The Pension Boards has invested $3.5 million in Fannie Mae’s $315 million Multifamily Social Bond (FNA 2021-M1S), under Fannie Mae’s Guaranteed Multifamily Structures program. The Pension Boards Sustainable Balanced Fund’s inaugural fixed-income investment is a multi-family social bond issued by Fannie Mae, which supports affordable housing initiatives in the U.S.

The United Church Board for Ministerial Assistance, the charitable arm of the Pension Boards, is pleased to announce that the application season for the next cohort of pastors to participate in the Next Generation Leadership Initiative (NGLI) is open. NGLI is a leadership development initiative that equips, energizes, and empowers younger United Church of Christ local church pastors to build vibrant congregations that change lives and further God's mission in the world. If you don’t know much about the initiative, please watch this video to see and hear participants describe the transformative experience.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be advised that any paper financial requests (such as withdrawals or distributions) received after 12:00 noon EST on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, will be processed on Monday, January 3, 2022. If you want to perform any distribution for 2021, you must submit your request before the December 21, 2021 deadline.

Any fund reallocations or balance transfers made on the website must be submitted by 12:00 noon EST on December 31, 2021. The website will close at noon. No transactions will be able to be transacted after this time for 2021. The website will reopen on January 1, 2022.

If you have any questions, please contact Member Services at 1.800.642.6543.

As we head into the final stretch of 2020, you may still be able to lower your federal income tax for the year. You can do so by reducing your taxable income, which in turn lowers your taxes, or by making the most of deductions that may be available to you this year.

Also, this is a good time to review a few major provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted by the federal government in March 2020 as a response to COVID-19.

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By Rev. Ryan Otto

In a letter to the United Church Board of Ministerial Assistance, the philanthropic arm of the Pension Boards, the Rev. Ryan Otto, Pastor First Congregational Church, Sioux Falls, SD, shares how the gift of the Next Generation Leadership Initiative has rooted and shaped his approach to life and ministry. Rev. Otto was a participant of NGLI*1, the inaugural cohort.

To the dreamers, visionaries, and leaders of the Next Generation Leadership Initiative of the Pension Boards: Thank you. Please receive my sincere gratitude for your diligent work in the inventive NGLI program, for the faith to take the risk on such a new endeavor, and for your investment in my ministry and in me as a person of faith.

I will attempt to name the gift of the ten-year NGLI program in one word: rootedness.