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Bishop names new diocesan staff member

Charlene DeWitt has been named the new director of stewardship and development for the Diocese of Kansas.

Bishop Dean Wolfe has announced the hiring of Charlene DeWitt as the new diocesan director of stewardship and development, effective June 1. This
full-time position will be based in the diocesan office in Topeka.

She will be responsible for assisting parishes and clergy with stewardship programs, and she also will work to create ways for people to make contributions to the diocese and to parishes for immediate, as well as long-term, needs.

In announcing DeWitt’s hiring, Bishop Wolfe said, “I am delighted the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas has been able to find someone of Char’s caliber to oversee this most important ministry. Achieving our mission objectives is imperative, and in order to achieve them, our people need to be given more opportunities to increase personal giving and to practice good stewardship. Char’s background and experience will serve the church well in this important ministry.”

In commenting on her hiring, DeWitt said, “I am so pleased to have been called to this position with the Diocese of Kansas. I want to help raise money for diocesan ministry, I want to help congregations get their vision translated into tangible planned giving programs, I want to help begin a dialogue about money, and I want to meet every clergy person, vestry member and lay leader across the diocese. I am certain we can become a model of development throughout this province, region and country.”

DeWitt, 44, will be moving from Hastings, Neb., where she most recently has been a regional manager for the Episcopal Church Foundation. In that capacity she worked in the field of planned giving with 20 dioceses in Provinces 6 and 7, a wide swath of dioceses through the country’s midsection stretching from the Canadian to Mexican borders. She also has 12 years of experience as a financial planning adviser and has helped direct a successful nonprofit teen program.

She became involved in stewardship planning in her home parish when she realized no program existed to help parishioners make provisions in their wills for gifts to the church. She helped start a parish-wide planned giving committee to fill that need.

DeWitt holds a bachelor’s in political science and economics from the University of Hastings and has done graduate work in public administration at the University of Nebraska.

Funding for this position will come from diocesan investment proceeds. In the past this interest income has been used to fund general diocesan budget needs, but last year the diocesan convention approved a budget that earmarked these funds for this new full-time position.

DeWitt’s husband, Bob, will join her in Topeka after their home in Hastings sells. The couple has three children and two grandsons. DeWitt follows the work begun by former diocesan planned giving officers Frank Connizzo and the Rev. Frank Cohoon, each of whom served part-time.