TLLC Children, Youth, & Family Ministry Establishes New Opportunity Fund
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For the last almost two years the Youth Team has been asking the question “how can we steward the finances of our program in a more stable and dependable way?” I know, it’s a long and kind of boring question. However, our ministry has the most pass through funds, and highest expenses for parishioners of any other ministry. Did you know that it costs over $600+ to send one kid to Lutherhill in the summer? Did you know that it costs $1500+ on average for our high school summer trips? Did you know that most families in our congregation have 2-3 kids? So if you have an elementary school child, a middle schooler, and a High Schooler. That’s $3100 just for camps in the summer. What if you have two high schoolers and a middle schooler? That’s $3600. And, that’s just the big trip stuff. That’s not including our retreats, our day camps, our outings, etc.
We are aware that we are not the only thing a family pays for in their child’s life. We are also stewards of the belief that money should never be a barrier to Jesus, this community, or participation. It is the space that sits between this reality and this belief that led us to UT Concessions and PTA Pies for fundraising. With the help of that fundraising we were able to provide ample camperships and bring down the cost of our High School summer trips immensely. It should not be missed that our congregation has the highest participation in the National Youth Gathering in our whole state AND the affordability of our trip is partly the reason.
In 2025, our Council made the generous decision to grant the youth team a portion of the abundance of our gifts to the general fund. TLLC (through approval of the annual budget) decided that we would be granting a 10% (now 20% with the new budget in 2026) coverage of all costs for trips and retreats. We want our whole congregation investing in caring for our children, and to make sure that the financial barrier is low. We are so grateful for the generosity of our community and its leaders.
And…
We know that there are years of plenty and years of want. So much like the wisdom of Joseph’s dreams; we wanted to prepare to provide sustained financial support to all families as needed to keep that financial barrier out of the equation when a kid is deciding if they want to participate here at Triumphant Love.
So we did a lot of research and found a solution with a new fund…
This fund is a short term investment fund that allows us to be flexible with needs and demands but generous in gifts. It’s overseen by the Youth and Children’s Teams and approved by the Council. It exists to reduce costs to families at Triumphant Love who want their youth and their children to participate in all things.
This may look like taking out a pre-planned amount for all financial aid requests. This may look like covering the cost of a whole retreat (if we have the funds!). This may look like a reduction in the cost of a year’s worth of activities. This will be determined yearly and presented to Council (as part of the annual budgeting process). We wanted it to be flexible enough that we could be both generous and strategic. This fund does not exist to accumulate, it exists to be used….. but it also earns income passively to help that sustained relief really be sustained.
The Youth Team started this fund out with 50k from our fundraising account, and we named it in the memory of Jonas Ellwanger, a member of our Youth Group.
I hope you’ll join us in generosity towards our young people by thinking of ways you might contribute to the Jonas Ellwanger Opportunity Fund (or the JEO Fund for short). Whether that’s just chipping in some extra money when you register your child for an event, an annual gift on behalf of Jonas or any of our kiddos here, or a random act of kindness for our young people.
I remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:14,
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
I hope you will join us in removing these hindrances, so that all children can participate in all that they want to here in our very loving and kind community.
-Deacon Bri
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Original Proposal language
The Children, Youth, & Family (CYF) Ministry Director with support of the CYF Ministry Committees and approval by Council establishes the Jonas Ellwanger Children, Youth, & Family Ministry Opportunity Fund (JEO Fund).
Purpose of the JEO Fund
The purpose of the JEO Fund is to subsidize the overall cost of participation in CYF Ministry activities by either partially defraying the cost for budgeted and planned CYF Ministry events and / or for financial assistance for individual participants who may not have sufficient means to pay their share for those events.
Source of Dollars and Management of the JEO Fund
The JEO Fund will appear on the church balance sheet as a Restricted Fund under the CYF Ministry.
All or some portion of the dollars represented in the JEO Fund may be separately invested in designated short-term investments (e.g. Certificates of Deposit, Money Market Funds, or High Yield Savings accounts). The Treasurer manages these investments in consultation with the Finance Committee. The returns or interest from such investments are to accrue to the JEO Fund.
In times of financial surplus, the Council may elect to set aside or add funds to the JEO Fund. Members and guests of the congregation may also donate to the JEO Fund (in addition to their General Fund giving). The CYF Ministry Committees may also pursue other sources of dollars such as grants or fundraising activities for adding dollars to the JEO Fund.
The CYF Ministry Director with the CYF Ministry Committees makes plans and recommendations for the use of JEO Fund dollars as part of the annual church budget cycle. These plans will consider the estimated financial needs of participants for the upcoming budget cycle. Use of these dollars will be tied to specific events and / or individual financial assistance. Council reviews the CYF Ministry budget request with the planned use of the JEO Fund dollars as part of the annual church budget cycle.
Should unforeseen circumstances occur, the CYF Ministry Director may petition the Council for additional funds from the JEO Fund in the current year. Council may authorize additional funds provided they can be released without undue penalty (e.g. fees associated with accessing investment instruments before maturity).
If you have any questions, please contact a member of one of the CYF teams or the church office.