UMC’s Faith Foundation Northwest Divests from Fossil Fuels

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UPDATE: 

This article has been updated to help clarify that the Faith Foundation Northwest stewards many funds and supports investment from many account holders, such as local congregations and others. While the Faith Foundation Northwest has divested its own funds, investors with Faith Foundation Northwest still have the full suite of Wespath investment funds available to them. Investors are free to choose fossil free funds, or funds with investments in fossil fuels. Read the Faith Foundation Northwest's press release.  

Fossil Free UMC | April 3, 2024

With a vote last month, and at the request of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, the Faith Foundation Northwest announced it has divested its own funds from fossil fuels. The Foundation, founded in 1966, stewards $93 million in funds in partnership with The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church, known as Wespath Benefits and Investments.

Read their announcement for more information: Our Foundation Cares for Creation

Julia Frisbie, a life-long United Methodist, serves as executive director of the Foundation. Frisbie credits her “math-teacher mom” for instilling in her an interest and aptitude for numbers. She has a history of successful fundraising, describing herself as a “person who likes solving complicated problems.” Many might remember her from the Imagine No Malaria campaign, a campaign that raised $68 million during Frisbie’s time with the effort.

Divestment is not new to the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference (PNW). In 2016, the PNW was one of a handful of conferences that passed legislation asking their annual conferences to divest their permanent holdings. Responding to that legislation, Wespath created three morally attuned funds, free of both fossil fuels and Palestine conflict stocks.

These fossil free funds can be found easily on the Northwest Foundation website. Says Frisbie, “Our fossil free portfolios have outperformed their non-fossil-free counterparts since inception, and we like them enough to put our own endowment in them.”

Barbara Dodd Schaffer is a member of the Faith Foundation’s Board of Trustees and is currently treasurer of the Board. Schaffer’s leadership in United Methodist organizations is extensive, including with the United Women in Faith and as a former delegate to General Conference. Schaffer says, “As an individual, I have had this concern [divestment] for a number of years.” But, “the formal action by Faith Foundation Northwest is in response to the action of the Annual Conference.”

That action in particular happened in 2023 when the PNW passed legislation building on the 2016 effort, this time asking the Foundation itself to divest. That legislation was proposed by a team of lay and clergypeople and passed overwhelmingly, with 89% voting to affirm the legislation. The 2023 legislation itself was part of a package of ‘model resolutions’ prepared in support of Annual Conference creation justice efforts by the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement.

Ann Mayer was baptized into the United Methodist Church, confirmed as a youth, and is a longtime leader in the local church. Currently she serves as lay leader at Federal Way UMC, and is a lay member of the annual conference. Mayer was one of the team one of the team who submitted the legislation asking the Faith Foundation to Divest during the Annual Conference session of 2023.

For Mayer, decisions like divestment are deeply moral, saying, “Creation is the original word of God. Creation is the way God reveals Gods self to humanity. It is absolutely our moral responsibility to care for creation and work to be in harmony with it once again.” Her experience of the “healing power of nature,” instilled as a child, has been part of her faith journey. She earned master of divinity degree from Seattle University, and is a commissioned United Methodist Earthkeeper.

“Creation is the original word of God. Creation is the way God reveals Gods self to humanity. It is absolutely our moral responsibility to care for creation and work to be in harmony with it once again.”

– Ann Mayer, Pacific Northwest Annual Conference lay member

Schaffer also sees an ethical aspect to the question of divestment for people of faith. Schaffer says, “The ethical question is about benefiting financially from investments in fossil fuels and others which negatively impact God’s creation.”

This can be a thorny conversation, however, and Schaffer acknowledges that. “My role was to enable the decision-making process, to be inclusive of all who participated in it. The process was careful, deliberate and respectful. My views were considered among those of many. I did hope for the final outcome and was obviously pleased by it, while holding in love the members of the Board with different views.” 

Frisbie also acknowledges the challenge of addressing investment questions among those with different perspectives. “Wespath is an expert at managing risk while upholding ethical screens. I’m not aware of anyone who does it better,” she says. “So if the words ‘fossil fuels’ get added to the list of exclusions in paragraph 717, they’ve got what it takes to make that happen. But there has to be a lot of pressure from stakeholders for a new exclusion to reach a threshold where they’re willing to do that.”

That threshold was met for the Faith Foundation Northwest’s decision last month, says Frisbie. In the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, “the 2023 legislation requesting that our Foundation divest from fossil fuels passed with an 89% margin. So, we had to pay attention.” In the end, Frisbie said, “our board’s discussion was very pragmatic: what are the risks, what are the benefits, where’s the sweet spot.”

Frisbie appreciates the straightforward path for next steps. “Wespath has been incredibly responsive and helpful. We already had some fossil free holdings with them, so moving assets from one of their funds to another was pretty seamless. I know they’re also working behind the scenes to improve the accessibility of these options, both for pension plan participants and for institutional clients like us.”

Mayer sees the decision by Faith Foundation Northwest to divest as “a good start.” She is hopeful. To achieve this outcome, the effort required hundreds of voices from across the conference asking together. Says Mayer, “this does bring me hope; hope that we aren’t in this alone and there are many others who care.”

The actions of the Pacific Northwest Conference and others has already had a ripple effect. Wespath this week announced a further expansion of their fossil free funds, now expanded to allow United Methodist foundations, seminaries, and others to divest.

With the Faith Foundation’s decision made, Schaffer sees opportunities to reach interested investors. “The action of the board regarding the Foundation’s own funds may inspire others to direct their investments to the fossil free portfolios.” The Foundation plans to engage with local congregations and others as well. Says Schaffer, “I look forward to how it plays out with the investors.”

Frisbie’s experience in fundraising and her leadership in the church has given her experience working with a wide range of people. “I’ve been privileged to be in the boardroom with fiduciaries, and also gather around the kitchen table with activists,” she says. “I notice that almost everyone agrees that we need a clean energy transition. …it’s okay for people to work on this problem from many different angles at the same time. The climate emergency is big enough that we need everyone, everywhere, trying everything to fix it.”

And, says Frisbie, “The bottom line is, Wespath already has the infrastructure in place for anyone who wants to go fossil free. All we have to do is ask.”

For more information visit Faith Foundation Northwest.

The Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is an elder in the Greater Northwest Area of the UMC, living in Southern Oregon. She volunteers with the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement and a number of other organizations at the intersection of faith and climate change. Find her at justcreation.org