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Greetings Church Family,
We are writing to affirm our work and commitment as a church, give thanks to those saints who have come before us and nurtured our ministries to where they are today, and share with you a current need. We are a church family that worships, offers mutual support, and loves God and our neighbors. Our building is our spiritual home, a place to gather, worship, study, rest, and feel God’s presence. We are fortunate to have a place built solid and strong almost 70 years ago by the willing hands, hard work, and generous hearts of our forebears.
We have been entrusted with keys of promise. Today is our time and turn to caretake this building’s legacy for the good of our church and community. Every building, like every one of us, passes through stages of life. This building is strong and vital, but it is aging and displays conditions that require us, as good stewards, to be attentive and proactive.
Prior to the pandemic, a focused effort addressed necessary improvements to the First Church boiler and HVAC system that services over half the building. We knew at the time there was more to do, but then the whirlwind of Covid landed to disrupt our lives and scatter our plans. For over a year now, First Church leadership has been reassessing our needs and plans to move forward as intended.
The final phase of the HVAC modernization involves our Education and Administration wing of classrooms, offices, and nursery. There are good reasons for the recommended update. Our HVAC unit is old and failing. The related electrical system is outdated and cannot support upgraded units. And our single pane windows are highly inefficient. We plan to replace the existing central system with a series of mini split heating and air units. This way, by heating or air conditioning individual rooms we will be spared the greater expense of cooling and heating the entire wing. The cost of this project, including the mini splits, updated electrical, new windows, as well as rebuilding the overhang above the accessibility ramp, which currently holds the large condenser unit for the central system, will be in the range of $400,000.
We are also monitoring our elevator. Currently, it is in working order, but parts for it are scarce at best. At some point, a full motor replacement and system modernization will be required. That project is estimated at $75,000. We are in a holding pattern, but, for transparency’s sake, we know repairs or replacement lie somewhere in the near horizon.
To do church well, we need both buildings and programs. Our annual budget covers most of our program costs, utilities, and some ongoing maintenance needs, but as with most older buildings, we have ongoing capital needs. We do have some money in reserve for Trustee projects, and some invested in endowments for additional needs. However, these funds alone will not cover the whole of what is projected. We hope not to use all of our reserves, but to maintain some funds for future needs.
We are asking all those who are part of our church and ministries to prayerfully consider what they might give, outside of their budgeted pledge, to this campaign.
May we reason together and lend ourselves to the work before us.
We invite you to fill out the enclosed pledge form and return it to the office or Sunday morning offering basket. You can also fill out an electronic form online here.
In Faith,
John Lunt, Stewardship Chair
Bill Dearing, Finance Chair
Steve Fisher, Trustee Chair
Larry Kimmel, Church Council Chair
Rev. Debbie Sperry, Pastor
Charitable Giving Options
Charitable Giving Options
As we work to raise the funds for our necessary capital improvements at FUMC, we want to encourage the breadth of giving possibilities that apply to the financial diversity of our congregation. While cash or check in an offering plate is the most traditional way to donate to the church, there are a variety of additional options. ACH or bank transfer is another common means that takes advantage of online banking, whereby a giver identifies the church as a recipient within the bank app’s “bill pay” and a donor can set up a recurring gift or a one-time gift at no cost to the donor or the church. We also have our online giving portal through Vanco which is licensed and secured for online donations using your bank or credit card at a minimal fee to the church. Additionally, we work with various brokerages, including the Faith Foundation of the Pacific Northwest, which serves our Annual Conference in the UMC and can facilitate stock transfers at no cost to the donor or the ministry, as well as other means of charitable giving.
If you would like to explore any of our alternative options, please feel free to contact the church and we’ll have a trusted member of our team call you. For more information about the broad giving categories, we offer you the following from John Lunt, former stockbroker, and current stewardship chair at FUMC.
A Primer on Charitable Giving*
A Primer on Charitable Giving*
*Note: Herein, where charity is mentioned, the author is most often thinking “FUMC”
It has come to mind that charitable entities are wonderfully equipped to recognize and solicit funds to satisfy particular needs, but not quite so well equipped to assist potential givers with modes of giving that equip them with tools that work for them. With that in mind, this paper is an attempt to help a few individuals consider types of gift planning they may not have considered that can better benefit both themselves and the charities of their choice. Vehicles for giving are listed in general order of complexity and in the frequency of their use.
- Cash
Monetary donations are the most straightforward way to contribute to a charity or nonprofit. Typically, the value of your taxable deduction equals the amount of your gift after subtracting the value of any goods and services you might get in return. Rather than giving actual cash you may consider making a donation by check or credit card. Recurring donations may be facilitated by using these modes. They can seem easier to enable balancing a budget and may make documenting your donations simpler for tax purposes. The charity may also benefit from a stable recurring source of revenue. Charities will provide proof of gifts to facilitate reporting for tax purposes but with recent changes in tax laws some may have sufficient deductions to benefit (see item 3).
2. Stocks and Securities
2. Stocks and Securities
Many people don’t have cash easily available to make a donation as they might wish but have a store of wealth in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other securities. Often donors choose to liquidate a portion of these in order to transfer cash to the charity, which is generally a bad idea for the following reason. The security to be gifted is typically one that has appreciated in value; however, that subjects the donor to capital gains tax on the assets' appreciated value. A much more satisfactory solution would be the transfer of the asset “in-kind” (simply having the holder of the grantor’s security transfer it to the charity and let the charity’s agent liquidate per their request.
Note: FUMC has an arrangement with Faith Foundation Northwest that minimizes the cost to a small $5 transaction fee, no matter the size of the liquidation. Further the charity, as a nonprofit, would have no tax on the capital gains. (Everybody wins! – save the IRS.)
Another possibility is that the account from which the security is transferred is a tax-deferred account (e.g. A traditional IRA). The IRS allows for you to make a direct gift to a charity from your Required Minimum Distribution. This can be done simply by directing your tax-deferred retirement plan administrator to send all or part of your RMD directly to the church.
3. Donor Advised Funds
3. Donor Advised Funds
Individuals with charitable intent and a desire to save on the cost of taxes by giving sufficient funds in a particular year to exceed the IRS-provided deduction, can establish or add to an irrevocable giving account with a sponsoring organization. Accounts may be funded with cash, securities, or even non-publicly traded assets such as private business interests, cryptocurrency, or even private company stock. The giver is then eligible for an immediate tax deduction and is allowed to make annual recommendations as to how money is to be allocated from the fund for charitable purposes. Once a gift is made, the sponsoring organization has legal control over it, hence, it is a donor-advised fund and not a donor “directed” fund. However, the donor retains advisory privileges with respect to the distribution of funds and the investment of assets in the account. By lumping gifts in a particular year and still maintaining a planned annual “gift rate” the maximum benefit to the individual and charity/charities may be obtained. You can also arrange for funds to continue paying out after your death.
4. Planned Giving and Charitable Trusts
4. Planned Giving and Charitable Trusts
Planned giving offers the opportunity to arrange for a charitable donation that will be paid in the future. There are several options for planned giving. One of the simplest is to include a bequest to a charitable organization in your will. Another option is to designate a charitable organization as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy, your retirement plan or a commercial annuity. There are other vehicles for planned giving including a life estate reserved, charitable gift annuity, and bargain sales. Please see the attached brochure from Faith Foundation Northwest for more details. You can also plan a gift by making a charitable trust a part of your estate plan.
There are two basic types of charitable trusts. A charitable remainder trust is an irrevocable trust that provides for an income beneficiary (yourself, spouse, child or anyone else) with a fixed dollar amount (charitable remainder annuity trust or CRAT) or a fixed percentage of the trust assets each year (charitable unitrust or CRUT). In a charitable remainder trust, you can determine how long the income beneficiary can receive income from the trust. Upon conclusion of that period, the charity receives the balance of the trust. The other basic trust is an irrevocable trust called a charitable lead trust. In this, the charity receives income from the trust first for a set period of time. Upon completion of that period, the trust property goes back to you or someone else you named to receive it. The process is the reverse of the charitable remainder trust.
Individuals interested in pursuing any of the modes of giving listed or pursuing alternative modes may wish to engage in further discussion. The subject is not uncomplicated and additional information may reduce time and potential errors.
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