting Faith in a Trust Company,” January 15) has drawn lots of positive attention. It felt strange to be under attack.

We at the foundation aren’t trying to prove anything, sell anything, send any volleys, or duck any issues. We’re just trying to insure our ability to continue our service to the church. Because we understand that our actions may impact others, we feel an obligation to be open about them. That’s why we agreed to The Chronicle’s request for an interview.

I’m sorry that Mr. Cullinan drew the negative conclusions he did. . . . However, one of Mr. Cullinan’s comments is on target: It is too bad that we had to accept taxable status for our trust company. Our earliest conversations with federal banking regulators were about a tax-exempt entity. Unfortunate ly, Charitable Accord, on whose board, The Chronicle indicated, Mr. Cullinan sits, negotiated away our rights to continue certain important activities in a tax-exempt status. They paid a high price — covered by money contributed by charities — for the Philanthropy Protection Act in an unsuccessful attempt to bail themselves out of the Texas gift-annuity litigation. That act alone, which some have dubbed the Philanthropy Limitation Act, forced us to modify our plans.

I would pose a question. Why has a member of Charitable Accord’s board, an organization that continues to promote fear in the hearts and minds of the non-profit community (from which it is still seeking donations), decided to attack the foundation for allowing our plans to be shared? Isn’t there something terribly inconsistent when Charitable Accord is using those donated dollars to buy lobbying power and time while some of its members are doing the same things we are being criticized for?

There is something positive in this. One observer who hadn’t invested much time in understanding the intricacies of what the foundation is doing until he read Mr. Cullinan’s letter had this to say: “You couldn’t have written a more convincing argument for doing what you are doing than what that fellow provided.”

Thanks, Mr. Cullinan.

Larry D. Carr
President Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation
Jeffersonville, Ind.