Overview

The LCMS Foundation is privileged to work with both individuals and organizations seeking to be good stewards of God's gifts. We provide services in various capacities for individuals, congregations, colleges, seminaries, and other related service organizations of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

Investment Philosophy

The Foundation's investment philosophy is based on a set of factors that have a widely accepted theoretical basis.

Investment Objectives

Specific portfolio objectives will determine the appropriate investment mix to meet the underlying needs of each account. Thus, prudent risk taking is justifiable.

Investment Options

The Foundation manages a wide variety of accounts with differing investment objectives. Several different investment funds have been established to provide a wide array of investment opportunities that can meet the needs of various investment goals.

Risk and Return Characteristics

A hierarchy of the investment options return verses risk characteristics is depicted in this chart.

Performance Reports

The Foundation updates the fund performance on a monthly basis in addition to providing both quarterly and annual performance reports that have been prepared by our consultants, Wilshire Associates.

These performance numbers are net of custodial and investment management fees only and do not reflect the underlying account fees charged to manage your Foundation account.

Monthly - In addition to the total return information, fund composition data and several dividend yield calculations are provided for each fund.
Quarterly - A year's worth of quarterly performance reports are available through this link.
Annual - Five years worth of annual performance results are available through this link.
All returns are preliminary, unaudited and subject to change. Past results are no guarantee of future performance.

Vendor Profiles

All Foundation investments are managed by outside investment management firms.
Download and print the Vendor Profiles overview

Consultant - Wilshire Associates, Santa Monica, CA

Custodian - Northern Trust Company, Chicago, IL

  • In addition to providing safe-keeping and recordkeeping services, the professionals at Northern Trust have created many investment news articles, as well as economic research reports.
  • Northern Trust Perspective is updated monthly and covers a variety of topics throughout the year. The newsletter provides an analysis of political and economic developments in world financial markets, and recommendations for possible investment strategies.
Investment Managers - The Foundation utilizes the services of several different investment management firms. Please refer to this link for specific details on each of them.
While we hope that you find the information presented by our Consultant and Custodian to be useful, it does not represent an official viewpoint of the LCMS Foundation and the Foundation is not responsible for any content outside its domain. In addition, while the information provided is based on sources believed to be reliable, we cannot warrant its accuracy or completeness. Such information is subject to change and is not intended to influence your investment decisions.

Glossary of terms

Definitions of various financial terms used within the Investment section of our web site have been provided for clarification purposes.