PLANNED GIVING

 

            Many churches don’t talk about planned giving, and this can hurt the church and its future, as well as the spiritual needs of its people.

            Planned giving is defined as the giving that is out-of-the-ordinary, or end-of-life giving or bequests, etc. If your folks believe that the ministry of your church is important enough to support when they are alive, wouldn’t they want to find a way to support the church after they’re gone?

            There are multiple ways to “do” planned giving:

            Making a living gift – this is a gift made by someone while they are still alive. It’s a way to give appreciated assts without paying taxes on the appreciated value, make a deductible gift, easily direct a gift during life, reduce taxable estates and estate taxes

            Charitable Gift annuity - this is a way to make a donation that will provide income to the giver for life and donating part to the church

            Making a bequest – this can be done through a will or a trust, giving a specific dollar amount or a percentage

In addition to different ways to make a planned gift, there are also different things you can give:

            Stocks and bonds

            Real estate

            Collectibles

            Life insurance

            Annuities

            Bequest through will

            Bequest through trust

            While I believe that planned giving is an important concept that the church should talk about and talk to their people about, there are some problems that can arise if the church isn’t properly prepared for planned giving. That is why members should be educated, we need to communicate ways the church would use and manage donations and we need to build a strategy for long-term investment.

            Over the next couple of blogs, I’ll talks about different ways to prepare for planned giving.

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.