The recommendation came in the task force’s interim report to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Council (GAC) on April 23.
A vote on the recommendation is scheduled for Friday.
“We have an excellent infrastructure for this ministry already in place through PDA,” said Karl Travis of Fort Worth, Texas, task force vice chair. “The belief of the task force is that incorporation will not guarantee an improvement in this ministry.”
Among key reasons cited by supporters for forming a corporation is the possibility of attracting employer matching gifts and government and other non-governmental organization funding for the work of PDA, the disaster-response and relief arm of the PC(USA). Many employers do not provide matching gifts to church entities.
The incorporation would also give PDA higher visibility, as it would be included on published lists of humanitarian agencies that currently exclude church groups, and a greater possibility of registering as a humanitarian NGO in some foreign countries.
However, Joseph Johnson of Dothan, Ala., task force chair, said hopes for incorporation may not be realized sufficiently to justify the increased effort,
expense, energy reporting requirements, staff and tensions with partner churches that incorporation might entail.
In September the council authorized creation of the eight-member task force to address a list of 19 “vital issues” that the GAC said must be resolved before the final decision is made to go ahead with the incorporation. Both GAC and General Assembly approval are required to create the corporation.
Those issues center around how the corporation will relate to the PC(USA), to its overseas church partners and to ecumenical organizations of which the PC(USA) is a part.
The task force report categorized each of the 19 items as “Items Addressed to Date” and “Items Yet to Be Resolved.” The report also included the primary advantages of incorporation and primary challenges associated with incorporation.
Under items addressed, PDA Inc. would continue receiving One Great Hour of Sharing funds and continue as a vigorous promoter of the annual special offering and the two other PC(USA) ministries it supports.
Upon incorporation the task force would recommend a five-year moratorium on government financial funding to prepare for the reporting and procedures that go with government funding, and a maximum of 15 percent government funding for PDA Inc.
The GAC’s World Mission program area would play a “primary role” in deciding when and how PDA Inc. would register in foreign countries. The task force report said GAC should determine if and how the PC(USA)’s Self-Development of People and others engaged in development work can partner
with PDA Inc. in projects funded by PDA, which is authorized to provide grants.
Questions yet to be resolved regard the continued role of the PDA advisory committee, PDA Inc.’s use of Communications and Funds Development and other GAC support services, costs of meeting the reporting needs of a new corporation, meeting the standards of charitable relief
corporations and liability and risk management issues.
The task force will continue to work through its unanswered questions, should the idea of separate PDA incorporation resurface.
