New Seminary Scholarship Named to Honor Gary & Betty Beach

The Kansas Methodist Foundation is pleased to announce the creation of a new seminary scholarship fund, the Rev. Gary and Betty Beach Seminary Scholarship.

A family approached the KMF about naming a scholarship to honor the longtime United Methodist pastor and past Treasurer of the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church and his wife. Now funded, this scholarship will provide resources for seminarians who will be selected by the Pass the Torch scholarship committee.

Born in Paola, Kansas, Gary went to Wichita State University after high school, where he graduated with a degree in business and financial administration. While in college, he worked for the National Shirt Shop chain in Wichita, where he was promoted to assistant manager, studying during the time he didn’t have customers.

An offer came to make Beach a manager at the store, but he turned it down – he felt a calling to enter seminary.

After graduation from St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, he served churches in Pittsburg, St. Mary’s-Emmett-Belvue, Council Grove and Ottawa, all in Kansas. He became the Emporia-Manhattan district superintendent from 1995 to 2001 and was director of connectional ministries for the former Kansas East Conference from 2001 to 2010.

A vacancy in the treasurer/director of administrative services office of the conference led to his appointment in 2010. The Kansas West conference was added to his duties in 2011. He was then appointed to the same position in the Great Plains Conference as it was formed in 2014. He has 43 years in the ministry.

Beach and his wife, Betty, a retired educator, are longtime residents of Manhattan. He enjoys gardening and reading while he and Betty both love to travel and explore genealogy. Their daughter and son-in-law live in Wichita, and their son lives with them in Manhattan.

If you are interested in adding resources to this scholarship, then you can send checks to the Kansas Methodist Foundation, 100E. 1st Ave., Hutchinson, KS 67504 or give online here (note: scroll down to OTHER and insert “Rev. Gary and Betty Beach Seminary Scholarship”). If you have questions about other ways to give to this scholarship or related to other funding opportunities, please contact Tyler Curtis, Chief Development Officer, at tyler@kansasmethodistfoundation.org.

Naomi Green Scholarship

The Kansas Methodist Foundation is grateful to have the opportunity to announce the creation of the Naomi Green Scholarship. Created by Naomi’s parents, Oliver and Johne Green, along with her daughter Alora, this scholarship will provide resources for students to encourage recipients, especially single parents, to earn a post-secondary education credential from an accredited institution of higher education. A committee at Asbury Mt. Olive United Methodist Church in Topeka, KS, will solicit scholarship applications and select recipients.

Naomi Regina Green was born on August 12, 1982. Named after her paternal grandmother, the name “Naomi” means “Pleasant Queen.” Her determination and energetic spirit brought much joy to the Green Family. Naomi was a music and animal lover. She would hum the soundtrack of Jurassic Park and the theme from the movie Willow or sing “I’m walking on Sunshine” all the time. Hamsters, ferrets, baby rabbits, and a dog named Kingston were her pets.

Naomi attended MacEachron Elementary, French Middle School, and Topeka West High School. She was a good student and showed athletic ability in soccer, basketball, bowling, and softball. She settled on softball being a natural hitter and outfielder. Her love of live theatre led her to join the Topeka West Players. She was cast in several productions. Her signature role was Tituba in The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

An excellent student, Naomi continued her education majoring in English and Literature at Washburn University. She continued her writing as a columnist for the school newspaper, specializing in political commentary and drama critic. She also performed in plays at Washburn as a member of the Drama Group. Naomi financed her own education through scholarships and working part time at Gage Bowl.

The love of her life, Alora Patrice Johnson was born on October 11, 2003. Naomi took a leave from school to care for Alora and returned to school with renewed determination.

The presidential candidacy of President Barrack Obama awakened a political activism in Naomi. She founded the Washburn Students for Barack Obama. She was zealous in this endeavor, registering voters, networking with her fellow students, organizing meet-ups, attending rallies, caucusing, and distributing flyers. The work she did earned her a position as a member of the Kansas delegation, serving as a page at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She also earned an internship in the office of Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Naomi was awarded a graduate teaching position and a fellowship in English at the University of Kansas.

Naomi was called home on December 1, 2023, at 8:20 am. Unfortunately, Naomi’s was born with a misaligned jawbone that had to be surgically corrected. During the procedure, she suffered an anaphylactic reaction and caused her to suffer a severe anoxic brain injury. She lived with the ensuing disability until her passing, which while sudden and unexpected did not include suffering.

Naomi was a life-long member of Asbury-Mt Olive United Methodist Church. She was spiritually sheltered by the faith community of Lowman and Highland Park United Methodist Churches in Topeka, and Englewood United Methodist Church in Denver Colorado. She was not left out of the community of Christ in her remaining years. She attended Beginning Anew services at Highland Park UMC and when that was not possible, she participated in worship by listening to worship services by DVD provided by Lowman UMC and received communion in person in and out of the hospital by Rev. Kathleen Whitmore, Rev. Harry Christian, and Rev. Ever Mudambanuki.

Naomi was survived by her daughter Alora Patrice Johnson, her sister Jamie Lorene Green, close family friend Jacqueline Hill Barton, Alora’s dad Bobby Johnson, her parents Oliver and Johne Green, cousins Loring and Jennifer Gordon, numerous aunts, an uncle, and more cousins and friends to cherish her memory.

If you are interested in adding resources to this scholarship, then you can send checks to the Kansas Methodist Foundation, 100E. 1st Ave., Hutchinson, KS 67504 or give online here (note: scroll down to OTHER and insert “Naomi Green Scholarship”). If you have questions about other ways to give to this scholarship or related to other funding opportunities, please contact Tyler Curtis, Chief Development Officer, at tyler@kansasmethodistfoundation.org

Asset Allocation Changes

The Board of Trustees of the Kansas Methodist Foundation, after an extensive review through the last six months, voted to adjust the asset allocation for both the Balanced Fund and Equity Fund, effective October 1, 2024. The allocation adjustments will reduce the investments in international equities in both funds, and will integrate more use of an index fund for the U.S. equity portion. The Board believes that these modifications will help KMF better meet the needs of the churches and agencies in Kansas, as well as slightly reduce the risk of the two funds.

The new asset allocation for the Balanced Fund offered through KMF is as follows:

25% US Equity Fund,

20% US Equity Index Fund,

20% International Equity, and

35% Fixed Income Fund.

The new asset allocation for the Equity Fund offered through KMF is as follows:

40% US Equity Fund,

30% US Equity Index Fund, and

30% International Equity.

If you have questions about this change or would like to visit about modifying your asset allocation, please contact us. We seek to continue to offer strong investment options that serve your ministry well. We also welcome your feedback for how we can continue to improve. You can contact Gloria (gloria@kansasmethodistfoundation.org) or Dustin (dustin@kansasmethodistfoundation.org).

Fund Portal Access

Throughout the past year KMF has moved our sub accounting system to a new platform. This upgrade allows our donors and partners to see their funds via an online fund portal. To access this portal, you can to go to our website, www.kansasmethodistofundation.org, and click on a button called Access My Fund at the top right of our homepage. You can also use this link: https://kmf.fcsuite.com/erp/fundmanager.

You will need to establish a username and password, most likely the username is the email address that the fund statement was emailed to you at. If you click on “Forgot Password”, you will receive a link via email to create your password. If this way doesn’t work, please contact the Foundation to manually set up your username.

This portal will allow you to see the current fund(s) we have in our system connected to you, asset allocations, documents related to each fund, and recent activity. Additionally, you can review past activity and see previous statements. Another benefit provided in this new upgrade, is that fund advisors can initiate distributions or withdrawals from the online access.

If you have questions or problems, please connect with us as we continue to improve this new technology. Thank you for our relationship and your generosity.

Memorial Planning

One of the best gifts you can give to your loved ones is the gift of confidence - the confidence of knowing they are honoring your wishes.

Communicating your final wishes is more than sharing whether you want to be buried in a casket, cremated, or some other method of disposition. It's more than telling your loved ones where you'd like to have a service performed or the location of your final internment. Have you documented your personal identification information? What about account numbers, usernames, and passwords? Could your family easily create an obituary from information you have documented? Is the documentation easy to access? What family stories are likely to be lost if you aren't here?

Join the Kansas Methodist Foundation on Tuesday, November 12, at 10:00 AM via Zoom to learn more about what you need to consider documenting for the loved ones who survive you. Plus, KMF has created a special tool to facilitate the collection of this type of information. We will share that resource during the program.

Notice of Certificate of Participation Changes Effective May 2024

Grace and Peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you for partnering with the Kansas Methodist Foundation through a Certificate of Participation. Through your investment, the Foundation is able to provide loans to Methodist churches and organizations to further their ministries. We are grateful for you.

Recently the Kansas Methodist Foundation transitioned to a new sub-accounting system for our total ministry to better serve our churches, organizations, and families. We have discovered in this transition that we will have to make two changes to our Certificate of Participation program, which we seek to share with you in this notice letter.

Effective May 1, 2024, the maturity date for all Certificates of Participation will be adjusted to be the 15th of the month for the month in which it matures. That is, if a Certificate of Participation had previously matured on January 27, 2025, its new maturity date will now be January 15, 2025. Interest will continue to accrue until the new maturity date. All future Certificates of Participation can be purchased at any time within a month, however, its maturity date will be the 15th of the month for the maturity month, either after one-year or two-years depending on the investment choice.
The second change, effective May 1, 2024, is the interest strategy options we can facilitate. All Certificates of Participation will receive interest on one or the other strategy. KMF will automatically apply the closest related strategy to a current Certificate, which can be changed at maturity if desired. Here are the interest strategy options:
a. One option is for Certificates of Participation to be set to receive a “monthly compounding” interest strategy. Thus, interest will be earned and applied to the Certificate on a monthly basis, providing a slightly higher return for investors upon maturity because of the compounding. A full or partial distribution, upon request, can occur at maturity.
b. The other option is for the Certificate to make distribution of earned interest for a period of six months and distributed to the Investor semi-annually. This interest strategy is termed, “semi-annual distributed”. The interest will not be compounded on a monthly basis, but rather will be distributed to the investor every six months.

If you should have any questions regarding your investment or our services, please contact our office

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Dustin D. Petz
President and CEO

Change in KMF Fee Calculation Effective May 2024

The Kansas Methodist Foundation is grateful to serve your ministry through our sustainable and socially responsible investment program. Thank you for our ministry together and for investing with us. We seek to help you steward well and grow your resources for ministry. We appreciate you.

In our effort to continue strengthen our administration, KMF has updated our accounting software to better serve our partners. This change comes with it the option to assess our KMF administration fee more accurately for the funds we manage. The administrative fees are not changing. What is changing is that we will base the administrative fee on the average daily balance for the fund for the month, instead of based on the fair market value of the fund as of the last day of the month. This change will be effective starting in May 2024.

For the most part, this change will not impact funds very much, but will more accurately reflect the appropriate administrative fee.

If you would like to visit with me about this change or anything else related to your investment funds at KMF, please let me know. I would be honored to visit so that we can serve well. You can contact me dustin@kansasmethodistfoundation.org or by calling the office at (620) 664-9623.

The Kansas Methodist Foundation is grateful to serve you in support of your stewardship and generosity. Thank you for our ministry together.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Dustin D. Petz
President and CEO

2022 Annual Report

In 2022, KMF continued growing our ministry with Methodist families, churches, and organizations. We are called into this unique ministry of stewardship and generosity so that together we make a lasting difference in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining us on this shared journey.

View 2022 Annual Report

Change to Equity Fund Asset Allocation

The Board of Trustees of the Kansas Methodist Foundation voted, after an extensive review through the last six months, to adjust our Equity Fund asset allocation starting at the beginning of October 2022. The allocation change includes reducing the Equity Fund’s allocation to international equities by 10%, and to begin using a socially responsible US Equity Index fund. The Board believes that these modifications will help KMF better meet the needs of the churches and agencies in Kansas, as well as slightly reduce the risk of the Equity Fund.

The new asset allocation for the Equity Fund offered through KMF is as follows:
45% U.S. Equity Fund
20% U.S. Equity Index Fund, and
35% International Equity Fund

This change will only impact the Equity Fund. It will not change the asset allocation of the Balanced Fund.

If you would like to make changes to your asset allocations, or if you have questions about this change, please contact us. You can contact Gloria (gloria@kansasmethodistfoundation.org) or Dustin (dustin@kansasmethodistfoundation.org).

Memorial Planning Guide Available

A booklet titled, To My Loved Ones, is now available from the Kansas Methodist Foundation. By sharing your preferences today, your loved ones will experience greater peace of mind later. Proper planning equips the people you care about with the information they need to settle your affairs and make the right choices.

This guide is designed to help you think about questions your family will need to answer when you pass away. Please share with loved ones that you've recorded your wishes and personal information. Keep your completed planner in a safe but familiar place so that your family can find it, perhaps alongside your estate documents and other important papers like deeds, titles, insurance policies, and tax returns. You may also want to provide a copy to loved ones who are likely to assist with your end-of-life arrangements.

For questions, please contact us at info@kansasmethodistfoundation.org or 620-664-9623.

View Guide