Giving

“What’s My Ministry?” Adult Forum for Oct. 1

September 22, 2017 by St. George's 1 Comment

Sunday, Oct. 1, 10 a.m., Sydnor Hall

Stewardship is about giving of time and talent as well as money. This interactive event will give parishioners a chance to share about the ministries they love and inquire about ministries they’d like to know more about.

Imagine sitting around tables in Sydnor Hall with a few other people, talking, networking and sharing. “What’s a ministry that I would like to tell others about?” “What’s a ministry that I would like to know more about?” Then move to a new table group a few minutes later and begin the process again. Over the hour, we will have a chance to interact with lots of different people. If someone is interested in a particular ministry, someone else might say, “hey, you need to talk with…and point them out.” The process will be guided by our stewardship commission. We hope it will be a fun and effective way to share about ministry and discern how to offer your time and talents.

My Time: The Table

September 14, 2017 by St. George's Leave a Comment

The Table opened its market style format in late January 2012. We had a group of volunteers who basically sat at the Food Bank on Mondays, sorting through boxes and the cooler looking for the healthiest foods they could find. The evening session opened in September 2013. We doubled our budget and started purchasing fresh produce from the Flores farm. Along the way, we started gleaning at five Wawa’s, a Jimmy John’s, and two Paneras. In 2016, we served more than 22,000 people and had a budget of $50,000. The Table has approximately 50 volunteers involved every Tuesday – half of whom are shoppers and non-St. Georgians.

Running The Table takes an enormous amount of time – more than one person can handle. Last year, we started to transition to a “board” with designated people running key areas. I think everyone realized just how much work was involved with running The Table when I fractured my elbow this past spring. All of a sudden, people were needed to open The Table in the morning and organize setting up. Leftover produce needed to be distributed to other pantries. Boxes needed to get back to the Food Bank. New volunteers needed to be added. Groups wanting to donate time and food had to be coordinated. Supplies needed to be ordered and purchased. And then there was the recordkeeping so necessary for grant writing. I could still do that one handed.

This week I will put in 30 to 40 hours picking up donations, maintaining records, having meetings with other agencies and food pantries, and physically moving donations around. Why is this work so important to me? Because no one should go hungry. I have seen the horrendous impact that divorce, job loss, medical emergencies, accidents have on people who are already stretched thin. Fast food is cheaper and easier than a healthy salad or vegetables, but it adds to medical issues. Thanks to a dedicated group of grant writers and donors, The Table will continue to prosper and send healthy food out in to neighborhoods that are currently underserved. I plan to be with them!

Planned Giving in Lent: The Wrap-Up

April 6, 2017 by St. George's Leave a Comment

Jeremiah 29:11 –“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

We hope you have a better idea about the subject of planned giving from the previous five weeks and also about ways you can participate in it at St. George’s. You have no doubt realized that “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to planned giving. We have just scratched the surface of some of these topics, particularly with last week’s life income gifts or the donation of long term assets directly to the church.

What matters in the end is how your financial picture can improve at the same time the church benefits. Some churches such as St. Paul’s Episcopal in Richmond have a long history of planned gifts from which they are benefiting.

Our planned gifts history has been spotty: We can do better. Gifts for our trusts and funds are requested only in Lent and Advent. I remember only one charitable annuity. We have at least eight people who have named St. George’s in their wills. The most significant gift was over $500,000, which brought the Endowment Fund to life and is the basis for the gifts it makes yearly for church projects.

Please consider the vast range of possibilities and then come forward and make a gift yourself. We can definitely do better. In any case, the next step is yours, with some examples from this series:

Consider a gift this Easter for the Memorial Trust Fund or Endowment Fund. There are no minimum amounts. Anyone can do this. The donation will live on beyond this Easter or next.
If you don’t have a will, consult an attorney in 2017 and make one. If you have one, have you reviewed it recently for provisions that need changing? Please consider adding a gift to St. George’s in your will.
Do you have any appreciated stock? You may have thought about selling it since it has done well. Consider donating it to St. George’s in the name of the Memorial Trust Fund or Endowment Fund, and let the church sell it for you, giving you a deductible contribution for the value of the appreciated stock on the day of donation and saving you capital gains tax as well.
Similar advice is for other long term assets. Consider making a listing of your long term assets to see how they could be made to work better for you.
Are you needing additional income? Transfer assets to Charitable Annuity or trust. You will still have them but gain a tax deduction on the year of donation, income over a number of years with the residual passed on to St. George’s. Planned Giving for all parties in one stop!
Do you have a charitable IRA and are 70.5 or approaching that age? Do you need the “required minimum distribution” (RMD)? If not, have your IRA holder transfer the RMD to us and avoid the tax impact!

In any case, I would definitely talk to your accountant, financial planner or attorney for additional suggestions on how planned giving can benefit your financial situation as well as the church. If you need names of professionals, please contact me for some suggestions without any endorsements.

I am ending these articles with a question for you – “Were these articles helpful? Are you more likely to make that planned gift? Do you have questions you would like an answer? Let me know: ben.hicks@stgeorgesepiscopal.net.

Building Treasures: Charitable Annuities and Trusts

March 30, 2017 by St. George's Leave a Comment

Planned Giving in Lent – Part 5

Matthew 6:21 –“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Our final destination – charitable annuities and charitable trusts.

These products are sometimes called life income gifts since they grow out of donor’s lifetime income stream and they are managed for you. They are somewhat more complicated because of this. You need a third party to draw up a contracts and to manage the life income gift. The new Diocese of Va. Planned Giving site has that capacity – as well as providing a deeper treatment of life income gifts than what I can do here.

Life income products are typically designed for older parishioners. There may be minimum age requirements and minimum investable amounts. For example, with the charitable annuity at the Episcopal Church Foundation, there is a minimum age of 55 and a minimum contribution of $5,000.

The opportunity to make life income gifts grew out of the 1969 tax reform act, which, for the first time, made a distinction between an asset and its earnings, enabling a person to keep the asset and give away the earnings, or to keep the earnings and give away the asset.

The several forms of life income gifts but they essentially work the same way:

Assets are transferred to an entity such as the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF).
The ECF invests the assets, (or sells them) and produces income, which is paid to the donor and/or spouse, or another person if desired. In many cases, the income is generated monthly.
At death or at the end of the term the remaining funds will go to the church.

The advantage is that you don’t have to sell your income-producing assets to take advantage of life income gifts. If you are younger and feel pressure to save for retirement or you are older at retirement on a fixed income, these products may be of interest. If your assets are “tied up” in an investment, such as a beach home or business, this may work for you. Don’t sell the asset, but transfer it to an entity like the ECF and have them set it up in an annuity or trust.

A Charitable Gift Annuity is a contract between a donor and the ECF through which the Foundation promises to pay a fixed annuity income to a donor for the rest of his or her (or their) life. These amounts are guaranteed. There are both for singles and couples. Generally you give cash and securities to establish the annuity.

There are several benefits for the donor:

Receiving a tax deduction on the year you make the gift based on your age.
Donating the asset but not giving up the assets earning power. The asset is invested and you will received annuity payments over each year, in many cases a monthly or quarterly check. There is also a variant – a deferred gift annuity where you establish the gift annuity today, receive a charitable income tax deduction this year for the gift, but defer the payments until a designated date sometime in the future.
A portion of each annuity payment is tax free— also determined by Treasury tables.
At death, the annuity is completely excludable from the donor’s taxable estate since it goes back to the ECF and then St. George’s.

A Charitable Remainder Trust is similar to the Charitable Gift Annuity; the difference is that your return is not for the rest of your life, but over a specific period, generally a maximum of 20 years. Also your return may be either a fixed percent based on market value on the date trust was created (annuity trust) or a fixed percent based on the value on specific date of the year (unitrust). The latter payout will vary since it is based on the investment performance of the assets.

Note that unlike the charitable annuity there is no guaranteed return. Another difference is a wider variety of assets that can be transferred, including real estate. You transfer your assets into a trustee who is responsible for selling appreciated assets, and investing and reinvesting those assets, together with any income therefrom, and for making distributions to you and/or your designated beneficiary. When the trust terminates the remainder would go to St. George’s.

I am ending these articles with a question for you – Would a life income gift be a planned giving vehicle you would be willing to consider? Why or why not? What attracts you and also what causes you concern? Let me know ben.hicks@stgeorgesepiscopal.net. I will pick the best answer or if there are too many a random one that is complete. The winner gets at $5 Hyperion card to “have one on me.”

Planned Giving Part 4: Giving From Your Assets

March 23, 2017 by St. George's Leave a Comment

This week we are mainly concerned with long term or capital assets – securities, IRA’s real estate and life insurance and donating them to help the church with future needs. In some cases you may be giving assets that don’t provide you with much income during the year so you ultimately may realize more value here with a church donation. In other cases you are donating appreciated assets, and avoiding some or all of the tax consequences.

So what’s in it for you? Let’s look at several types of assets:

Stock – If you sell stocks or mutual funds that have appreciated in value over your original investment, you will be liable for capital gains taxes. Here is a true story from someone name “Sharon” who wanted to offset it:
“Years ago, I inherited stock from my grandmother. We held the stock for several years, but decided to sell a portion of it this year. The stock had gone way up in value, and our CPA informed us that we had a capital gain of nearly $120,000. We had always planned on making a charitable gift and the CPA reminded us that if we were to make a gift of this stock before the end of the calendar year, we would receive a charitable deduction on the gifted shares. This deduction will help offset the capital gain tax on the stock we sold.”

This is called a “gift and sale transaction.” You gift part of the shares to St. George’s and sell the remainder through your broker. Part of the proceeds would come to you as the seller which would be subject to capital gains and the remainder of the stock donated to St. George’s to avoid the gains and acts as the offset.

You can avoid the gains and gain a tax deduction entirely if you donate all of the appreciated stock to St George’s. You received the donated value of the stock on the day of donation which increases your donation if the stock has gained in value over the time you have owned it.

Note that the full fair market value of assets is deductible up to 30% of adjusted gross income in any year. However, the excess can be carried forward 5 more years.

So what if the stock has gone down since you bought it? It would be wiser to sell the stock, claim the capital loss as a tax deduction, and donate the cash.

IRA – Some long term assets become vehicles later in life. The Charitable IRA is one such vehicle. When a person who has a regular IRA reaches age 70 ½, the person must begin making a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from the IRA based upon age and the balance in the IRA on the previous December 31st. The shocker is that the RMD usually generates taxable income. By donating the RMD to the church through the holder of your IRA you can avoid that tax. Please note the donation has to come from the holder of your IRA and not simply a check written by you. Also, you cannot claim the donation twice – as an IRA donation AND a Church donation.
Even if you are not 70 ½, donating an IRA or even a 401K to St. George’s may be an idea to consider. If you leave them to your heirs, they must pay income taxes when they withdraw the funds. Charities, in contrast, do not pay income taxes. Thus, wise planning leaves the tax-heavy assets to charities, such as St. George’s.

Real Estate – If you donate real estate, you can deduct the fair market value of the property and avoid capital gains if you sold it otherwise. The church could sell the property and use the proceeds toward buying new property or toward expanding the existing plant.

Life Insurance – Life insurance is another way to make a sizeable gift to the church and often targeted for younger parishioners. Here you could make a gift from income rather from capital. For example, you can purchase a new policy and make the church the owner and beneficiary of the policy. This enables you to “leverage” your gift, ultimately making a much larger gift than otherwise possible. You would pay the ongoing premiums but they become tax deductible.
You can also make the church the owner and beneficiary of an existing policy. This gift will generate an initial tax deduction: the lesser of the policy’s fair market value or the total of your net premium payments. (You will need the insurance company to help with the calculation!). As with the new policy mentioned above, you make the premiums, but they are tax deductible. You can also make the church a contingent beneficiary of an existing policy, or name the church to receive the proceeds of the policy if the designated beneficiaries predecease the insured.

Cash – It is fully deductible for itemizers (up to 50% gross income). If your donation is greater than that, the excess may be carried forward 5 additional years. Note there are phased out restrictions for high income borrowers.

I am ending these articles with a question for you – “Do you have appreciated stock or real estate that you are considering as long-term gift to St. George’s now or in the future? Provide some details particularly if you want to restrict your gift for one of our existing trusts and funds. Let me know ben.hicks@stgeorgesepiscopal.net. I will pick the best answer of if there are too many a random one that is complete. The winner gets a $5 Hyperion card to “have one on me.”