Planned Giving
Planned gifts provide a wonderful way for parishioners to express their generosity, make a difference by furthering our mission, and provide themselves with valuable tax and income benefits.
We’re excited to share resources we’ve prepared to help you sow the seeds and prepare the soil for bequest and planned giving conversations with your congregation. Planned giving is a ministry of faith in action and should be an integral part of your church’s life. As clergy and lay leaders of your congregation, you can help parishioners respond in a faithful way as Christian stewards. Establishing a planned giving program for your congregation assists them in making sound financial plans that take into account their own needs and those of their family, while honoring their generosity to your church and their life in Christ.
The diocesan planned giving website includes resources that individuals can explore from the privacy of their own home. Planned gift calculators can provide illustrations for gift annuities, annuity trusts, deferred gift annuities, etc. And don’t forget to subscribe to our planned giving e-newsletter! The newsletter provides subscribers timely information throughout the year on a variety of planned giving topics. Also, be sure to stay connected with us on our Stewardship and Development Facebook page where we post regularly about stewardship in our current context.
Webinars
We are incredibly fortunate to have The Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) available as a resource for all of our congregations . Their webinars, along with Planned Giving On Demand, are a great place to begin.
These webinars from the ECF cover the basics and will give you much of the information you’ll need to get started.
- Basics of Planned Giving – includes information for both congregational leadership and parishioners
- Legacy Societies and Your Planned Giving Ministry
- Creating a Legacy Society
- Making the Best Gift for You Now and in the Future
- Fulfilling Your Wishes
ECF Resources
ECF has fantastic brochures for congregations to use. They are available to download for free or you can purchase them through Forward Movement.
- Planned Giving: Stewards of God’s Bounty
- Charitable Gift Annuity: Guarantee an Income for Life
- Charitable Remainder Trust: Help Loved Ones and the Church
- Pooled Income Fund: Give and You Shall Receive
- Writing Your Will: Where There’s a Will There’s A Way
We also recommend this booklet from ECF. It provides general assistance for items that we all need do in order to take care of ourselves and relieve our loved ones of the burden of making decisions for us. It’s well put together so you can work through each part as you need – from preparing a medical directive, arrangements for organ donation, burial instructions, and getting started on a will. It’s especially helpful that the funeral instructions included in this booklet offer suggestions from the Book of Common Prayer, and the hymns and readings suggested are part of our liturgy. It walks you through the Prayer Book service and is a great first step for your planning. If you haven’t had a conversation with your clergy yet, this booklet can help get you started.
Congregational Resources
We’re excited to share resources we’ve prepared in order to help you sow the seeds and prepare the soil for bequest and planned giving conversations within your congregation. Planned giving is a ministry of faith in action and should be an integral part of your church’s life. As clergy and lay leaders of your congregation, you can help parishioners respond in a faithful way as Christian stewards. Establishing a planned giving program for your congregation assists them in making sound financial plans that take into account their own needs and those of their family, while honoring their generosity to your church and their life in Christ.
These resources are for congregations to use to build your own planned giving program. Included are short notes you can insert into bulletins or social media posts. Be sure to tailor these messages to your own context and church culture. Check back regularly for updates!
- Bulletin Inserts: Generosity here and here
- Bulletin Inserts: Wills
- Letter Template: Planned Giving Resources at Our Church
- Planning Forward: In Times of Uncertainty – CARES Act Information
To have a conversation about meeting your church’s current and future needs, contact us.