This high-interest savings account helps build churches

Read time: 3 1/2 minutes

Picture this:

You’re sitting in church, and the pastor is up front raising money for a new church plant on the west side of the city.

On the screen is a map showing churches in the area, with a giant hole right where this church will be planted. 

“Be a part of God’s work in our city”, he calls out. “Invest in the kingdom of God!”

You feel moved by the chance to help bring the gospel forward, so you take out your phone and make a donation right on the spot.

You know you’ll never see that money again, but you feel excited about the vision for how it will be used.

Next Sunday you show up to church ready to worship.

As you walk through the doors, the pastor grabs you by the arm and hands you a check.

“What’s this?”

“Your first dividends from the church plant.”

You look at it. It’s for $73.62.

“I don’t understand…”

“I said invest in the kingdom of God, didn’t I? Well where I come from, an investment pays you a return. Get ready. You’ll be getting these every month.”

Confused, you thank him for the check, take your seat, and decide you might report him to the elder board later.

Investment returns from a church?

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What do you think?

Sound far-fetched?

Incredibly, through the work of one non-profit here in the US, it’s not.

They’ve created a way to invest your money in church building and get real, financial returns.

Check them out…

Wesleyan Investment Foundation

https://www.wifonline.com/

First a disclaimer - this isn’t technically a savings account. Wesleyan Investment Foundation is technically not a bank.

That said, it basically functions like one and is totally freaking ridiculously awesome.

Here’s how it works.

The Wesleyan Investment Foundation is a nonprofit that loans money to churches to pay for new buildings and renovations.

They get that money from investors like you and me.

I can deposit money with WIF to fund those loans (as little as $25), and in return they’ll pay me a fixed interest rate every day I have money deposited with them.

Sounds like a bank so far, doesn’t it?

That interest rate is adjusted every 6 months, and from what I’ve seen, it usually beats the socks off of most savings accounts

You can see the current interest rates below, paying up to 5% on balances above $35,000.

As of the writing of this article, I can only find 3 high yield savings accounts with a better interest rate than that. Most don’t even come close.

This makes it a great place to park long-term savings like a “Chick-fil-a mayhem day” fund that might sit there for a few years but eventually I’ll need to access in a hurry.

Don’t ask me what that account is for. You save for your own goals, I’ll save for mine.

Just like a savings account, I can add or withdraw money at any time. My money isn’t locked down by any one loan.

And while I’m saving my money, it gets to be used by local churches to help build the kingdom of God.

Come on! How cool is that?!?

Now, since this ISN’T a bank, your money is not FDIC insured.

If WIF went under, the government isn’t going to bail you out and give you your money back like they do with traditional bank accounts.

That being said, here’s why I personally feel really confident in them:

1. They’ve been around for 78 years.

2. They’ve never foreclosed on a single church. EVER.

3. They have never missed an interest payment and never withheld money from any investor.

4. They have over 1400 loans and $2.2 billion under management. So if one church has struggles paying them back, it doesn’t tear the whole thing down.

5. Their current cash reserves are about 20% of their total assets. So they aren’t at risk of running out of money.

6. If they had to foreclose, most of their loans are a first mortgage backed with buildings or land as collateral. And lots of them are guaranteed by a denomination or district conference as well.

7. They have no shareholders demanding they maximize their own profits or take risky loans to juice their returns. While a traditional bank’s main goal is to make money, their main goal is to see the kingdom of God advance.

So, what am I doing?

Please remember that this is not a bank account and you have to be comfortable taking on that risk if you decide to deposit your money with them.

Just because some cool James-Bond-like internet-writer tells you it’s a good company, you shouldn’t listen.

Do your own research.

That being said…

I plan on transferring over a portion of my savings to WIF as an experiment to see how it goes.

If I’m happy with how it works, I’ll make a much more significant transfer in a few months.

I’ll probably report back in future articles on how the experiment is going.  Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the update when it comes.

Until then…

Keep growing,

P.S. If you know of any other faith-based investment vehicles, please send them my way!

They are one of my very favorite ways to invest and I love discovering new ones.

What do you think of WIF? Are you planning on investing any money with them? Do you have any concerns I didn’t cover?  Let me know!

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