PLANNED GIVING – COMMUNICATION AND BRAINSTORM

            In continuing our talk on planned giving, I want to elaborate on the topic of communication.

            I’ve spoken about the importance of planned giving, and that makes sense. If someone believes that the church’s work is important enough to support while living, of course they’d want to support it after as well.

            Talk about planned giving

            Prepare a tri-fold

            Maybe even do a workshop to help people understand about different ways to give

            But is that enough? Now, I have to be fair; that’s how I started and how I acted when planned giving was “assigned” to me in a local church.

            But there’s a couple steps that I missed.

            We have to communicate better. A tri-fold is great; but are you ready for some real conversations? We need to talk about why planned giving is important, but we also need to talk about how those gifts will be used.

            If someone were to come up to you in the local church and ask “I have $100,000, or half a million, or a million, or just several thousand that I want to give the church; what are you going to do with it?” How would you answer that question? You HAVE to have an answer. I can almost guarantee that a nonprofit that is asked that question, has an answer, or several answers. So this leads us to the fun part of our conversation. Gather a team together (not a committee). This team should be comprised of a pastor, a lay leader, member of trustees, member of finance, and some other members of the church who LOVE the church and LOVE what God is doing through that church. Brainstorm. If money were no object, what are those things that would help the church?

           

            Some will be capital improvements (new roof, landscaping, new doors or windows)

            Others may be capital changes – new wing on the church, purchase of property

            Others may be programmatic – programs and ministries that you haven’t been able to do because there just is never enough

            Others may be staffing – new staff membership, training of current staff, etc.

            There are so many things you could consider. Don’t worry about whether they are good ideas, or the best ideas, just start brainstorming and writing them down.

            Then take some time and celebrate what you are doing and what you’ve accomplished!

            Then, go through those brainstormed ideas and sort them. Some may be ideas that aren’t every going to be feasible or possible, but don’t throw them out. Put them to the side; things could change.

            Then, with what’s left, sort by what are some real needs and how could monetary gifts help achieve them.

            When you have a good handle on all these ideas, now comes some work:

            Who are a few people (maybe from this team, maybe not) that could be the point people for planned giving and gifts? Who could people talk to if they are interested in making a gift? Have these people who have been chosen practice their responses.

            Communicate some of these ideas. They may motivate people to name the church in their wills, or make some special gifts now.

            Don’t just create and put out a tri-fold and hope for the best. Have someone who has named the church in their will or in a trust, or who has given a special “planned” gift talk about it.

            Talk about it regularly; be available for conversation and questions.

            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.

 

                    PLANNED GIVING – HOW DO YOU HANDLE GIFTS?

 

            In continuing our talk on planned giving, I want to elaborate a couple of topics from last week.

            Investing and managing funds – This is an important conversation to have. There may be someone in the church who is an investment manager who could help you. But I want to make something really clear. There’s a difference between investing assets to reap large amounts of income and being fiscally conservative. The monies that the church has do not belong to any one individually. These are funds that have either (1) been accrued over time by the leadership of the church from funds given and donated to the church; or (2) been given to the church to fund the needs and work of the church or to generate income to be used. As a church, we also have to be careful to not only not invest as we may invest our own monies, but also to protect the monies and to invest in those companies and ideas that support the Scripturally-based requirements.

            Recording and retaining wishes of donors – Donors give to organizations because they believe in what that organization is doing. It’s the same thing when a donor gives to the church. They may give for a particular purpose or project that the church is spearheading, or they may give to the church because they love the church and have supported it financially for many years. The question is: how are the funds given and how/are they restricted?

            Sometimes monies are given in a way that is not a typical check or cash gift. It may be as a beneficiary of a trust or investment. It could be a bequest through a will. It could be giving non-cash items. Each of these need to be accounted for differently. I will spend some time next week talking about this.

            Sometimes monies are given for a particular purpose. This is called (in accounting-language) a donor-restricted gift. If the church accepts a gift from someone who has defined how that gift is to be used, then you should abide by that. If a gift is given and the donor or the will says it must be used for educational purposes, then you need to use it for camperships, or scholarships or other educational reasons. Sometimes gifts are given with the understanding that the principal will not be touched and be allowed to grow so that the income can be used to support the church. These donor-restricted gifts need to be abided by. A non-donor restricted fund would be monies that are given to the church without any guidelines, and the church, through its Church Council or Charge Conference has defined what the monies have to be used for. These kinds of restrictions can be released by the church as well.  There are then unrestricted funds. These are funds that can be used for the church as it determines.

            Determining this information is important, but communicating it is equally important. You want donors and future donors to believe that monies or other items that they give to the church will be used appropriately and no squandered or used inappropriately. There are many ways to communicate this.

            In next week’s blog, I’ll also talk about the best ways to do this.

            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.

 

                   PLANNED GIVING – CAN YOU HANDLE A LARGE GIFT?

 

            Last week I talked about planned giving. This week, I want to talk about why some people aren’t willing to give large gifts to churches: they may believe that their church couldn’t handle a very large gift. Why?

            Sometimes their impression is that the church functions in a way that a person may function when they are living paycheck to paycheck. It may seem to the potential giver that the church is always struggling to pay its bills, and wouldn’t know what to do if they suddenly had a larger amount of money.

            There’s a perception, warranted or not, that there is no one with investment expertise nor is there anything set up to handle large sums of cash. The potential giver sees “regular” members of the church in the meetings and no outside specialists.

            With members of committees changing regularly, and pastor changes, they see priorities of the church changing. The potential giver may be worried that there will be no control or oversight after they’re gone.

            Whether these beliefs are right or wrong, the church needs to face them head on.

            First, acknowledge the issues.

            Put an investment policy in place for large gifts.

            Set up an infrastructure to ensure that donor’s wishes are honored.

            Have the leadership sit down together and answer the question: if someone came up to us tomorrow and say they have a $250,000 gift and ask what we do with it, what’s our answer? Prepare a “wish list” of things that the church could invest in or spend on that would further the work of God in the community.

            Discuss how you would invest and manage the funds.

            How do you record and retain the wishes of the donor.

            Then communicate this information and your plans so prospective donors understand.

            Over the next couple of blogs, I’ll talk about some of these concerns in more detail.

            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.

 

                                              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.

 

                       WHAT ARE OTHER IDEAS FOR A STEWARDSHIP PLAN?

 

            We’ve been discussing having a stewardship plan, which included having an Annual Goal, a Budget a/k/s Spending Plan, Ministry Spotlights, Programs and Events, Outreach opportunities, Targeted Sermon Topics, Testimonials, Creating a Team to Explore Stewardship Opportunities, having a Marketing and Media Team, Incorporating Church Management Tools, Branding, Live Streaming and New Membership Training. Finishing up our discussion, we have:

            Completing Surveys – This can be a difficult one. Some people complain about completing surveys, some don’t complete them, of course, and sometimes we find out information we don’t like. There are outside groups, SurveyMonkey, and other ways to do surveys. The best idea is to keep it simple.

            Investing in Community Partnerships – This is an idea that some churches do very well, and some do not. Look around at other churches, non-profits and even profit companies around you. Are there things they are doing to help people that you could help with? Or are you doing something that they could help with. There’s no need to reinvest the wheel and there are more ideas and experience that you could ever have on your own.

            Utilizing Sermon Series – A series is different from a topic. A series is a multi-part series that spans several weeks. Each week builds on the one before it and can give a good in-depth view of scripture or an idea. One idea that I recently read about is to have a single Scripture and have guest speakers create a sermon on that Scripture. This could happen at an anniversary of the church or a pastor or some other idea. If this is something you haven’t tried before, there are sources that give you ideas for series with Scripture choices, titles, etc. It’s a nice way to “try it out.”

            There are many ways to create a plan to move forward into the future.

            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.

 

        WHAT ELSE DO A NEED FOR A GOOD STEWARDSHIP PLAN?

 

            We’ve been discussing having a stewardship plan, which included having an Annual Goal, a Budget a/k/a Spending Plan, Ministry Spotlights, Programs and Events, Outreach opportunities, Targeted Sermon Topics, Testimonials, Creating a Team to Explore Stewardship Opportunities, and having a Marketing and Media Team. Continuing our discussion, we have:

            Incorporating Church Management Tools – use technology when it will make your life easier, i.e. business models, streamlining processes, tracking information, financial work.

            Branding – or to look at it another way – What is your church’s Why? What is your purpose? Do you have a mission, a vision? If so, do you know what it is? How are your using that to help identify what your church is called by God to be? For businesses, this could be a logo or a color or a slogan. Maybe for a church it’s a little different but identifying your purpose will help you focus your missions and ministries and being able to serve your members and others in your community and in the world.

            Live Streaming – for many of this, this was new, but became a “thing” during COVID. There was a pretty extended period of time where live streaming services, Bible studies, prayer time and conversation was the only way we stayed connected to the church and to each other. While we’re in the “Post-COVID” time, I think live streaming is still very important. There are still people who aren’t able to come to church because of their health, or their family’s health or geography. This may be their only connection to the church. Don’t take it away. For me, it’s also a way to worship with other churches and other pastors! There are multiple ways to do it, and live streaming or zoom or any other platforms can be used to deliver messages, provide extra visibility about upcoming ministries and events and promoting ways to give.

            New Membership Training – this is something that many of us don’t do very well. Some people join a church not knowing what it means to be a member. If someone has transferred from another church, they may have some ideas, but things are different from church to church. Also, if there are formerly non-churched folks joining your church, they may not even know what else is happening or what they can or should do, other than attend worship or maybe a dinner or a book study that they’ve participated in before. How seriously does your church take discipleship? Give guidance to folks. Discipleship and membership should be related but are not the same thing. Training is what to provide that guidance, but also to find out what their gifts and interests are.

            There are many ways to create a plan to move forward into the future.

            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.

 

                        MORE IDEAS FOR A STEWARDSHIP PLAN?

 

            Last week we started our discussion on having a stewardship plan, which included having an Annual Goal, a Budget a/k/s Spending Plan, Ministry Spotlights, Programs and Events and Outreach opportunities. Continuing our discussion, we have:

            Targeted Sermon Topics. These topics are presented as a theme. These could be done monthly, quarterly or for special dates. Theme, targeted topics, could be on a variety of things, including participating, volunteering, tithing. Of course, Scriptures would be part of these topics. Remember, discipleship is not a one-and-done thing; it is a lifetime commitment

            Next are Testimonials, which are statements by individuals or groups about how they’ve benefited from their relationship with the church. They should talk about their belief and commitment to doing God’s work. They can be planned or spontaneous. I think this is important. People respond when they see and hear how others have responded. I know I can speak from personal experience about how moving it is to hear others that I know talk about their relationship with God.

            A stewardship plan isn’t the job of just staff or the pastor. There needs to be a Team to Explore Stewardship Opportunities. There are great minds in your congregation and community, whose insights could help you grow your ministry and give you new and different ideas that you’ve never even thought of! Business people, disciples, lovers of God are all important to be invited to be part of this team.

            Do you have a Marketing and Media Ministry team? The ability to communicate crucial information is important. And some professionals can be helpful in pictures made with a good camera, preparing documents, posting on social media, and other ways. Of course, communicating to everyone who has committed and/or given to a financial campaign, through a quarterly statement is the best way to show progress. There should also be a cover letter or something on the statement itself to communicate key points, including a message from a pastor, giving thanks for the generosity.

 

            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.