First, on the far left side of the paper, list all the communications media of the church. You might think of "communications media" defined as: "any way that a message is sent from one person or group in the church to another person or group." List everything.

Then, across the top of the first page, lay out the four quarters of each of five years.

Media

Qtr1

Qtr2

Qtr3

Qtr4

Yr2Q1

Yr2Q2

Yr2Q3

Yr2Q4

Yr3Q1

Yr3Q2

Yr3Q3

Yr3Q4

telephone

fax

modem

newsletter

bulletin

displays in narthex and education areas

worship services

mailings

estate planning seminars

Just keep thinking away at this till you get about two pages worth of communications media.

You'll then have about 20 vertical lines down the page, and, if you, for example, have 60 ways a message can be sent to people or groups, then you'll have 120 boxes, or "occasions" in which to get your endowment fund message across to people.

Next, you just fill in enough of the spaces so that each quarter of each of five years you have a recognizable, coherent series of ways to make people aware of what you want them to do. You will want to note a person who will be responsible for each of the events or actions you schedule.

This kind of marketing plan is simple, but not always easy. So it can help to have several persons were involved in the initial brainstorming of media selection and filling in the events and actions of the marketing grid. Then one person can pull the data together and present to the group a finished grid for their further editing.

Remember that marketing planned giving concepts and strategies shouldn't have a high profile and you shouldn't be "in anybody's face" so to speak. You want a consistent, persistent series of communications of the basic message that "We want you, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, to give to our church's endowment fund, and there are a lot of ways you can do this. Won't you help us by getting started on that now?" It's an easy system to put into place, and it doesn't burn anybody out and doesn't have to get very confrontive. Just remember the two magic words: consistent and persistent.

"Must-Dos" for Endowment Fund Raising

• First on that list is going to be that in every Sunday bulletin, on the back at the bottom you're going to have the phrase "Please remember the [Yourchurch] United Methodist Church in your Will or Estate Plan."

• Second, make sure that in every newsletter that goes out your have something about your endowment. It doesn't have to be the same thing all the time. One month you might celebrate new gifts to the endowment. Another month you might feature the endowment fund's earnings and performance report.

  Another time you might have an article about wills, or about the use of insurance or gift annuities. But make sure that every issue of your newsletter carries something about the endowment.

• Third, at least once each year, send to every church member over age 30 a piece of mail that challenges them to think about giving to your church's endowment fund through their will, or through a trust, annuity or what-have-you. The most common type of planned gift is the bequest. So you'll want to do a wills mailing every other year. But in the years in between the wills mailings, you can emphasize a variety of other planned gifts.

• Finally, you'll want to try to put together an Estate Planning Seminar about every three to four years. This is a time when you get some of your local professionals to share their expertise and some good, generic estate planning knowledge with your congregation's members.

  We had an article about putting together an estate planning seminar in the November, 1996 UM Foundation's newsletter. So if you don't still have that around, call Jeanne Pitt at the Conference office and she'll send you that back issue. 810-559-7000 Ext 35.

1. One of the real advantages our church’s Endowment Fund provides is that through your gifts to this fund you get to have a hand in the mission work of this church for many generations to come. When you leave something to the Endowment Fund in your trust or will, your gift will never be used up, but will provide money to fund key and innovative programs of service throughout coming generations. Your gift, then can live on beyond you, and your generosity of spirit and self-giving attitude will be remembered by all who benefit from your gifts. So leave something to our church’s Endowment Fund when you depart this earth. The blessing will be ours and yours! Think about it. It makes a difference.

2. Remember Jesus’ parable of the ten maidens? Five of them took extra oil in case the bridegroom was late; and he was. So those five got to go into the marriage feast while the other five were out buying more oil from the vendors. You can help your church be prepared for the coming of its "bridegroom," who will undoubtedly come in the form of new and various points of mission work in the coming years. You can make a difference between the church being caught off guard and the church being ready to undertake new needs in the changing community that surrounds and supports it. Your gift by will or trust to our church’s Endowment Fund can make this critical difference. Think about it. It makes a difference.

3. Want to make a good investment? Follow the fellows with the five talents and the two talents in Jesus’ parable. They went out and increased the property with which they had been entrusted, so that when the master return they were blessed and rewarded. Your gift, by will or trust, to our church’s endowment is just such an investment. It goes on through the years; it is never used up; it continues to produce year in and year out. In a couple of generations your gift will have produced not just double, but many times its initial value. And think how many people will be served! Think about it. It makes a difference.

4. (All Saints Day) The real saints of the church are those that moved the church from where it was when they were alive to where it needed to go. Their extraordinary insight, faith and vision prepared the way; their faithfulness in duty and self-giving remains a constant example to us all. You can be one of this church’s saints! Yes, that’s really true. Not that we’ll "canonize" you when you’re gone, but we will remember and celebrate your gift to the church’s Endowment Fund. Whether by will or trust, gift annuity or insurance policy, or some other means, your gift will go a lot of good in our future. And, like the saints of old, you will have helped, by dint of your vision and faithfulness, to move us from where we are today to where we need to be tomorrow. Think about it. It makes a difference.

5. (Thanksgiving) As you give thanks this year for all that God has provided for you in your life, stop and think how much you also mean to this church community. Without your volunteering, without your financial support, without your leadership and wisdom, this community would be so much the poorer. It would also be a generous and supportive gesture for you to leave something from your estate to our church’s Endowment Fund. People of future generations, though they may not have had the privilege of knowing you as we have known you, will nevertheless feel blessed by and appreciative of the generous person you are as they use the money generated from your endowment gift to further the cause of Christ in the world they live in. As you are thankful today, they will be thankful to you in their turn. Think about it. It makes a difference.

6. (Christmas) God sent his only Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved. How did he do that? One person at a time. You. Me. The person next to you in the pew. The person down the street, next door, around the world. One person at a time we are saved for sharing God’s marvelous love with the people around us. We can share in all kinds of ways: by word of mouth, by the printed or broadcast word; we can share by good deeds. The church shares in even larger ways, through programs of service and mission, sending around the world the message that God loves us and knows what it’s like to be human. Would you like to have a hand in seeing that future generations of church members have the wherewithal to carry on this love sharing work? A gift to this church’s Endowment Fund can help ensure that word is spread from your church for generations to come. Think about it. It makes a difference.

7. (Christmas Brochure Copy)
   Endowment is the way we anticipate the coming of Christ financially. It is our testimony to the fact that God will be Lord of the future, as God has been Lord of the past and present.

   One of the nicest things you can do, in anticipation of Christ’s birth among us, is to make a gift to the Endowment Fund of the Sebring Church of the Brethren. When you do that, you help the whole church prepare for the Christ of the future, Jesus’ coming among us asking future church members to "go into all the world, preaching, teaching and baptizing…"

   You can be assured that your gift will never be "used up." But what it produces will be used year after year, on into the future, as long as the church lives to preach and teach and baptize.

   WHAT THE ENDOWMENT DOES

   • It prepares our church building for the future by assisting it with its capital needs.

   • It prepares our church programmatically for the future by being used to form and fund new ministries as times change and new needs arise in the community.

   • It helps protect against hard times and disasters by being used to to meet the financial needs at such times.

   • It increases our church’s financial standing and credit-worthiness so that future expansions can be made in response to expanding community ministries.

   HOW YOU CAN GIVE
   • Cash or a check is always a welcome gift, for which there is a 100% charitable income tax deduction

   • Appreciated stock can be given and you will not need to pay any capital gain tax on the appreciation. You also can deduct the fair market value of the stock.

   • Retirement Funds can be given when no longer needed.

   • Insurance policies that are still in force but that you no longer need

   • Make a gift from your estate through your will or trust arrangement