The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica

Investment of Church's Liquid Assets

Approved by the Investment Committee 4-15-95

Investment Instruments

The Church’s liquid assets shall be invested in instruments with no risk of capital loss (Treasury bills or government-insured certificates of deposit) until an income stream equal to any projected operating budget shortfall has been attained. Certificates of deposit shall be purchased through brokerage houses rather than directly from banks, to make accessible the higher interest rates on maturities as long as five years while maintaining liquidity (no interest penalty for early withdrawal).

When the Church’s liquid assets exceed the amount necessary to meet the above criterion, other classes of investment (e.g., stock funds intended to be held for relatively long periods) may be considered for the excess.

(Approved by Investment Committee April 26, 1996)

Investment Maturities

The Church’s endowments can be invested in long-term instruments, because the principal thereof should never be invaded.

If the emergency [and minister’s equity-sharing] reserves are invested in instruments readily convertible to cash (albeit with some interest penalty), the maturities can again be long because of the low probability of an eventuality requiring such conversion.

Of the savings, we try to maintain $25,000 – 30,000 in a money market account, immediately available via electronic transfer or by check, as a cushion for the primary and secondary checking accounts. Furthermore, some modest segment of the savings should always be invested short-term because of uncertainty as to what may come up unexpectedly.

Optimum investment strategy for the remainder of the savings and any other specified reserves depends on the anticipated needs for those resources. When no major needs are envisioned in the short term, then these resources can be invested with relatively long maturities because the short-term investments (previous paragraph) represent an alternative cover for any operating shortfall. When a near-term need is envisioned, however, the maturities must be selected to correspond.

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