The Board of Directors of Congregation Agudat Achim established the Education Endowment Fund in 1986 to support its continued survival and growth. To do that, the Board identified four ways in which income from the fund could be used, as follows:
· Help alleviate annual budget needs by providing funding to cover the operation of the Religious School
- Enhance education programs for both children and adults of the congregation
- Expand the utilization of the Education Center
- Extend Jewish content educational programs to the Schenectady community at large
The fund was authorized to include under its banner all education related special funds and is to be administered by the Education Endowment Fund Committee.
The Education Endowment Fund [EEF] has under its banner two sets of funds – undesignated [unrestricted] and designated [restricted], Undesignated funds are invested by the synagogue’s Investment Committee [volunteers] and the income can be used for the four areas listed above. Most of the income is used to offset the cost of the religious school [about 85%], while another 10% is used to provide grants to synagogue committees who submit annual requests to the Education Endowment Committee [EEC] and those that are approved by the committee are recommended to the Board of Trustees for final authorization. The remaining 5% or more, in very profitable years, is added to the assets of the EEF, which last June had a balance of $1,205,044.
Many families are honored as part of the undesignated funds, knowing that the income will be used as listed above [list attached]. To start an undesignated named fund requires a contribution or bequest of $10,000 or more.
The designated funds have been established by individual and family bequests and can only be used for specific purposes. While these funds can be established for $10,000, we encourage and have received $25,000 or more for most of them. Adult Education was just placed under our auspices with a special set of rules in terms of its distribution of income. As of last June, this set of funds has a balance of $321,000.
A description of all of the funds and their origin is contained in a book, The Threads of Life, which can be found in the synagogue lobby on its own bookstand.
To achieve its mission, the congregation has also established a Bequest Program, currently called AKIVA, which through the planned giving of members of the congregation will ensure the long-term growth of the Education Endowment Fund.
