Saturday, June 2, 2007

From the Same Guys Who LOST $8 Million


"WELS Investment Funds, Inc., an affiliate of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, provides cost effective, professionally managed investment portfolios exclusively for WELS and WELS affiliated organizations. The WELS Funds are designed primarily for the investment needs of endowment funds, scholarship funds and charitable trust funds.

WELS INVESTMENT FUNDS, INC.
2929 North Mayfair Road
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222
(877) 888-8953"

Now You See It, Now You Don't

There are several stories about the $8 million that went missing. One is that the treasurer told the bosses they could not spend money they were using up, so they fired him and blamed him. Another story is that the money was spent but the treasurer did not make the transfer on the books, making the Fuller alumni at headquarters think they had another $8 million.

Let's talk this over confidentially. Do you know accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers? The typical congregational treasuer? They seem to have one thing in common - a fanatical drive to tie up loose ends, a predestinating perfectionism. The official WELS version of how this happened does not fit my experience with accountants.

Whatever story sticks, neither one should motivate people to invest their money with those people.

In other news, WELS reports that estate gifts are only 20% of what they projected.