How Joseph through God’s divine grace was able to sustain Egypt and how you can sustain the causes you love through endowment funds.
In the biblical story of Joseph (Genesis 41), Pharaoh of Egypt was troubled by two dreams and Joseph was brought before Pharaoh to interpret the dreams. God revealed to Joseph the meaning of the dreams that “Seven years of plenty will come, but there will follow seven years of famine” and he had advised Pharoah to select a wise man to collect food and store it up so when famine came, Egypt would have enough food to survive. So, Pharaoh appointed Joseph and he collected the food during the years of plenty and stored it. When the famine spread, Joseph opened the store-houses and people came from everywhere for the grain.
Through God’s divine grace, Joseph was able to help sustain Egypt not just through planning but by saving harvest for Egypt’s future use (and even for its neighboring countries.)
Today many parishes, schools, and nonprofit organizations are operating for ministry today, but what about tomorrow? During the 2019 COVID lockdowns, many ministries learned they were not able to further their mission due to no long-term funding plan. Day-to-day pressures to meet payroll, facility maintenance, program expenses, and more, overshadowed “ministry and mission” during the lockdowns.
Endowments and donor support through endowments provides the opportunity to allow a parish/ministry/nonprofit to move beyond a short-term focus and into long-term planning for financial sustainability.
Supporting an endowment, like the Catholic Community Foundation Forever Funds, will help assure the ongoing mission of your parish, school, or favorite nonprofit for the future until Christ’s return. Endowments allow an organization to focus on today and worry less about long term funding for the organization’s mission.
Since you are eager to acquire spiritual gifts, try to excel in those that build up the Church. —1 Corinthians 14:12 (NCB)