Charitable Gift Annuity
There are all kinds of ways to give to your church. We all give weekly or monthly to pay for salaries, lighting and heat, etc. Planned Giving is what we do in addition to tithe and offerings. There are three kinds of Planned Giving:
- The first is to give the church an outright gift of appreciated assets.
- The second is to gifts that return benefits to the donor in return for making the contribution.
- The third are gifts payable upon the death of the donor.
Additionally, there are four types of Charitable Life Income: Remainder Trust, Remainder Annuity, Gift Annuity and Lead Trust. Today, I’d like to describe the Charitable Gift Annuity, and in other newsletters, we’ll describe the other Trusts and Annuities.
With a Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA), a donor gives a gift, designating a church or group as a future beneficiary. This money is invested through the Foundation, and the donor (annuitant) receives a stream of income. Upon the death of the annuitant, any remaining net proceeds are given to the church or organization.
An example of a CGA is the Raymond Wrenn Camp Overlook Endowment Fund. Rev. Wrenn started this fund in the year 2000. He challenged Camp Overlook to begin an Endowment Fund, and agreed to match the endowment with his CGA contributions.
Camp Overlook is a beautiful camp in the Shenandoah Valley, close to Harrisonburg, VA, which has been in existence for over fifty years. It has provided a place for summer camps for children and youth and a meeting place for Emmaus and many, many retreats. The camp sits on more than 160 acres and has a stream running through it and a pond for swimming. It backs up to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
We are pleased to work with individuals who might like to make a living legacy and start a Charitable Gift Annuity. We all need to make our legacy while we are living and not leave this up to our children or loved ones. This annuity will provide you an income and will also give you a tax deduction.
At the Virginia United Methodist Foundation, we are grateful to serve and assist people like Rev. Raymond Wrenn in setting up an annuity. The good these annuities do will outlive us and encourage others to live a life for Christ. If I can be of help in talking to you or your church, please give me a call at 804-521-1157.
Written by: Tommy Herndon