Our Stewardship

Investment Strategy

An investment strategy designed to maximize investment returns over the long-term is a key principle on which The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board was founded. To execute a strategy that combined prudence with a desire to maximize returns, in 1913 the Board established an investment committee of three highly skilled finance professionals. A winning combination of professional expertise and dedication, they established a standard of investment principles and policies that the Investment Committee still follows today.

MMBB led the way in taking advantage of investment opportunities. When New York State expanded the ability of retirement funds to invest in common stock, MMBB quickly expanded its stock holdings. This allowed MMBB to adopt a more aggressive long-term investment approach and initiated a period of tremendous growth. MMBB assets under management increased from $40.25 million in 1951 to more than $2.3 billion at the end of 2010.

Investing for Social Change

During the 1960s, MMBB addressed how to balance its fiduciary responsibilities with demands from members and denominational leaders to support investments in minority communities in the United States. To achieve this goal, MMBB’s professional investment committee recommended investing $300,000 in twenty banks in disadvantaged communities.

In 1981, MMBB severed ties with Citibank and Chase Manhattan Bank in protest over their South African investments. In 1985, MMBB adopted a resolution opposing South African apartheid.

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Meeting the Challenges of the Great Depression

By 1930, MMBB had issued 2,629 membership certificates and assets in The Retiring Pension Fund totaled $8,200,000. But the Great Depression threatened to derail the previous decade of growth.

Churches were forced to cut staff and pastors’ salaries in response to reduced contributions to congregations along with increasing requests for charity. For MMBB, this meant a decline in assets under management, coupled with an increased demand to support members.

MMBB took several actions in order to maintain its commitment to dues paying members:

 
• 1931: Decided to accept new members into The Retiring Pension Fund “only as funds are in hand to make the necessary reserve.”
 
• 1932: Cut administrative expenses and reduced the maximum pension.
 
• 1935: Transferred $500,000 from the endowment to The Retiring Pension Fund to reduce the waiting list.
 
• 1936: Voted to increase dues to 10% for new members.
 
• 1936: Finance Committee began to invest in common stocks.

By taking these actions, MMBB emerged from the Great Depression stronger and more effective, while meeting all of its commitments to promote the better maintenance of the ministry.

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Building Wealth in the ‘80s and ‘90s

The years 1979 and 1980 brought relief as the stagnant markets of the 70s showed renewed signs of life. With the exception of a financially disappointing 1983 and the trauma of “Black Monday” in 1987, investment performance through the 1980s and 1990s saw an almost unparalleled period of growth.

The value of a unit in the accumulation fund (the forerunner of the Balanced Fund) increased by more than 1,000% between 1980 and 2000. During the same period, the payout value of the Annuity Fund increased by 583%. This increase in the payout value of the Annuity Fund greatly exceeded the rate of inflation during these 20 years.

Despite these favorable returns, MMBB acted to institutionalize the lessons learned from the ‘70s. To protect the financial soundness of the Annuity Fund, in 1983 MMBB eliminated the guarantee that annuity payments would not drop more than 5% in any given year. The guarantee was re-established several years later and amended in 2009.

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Responding to the Financial Melt Down in 2008

2008 was a tumultuous year for the global economy. Stock markets worldwide declined dramatically. Virtually all individual investors—including MMBB members—saw their retirement investments decrease in value. Many people approaching retirement were forced to rethink their plans.

Yet, by the end of 2010, just over two years later, the unit value of MMBB’s Balanced Fund had reached its highest value ever. How did this happen?

 
• MMBB remained disciplined, investing with a long-term perspective and adapting to short-term needs while maintaining a diversified portfolio— diversified among asset classes, among styles of investing, and among the money managers we use.
 
• Guided by our professional Investment Committee, MMBB took advantage of investment opportunities to further diversify in Inflation Protected Securities.
 
• MMBB reduced expenses by instituting a salary freeze, implementing a 10-day staff furlough, increasing the use of electronic communications and curtailing outreach efforts.

From Sumner M. Grant:

“After explaining to our annuitants why their annuity income was going to decline, an amazing thing happened. People got up and thanked me. They thanked me for the straight talk. They thanked MMBB for being there. And then they prayed for me and for MMBB. It was a humbling experience.”

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Board of Managers Leadership and Vision

Rev. Henry L. Morehouse, life-long Baptist home missions leader, early advocate for the care of elderly ministers, MMBB’s visionary founder, and first MMBB President, served from 1911-1917.

Colonel Edward H. Haskell, an astute Boston businessman, generous MMBB benefactor and trusted advisor to Morehouse, assumed the founder’s mantle of leadership and led the Board in establishing The Retiring Pension Fund in 1920, served as President from 1918-1923.

Rev. Avery A. Shaw, 1924-1941, a Brooklyn, NY, pastor and long-term president of Denison University, was the Board’s longest serving President. He led the Board through the prosperous 20s as well as the multiple crises of the Depression.

William R. Conklin was an advisor to Baptists in New York and an experienced attorney, business advisor and occasional representative of Rockefeller interests. He presided over the Board during a period of membership increase and financial expansion, 1942-1950.

L. Jerome Matteson, son of one of MMBB’s first field secretaries, a superlative Baptist layman and attorney of distinction, led the Board as President through a period of rapidly expanding benefits and new services, including the extension of Social Security to ministers, 1951-1960.

Rev. Robert G. Middleton, 1961-1966, pastor of prominent churches in Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, presided over the Board with unusual sensitivity and resolve during the turbulent early 60s when both civil rights and social unrest increasingly defined the agenda.

John Reed, an active Baptist layman, a highly regarded lawyer and professor of law, a man of both wisdom and wit, confident leadership style and skill, guided MMBB through challenging times as Board President for three terms in three decades: 1967-74, 1982-85 and 1988-94.

Rev. E. Spencer Parsons, pastor and Dean of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago, both a prophet and a negotiator, led the Board through difficult years of stagnant financial returns and resulting constituent criticism, 1975-1981.

Rev. Howard Moody, 1986-1987, an urban pastor in Greenwich Village, New York, brought a sensitivity to social justice that contributed to the Board’s support for civil rights and opportunities for women as well as encouraging the Board to promote training to prepare pastors to minister in the era of HIV/AIDS.

Mary H. Purcell, an activist for human development through leadership of several global organizations and the first woman to be President of MMBB, provided strong and gracious leadership as President 1995-2002.

Rev. George Tooze, 2003 - Present, a respected Baptist leader and pastor of prominent churches in Massachusetts and Indiana, is the current president of MMBB’s Board. His strong leadership guides MMBB as it defines its role as a national American Baptist Board and expands its services to other denominations and faith-based organizations.