Part 3 of 9
- Part 1 -- The Place of Endowment Funds in the Local Church
- Part 2 -- How Pastors Can Encourage Planned/Deferred Gifts
- Part 3 -- Encouraging Gifts to a Local Church Endowment Fund
- Part 4 -- Guide to Memorial and Honor Giving in the Local Church
- Part 5 -- Descriptions of the Major Planned Gift Vehicles
- Part 6 -- Planned Giving Resources for Your Use in the Local Church
- Part 7 -- Getting Started on a Local Church Endowment Fund
- Part 8 -- Holding an Estate and Gift Workshop in Your Church
- Part 9 -- A Model for an Estate Planning Seminar in Your Church
This material is excerpted from the "Planned Giving Handbook for Local Churches" published by the National Association of United Methodist Foundations.
Your church's ministry in planned giving and endowment funding can provide an exciting momentum for your church only if the members know about its many opportunities and possibilities. Organizing the Committee is never enough. Only when members and constituents understand the plans and catch the excitement and enthusiasm will planned gifts be made to fund the endowments which will benefit the Church.
Far too often in the local church we establish a committee, work out a plan, tell the congregation about it once, and then sit back and wonder why no one responds. It is critical that the work of the Committee include an on-going effort to help members and constituents understand how planned gifts can be beneficial to them and their church, to encourage (and assist) them in their gift planning, and to keep before them the value and importance of endowment funding in support of the mission and ministry of the Church.
One of the keys to any successful funding program is the communication of a clear vision of the mission and ministry of your church. People want to give, but in today's world it is not enough to simply say "You should give to the Church". People want to know how their gifts will be used to accomplish God's purposes through their church.
It is vital for success in the local church's planned giving and endowment program that members and constituents:
- Understand and support the vision for mission and ministry
- Know about the opportunities for giving
- Understand the creative gift planning options available
- Be given clearly defined and repeated opportunities to participate.
Not all persons are ready to hear your message at the same time. Some will respond the first time you give them an opportunity. Others will take longer to respond. That is why repeated efforts on your part are essential to success. There are times in everyone's life when they are more responsive than at other times. The key to your promotional efforts is to have the information readily available at those key moments. Those key moments might include:
- Marriage
- Birth of a child
- Birth of a grandchild
- Death of a friend or family member
- Divorce
- Planning a long trip
- Reaching one of the "big birthdays" - 40, 50, 60, 65
- Receiving a large inheritance
- Having the last child leave home
- Changing occupations
- Changing place of residence
- Setting the retirement date
- Change in tax laws
- Major illness
- Suggestions by a professional (i.e. CPA, attorney)
- The need to dispose of property
- Selling the family business
- Selling real or personal property
As you can see, no one mailing or event will reach all the people at their key moment of receptiveness. You will need to include repeated ways through the year to inform your members of possibilities to respond. Let's look at some ways we might accomplish this in the local church.
A Promotional Plan for Your Church
The promotional plan you design for your local church needs to include the following elements:
- Education of Leaders
- Promotional Mailings
- News Items
- Special Programs
- Observances
- Acknowledging Donors
Here are the details of the elements of a promotioinal plan you can design for your local church.
Education of Leaders
The beginning point of any program to encourage giving within the church is with the leaders of the church. There may have been success with some church programs which use the strategy of saturating the entire congregation with information and then waiting for their response, but a program such as planned giving and endowment funding must begin with the local church leadership. A "law" which has proven itself many times over will prove itself again with this program --"Where the leaders lead, the congregation will follow". In other words, if the leaders do not support this effort, its success is compromised.
Inform church leaders about possibilities of giving to and funding ministry and mission through the Endowment Program emphasis. Does your church have "educational programs" for members of the Administrative Board /Council? If your church has scheduled two hours for a meeting, the business will probably take up the entire two hours. On the other hand, if a thirty minute "educational opportunity" is built into the agenda, you will probably discover that the balance of the agenda can be completed in the remaining one and one-half hours.
Several times each year, schedule presentations at the Board/Council meetings to present aspects of giving to and through the Endowment Program. Such presentations might include:
- Have the Board brainstorm how an Endowment Program providing $25,000 income annually (approximately $500,000 in assets) could increase their vision of ministry and mission in your community.
- Invite the Executive Director of the Conference/Area United Methodist foundation to visit and discuss with your Board/Council how a planned giving and endowment program can make a difference in your church.
- Invite a local attorney specializing in estate planning to discuss the importance of every adult having a will and how charitable gift planning can be made a part of estate planning.
- Let the chairperson of the Endowment Fund Committee (or another member of the Committee) make a brief presentation and lead a discussion on a particular charitable gift plan (such as the Charitable Gift Annuity and other life income plans, giving real estate, giving securities, etc.).
- Invite a local CPA or tax attorney to talk about tax matters related to charitable giving.
The Committee will want to provide reports no less than annually (and after the endowment program is well on track, perhaps quarterly) to the Administrative Board/Council --- funds received, programs funded, items purchased, and ministries funded through the Endowment Program. Never assume the church leadership knows what is going on in this program. Keep them informed regularly.
Because the local church trustees may be concerned about this type of fund in the church, initiate conversations at least twice a year with them about the progress of the Endowment Program. Invite the Trustees to brainstorm how they could use funds generated from the Endowment Program. (Oftentimes property care and maintenance are popular causes when members consider making planned gifts to support endowments for the local church.)
Promotional Mailings
Mail is one of the most effective ways to keep your congregation aware of estate planning issues and gift planning opportunities. The primary goal of these mailings is not to ask for money for any specific project or ministry, but to inform your members of ways they might give now or later through their estate plans. A goal of three or four mailings per year is preferable, but churches should not let limited funds for this many mailings prevent their starting with at least one.
Let's look at a couple of suggestions for these mailings before we look at what the mailing should include:
- Hand-address all envelopes. Letters that are hand addressed are more likely to be read than those addressed by a machine. A hand-addressed envelope gets the reader's attention. It says "this letter is to you." (Perhaps you are saying, "But we don't have enough time or energy to hand address all of those envelopes." So, let's look at it another way. If you knew that as a result of this mailing your church would receive a gift of $100,000, would you take the "time and energy" to do so? Well, it might well happen.)
- Go to the effort and expense of mailing all of these materials rather than handing them out to those who come to church. Placing them in the Sunday worship bulletin might seem on the surface to be a good way to save money on mailing cost, but it will also result in the materials being left in the pews. Also, those who do not come to church that Sunday would miss their materials if they were handed out rather than mailed; and the fact is that some generous planned gifts are made by members and constituents who do not attend or contribute regularly.
Every mailing should include:
- A cover letter from the pastor, Administrative Board/Council chair, or chairperson of the Endowment Fund Committee. A custom written letter should be written to go with each brochure. (See Chapter 7 - Resources for suggestions for brochures, leaflets, and other materials.)
- An informational brochure. The subject of this brochure might be:
- Your church's endowment program or your memorial/honor fund program
- Wills (one in a series of brochures on wills)
- Gift plans (such as giving securities, giving through life insurance, giving real estate, giving through life income plans, etc.) (Your Conference/Area United Methodist foundation can be helpful in suggesting these brochures and where they might be secured.)
- Always enclose a response device. Mailings, such as described above are designed to prompt one to respond. You can design a response card for each mailing. For example: a mailing on wills might include the following opportunities for response:
News Items
Articles in newsletters are excellent ways to remind members and constituents of gift planning opportunities. The best articles are stories of what has happened because of planned gifts to your church. For example, a brief article in the newsletter might tell about how "a portion of the earnings of the General Endowment Program this year was used to provide Bibles for every third grade Sunday School student in our church on Christian Education Sunday. You should have seen how the children's eyes twinkled with excitement when they received their own personal Bible...."
Short articles and news reports will be read more than lengthy pages of information. Remember -- If no one reads it, it doesn't really matter what the article or news report says.
Announce gifts to the Endowment Program as they are received (unless the donor has requested that his or her name not be announced). Providing a list of those who give and the names of those who are memorialized or honored is all that is necessary. Do not state the amount of the gift. How much someone gives now or through their estate is personal. Unless the family has given permission to share the size of a gift from one's will, that information should be kept within the leadership of the church. Telling the congregation that gifts have been received, however, encourages others to give.
In addition to articles in newsletters, include short "one-liners" in newsletters and bulletins, on bulletin boards and hymnal covers, and any place where someone might notice them. One-liners might include:
- Is your will up-to-date?
- Does your will include care of your minor children?
- Have you included your church in your will?
- Is your will keeping up with you? With your Christian commitments?
- Is the state's will your will or is God's will your will?
- A memorial gift goes on living and giving.
- Do you know how to make a charitable gift, and receive an income for life?
- Do you know you can make the church a beneficiary of a life insurance policy?
Special Programs
Special programs, presentations, workshops, and seminars are the next step in providing information about estate planning and gift planning opportunities. (You might like to include the community in your announcements and invitations.) These events should be designed for those who should be interested as well as for those who have already shown an interest in planned gifts and the Endowment Program. In addition to announcing the special event to the whole congregation (and community), you will want to invite specific persons and groups of persons. Write a letter to those who have responded to any of your mailings, inviting them to your next special program. You might write, "Because of your special interest in this area, you will find this Estate and Gift Planning Workshop helpful in answering further questions you might have on this subject."
When an event is designed with a specific audience in mind and when you send specific invitations (in addition to the general invitation) attendance is usually much better. For example, you might design a workshop specifically for parents and invite them to a workshop on Estate Planning for Parents. You might design a Planning for Retirement Seminar specifically for and invite those age 50 and older, or design an Estate Planning Workshop just for those who are retired. (Of course, in smaller membership churches, this interest and age specialization might not be possible. The focus audience for these events might need to be more general.)
Offer to present programs (and to assist in arranging for special speakers) for organizations and groups within your church, such as: United Methodist Women, United Methodist Men, specific church school classes, or the senior adult fellowship.
Plan each event well in advance of the announced date, allowing six weeks to two months for promotion. Once a date is set, invite the leaders and secure a commitment from them. Your chances of success in scheduling the best leadership will depend upon several factors, not the least of which is the lead time before the event, the level of enthusiasm you communicate, and the evidence of good planning on the part of the Endowment Fund Committee.
There are many options when it comes to appropriate events to lift up the causes of estate planning, gift planning, and endowment funding for the local church.
- Estate and Gift Planning Workshop
- Wills Clinic
- Christian Financial Planning
- Estate Planning Seminar
- Charitable Gift Planning Seminar
Observances
Designate a special time to remember those who have died during the past year and to consecrate those gifts which have been received. The time used by most churches is either Memorial Sunday (in May), All Saints Sunday (in November), or Homecoming Sunday (or the local church's anniversary celebration). Any time you plan such an observance can be appropriate, but NOT planning such an observance is a mistake.
An annual Planned Giving Sunday or Permanent Endowment Program Sunday is also a time to project your vision for the next year. Use this time to share your vision, goals, and plans for special programs throughout the year. Remember, every time you tell what has been done and what you plan to do, you are planting a seed in people's hearts and minds.
Acknowledging Donors
The first thing we do when we see a list of donors is find our own name on the list (if we have given), or, if it is a list of memorials, we look for the name of our friend or family member who has been remembered. Recognition and appreciation go a long way in encouraging giving to and through the church for the ministry of Jesus Christ in the world. People need to know their giving makes a difference and is appreciated. People will oftentimes "say" they do not expect any recognition for what they have done, but not to give the proper recognition is a mistake. The church sometimes does a poor job of saying "thank you". We often treat members and others who give as if they are just doing what they are supposed to do, and we therefore excuse ourselves as leaders of the church for not saying "thank you".
The best way to encourage repeat giving is to send a note of appreciation for every contribution. Establish a policy for your Permanent Endowment Fund Committee to send a short (preferably hand written) note of receipt and appreciation within a week of every gift. (In the case of regular contributions to the operating budget of the church, quarterly statements provide an acknowledgment of contributions, but in the case of planned gifts to the Permanent Endowment Program each contribution should be acknowledged individually.)
In a regular and timely manner, send a list of all those who have contributed memorial gifts to the family or next-of-kin. Give a list of those who have contributed, but never the amounts. You may also want to keep the family posted about the total which has been received.
Unless anonymity is requested, the names of all donors should be honored and perpetuated in a Book of Remembrance. This Book of Remembrance should be kept in a public setting. This Book will not only recognize donors and lift up a memorial thought for the person remembered, it will also serve as a reminder to those who might consider making such a gift themselves.
List all memorial gifts in the church newsletter and worship bulletins. Never list the amount of gifts unless they are of exceptional size and you have been given permission by the donor to do so.
MODEL FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH
PROMOTION OF PLANNED GIVING
The following model offers suggestions for promoting estate planning, planned giving, and endowment funding in a local congregation.
"A Three-Year Plan For Promoting
Your Church's Planned Giving Emphasis"
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