Planned Giving Pop Quiz
Situation: You’re wrapping up your FY 14 Budget
meeting with your Parish Finance Committee
and someone walks in and hands you a check
from Mary Smith made out to the parish for
$530,000
Would you and your Finance Committee be able to
find a way to spend this money this coming
year?
Yes _____
No ______
Here’s another Question?
If ‘Mary Smith’ or ‘Jane Doe’ each gave gifts from
their estates to their Church of nearly or more
than a half million dollars without being formally
asked to do so? How much could you add to
your annual Stewardship program if you actually
started asking your loyal parishioners for gifts
from their estates????
Why is Planned Giving Important?
• It’s part of a Disciples Response to Stewardship
as a Way of Life
• ‘An educational program designed to promote
planned giving can be a tool to help parishioners
seeking to deepen their stewardship
commitment to the Church.
USCCB Pastoral Letter on Stewardship-A
Disciples Response
Purpose of a Planned Giving Program
To provide structure and protection of the donor
intent for gifts made in gratitude and trust of the
long-term effectiveness of your parish ministries.
“Helping people complete their stewardship by
making faithful decisions about the accumulation
that God has allowed them to keep”
Creating a Positive Climate for Giving
Don Joiner
Benefits of a Planned Giving Program
Making a Planned Gift to the Church can help your
parishoners:
-Continue to support the ministries of the parish
that mean the most to them..for future
generations
-Reduce or Avoid Capital Gains taxes
-Protect and potentially increase the size of their
estate for their heirs
-Increase their existing income (e.g. CGA)
You don’t have to be ‘wealthy’ to do this!
“My estate will never be large enough to be able
to build libraries, but it may be large enough to
buy some books for a library”
-Minnesota Schoolteacher
What are the ‘Steps’
It all begins with LEADERSHIP- A commitment to
Success in your Stewardship Program
-Your pastor fully supports a Planned Giving
program in the parish
-Speaks to the importance of planned giving
as part of a stewardship commitment to Church
-Leads by his example
-Helps recruit lay leaders for the program
-Speaks at Heritage Society events
What are the ‘Steps’
Step 1: Establish a Parish/School Endowment
Fund with the Catholic Community Foundation
Step 2: Get started with a “Will Survey” or a
“Search Letter/Flyer” to identify members who
have already left your parish an estate gift
Step 3: Recruit a person to ‘Champion’ your
Planned Giving/Endowment Program who would
also serve on your Stewardship Committee
What are the ‘Steps’
Step 4: Recruit a Planned Giving/Endowment
Committee as a subcommittee of Stewardship
Step 5: Set goals for Parish Planned Giving
Endowment efforts as part of your strategic plan
(what could we accomplish with a $2.0 million
endowment that returned $100,000 a year!)
Step 6: Develop a 3-5 year action plan to educate
and engage parishioners in supporting
Endowment Funds and joining Heritage Society
What are the ‘Steps’
Step 7: Establish a “Heritage or Legacy” Society to
formally honor those who have named Church in
their estate plan or left gift to Endowment
Step 8: Add a link to the Catholic Community
Foundation’s planned giving web content on
your parish’s website: http://www.ccfmn.org/Tools_For_Parishes
Step 9: Develop ways to track and record
parishioners intent to leave the Church a gift
from their state
What are the ‘Steps’
Step 10: Conduct an annual special event (e.g.
Endowment Sunday) to recognize the Parish
‘Heritage Society’ members and welcome new
members each year
How do I get started?
The chapter on Planned Giving in the Stewardship Toolkit
can help you with the Basics:
-A sample Will Survey Letter for your Pastor to send out to
parish
-A sample ‘Search Flyer’ to survey parishioners who have
made planned gifts and inviting them to an initial
‘Heritage Society’ event
-Some steps for building a marketing/education program
-A sample ‘Letter of Intent’ to document future estate gifts
from parishioners
Where can I get other good ideas?
Look to others who have demonstrated ‘best
practices’ in this area of Stewardship
-St. Odilia Shoreview
-Basilica of St. Mary’s Minneapolis
-St Therese Deephaven
-St. John the Baptist New Brighton
-Our Lady of Grace Edina
-St. Peter’s Richfield
Suggested Resources for Endowment and
Planned Giving in Churches
Creative Giving-Understanding Planned Giving
and Endowments in Church
Michael Reeves, Rob Fairly, Sanford Coon
(Discipleship Resources 2005)
Creating a Climate for Giving
Don Joiner
(Discipleship Resources 2001)