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About
Church Organizers Foundation
Founded in 2016.
Championing Teams.
Stewarding Investments.
Growing Ministries.
MISSION & VISION
Our MISSION is to reinvigorate stewardship knowledge and activities in nonprofit organizations through a shared stewardship approach between individuals and the charities they love. Church Organizers Foundation is uniquely positioned to equip nonprofits to strengthen teaming efforts with donors, connect with new donors, and extend their missional reach and impact. Our VISION is to decrease the annual closure rate of nonprofit organizations across the country so they are able to remain steadfast and accomplish their vital missions.
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STRATEGY
Church Organizers Foundation (COF), a Michigan nonprofit corporation and a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA), was established in 2016 to help preserve and empower frontline ministries through a stewardship approach that continuously monitors a dual bottom line, missional impact and financial health. Church Organizers Foundation is a Recognized Service Organization of Palisades Lutheran Church (PLC), Pacific Palisades, California. COF and PLC are incorporated independently but COF's ministries foster and extend the mission and ministry of Palisades Lutheran Church - unrelated ministries doing ministry together!
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CORE VALUE - CUSTOMERS FIRST
COF is regulated by the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and held to the "federal fiduciary duty" so our customer's interests always come first. Free from corporate influence, ideologies, and proprietary financial products and campaigns, COF provides expert and independent investment advisory and stewardship consulting services. Proxy voting is aligned with shareholder values.​
Governance Structure, Philosophy and Approach
Church Organizers Foundation (COF) is a private operating foundation (POF) organized in 2016 to provide expert and independent investment advisory and stewardship consulting services to private clients, churches and other non-profit organizations.
COF is a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm, approved in the states of California and Michigan. COF's investment advisory business is substantially related to the exercise of its charitable and educational purposes.
Securities offered through Charles Schwab. Schwab Advisor Services™ provides custody, trading, and the support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”), member SIPC, to independent investment advisors and Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (“CSIM”). Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.
COF is Committed to Preserving Frontline Ministry
​Increasingly, small and mid-sized churches and non-profit organizations face a shortage of stewardship knowledge in making complex ministry decisions. Sooner or later every congregation struggles to navigate an ever-changing ministry context, staffing configuration, teaming with volunteers and increasing financial challenges.
Through monitoring a dual bottom line, Missional Impact and Financial Health COF is committed to supporting and preserving frontline ministries through all seasons.
Luther's Large Catechism, First Commandment
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Financial resources are simply part of God's creation. Martin Luther wrote, "We receive our blessings not from them, but from God through them," and we should use these blessings and then lay them aside, "as a traveler uses an inn, and food, and his bed only for temporary necessity."
Classical Stewardship
for Individuals and Churches
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Back to the basics of congregational stewardship, simple accounting by stewards: missional alignment, true cost analysis, live within your means and monitor a dual bottom line - Missional Impact and Financial Health.
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