Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation

Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation

The Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation was chartered in 1943 as the financial arm of the Oklahoma Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. President Billy Meade oversees an operation that blends institutional asset management with congregational gift planning, supported by Executive Vice President David Battles, who leads the foundation's estate and trust advisory work. The firm's headquarters sits at 4201 N Classen Blvd in Oklahoma City. The foundation pools capital across three proprietary vehicles: a Diversified Fund, an Endowment Investment pool, and a Fixed Income fund. Recent one-year returns reached 14.5% for the equity-heavy pools, while the fixed-income sleeve returned 8.4%, per the firm's own published data. Beyond liquid portfolios, the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation holds a portfolio of subsurface mineral interests — including properties in Canadian and Marshall counties — and directs capital into Wespath pooled investment funds. Confirmed endowment relationships include the roughly $96M mandate for Oklahoma City University. The firm's staff carries over 50 years of collective experience in estate and trust planning, running seminars for Oklahoma Methodists on wills and planned giving. The foundation sponsors the American Council on Gift Annuities, and its subsidiary relationship with Oklahoma United Methodist Circle of Care, Inc. channels capital toward ministries for single mothers and orphans. In 2024 the foundation continued expanding its planned-giving seminar program across the state. The Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation's structural moat is its dual role as both endowment manager and denomination-wide gift-planning engine. Most faith-based foundations separate investment management from donor cultivation; here, the two functions sit under one roof, allowing the foundation to convert estate gifts into pooled-fund assets without third-party friction.