Has First Presbyterian Church of Concord been a special place in your life? Were you married here? Were your children baptized here? Was there a moment when words from the pulpit, an anthem from the choir, or a call from a minister helped you find light during a dark time?
At some point during our life’s journey, each of us will begin the process to formalize our desires to give back our God-given gifts to others. As we plan our gifts through the creation of a will or trust, our decision to include a gift to our church becomes a tangible affirmation of our faith.
What is Legacy or Planned Giving?
Planned legacy giving is a form of stewardship that allows us to create and leave behind a legacy to sustain and strengthen the ministries of First Presbyterian Concord in perpetuity.
Legacy gifts provide support for First Presbyterian Church for generations to come. They are placed into the church’s endowment, a professionally-managed portfolio that provides annual support for the church’s annual operating budget. Legacy gifts may be made as outright gifts or bequests or by naming the church as a beneficiary to a 401(k) or IRA, a life insurance policy, or a charitable trust.
There is no minimum amount for a planned legacy gifts. All legacy gifts provide benefits to the giver and support the ministry and mission of First Presbyterian Church.
How do I create or structure an Estate Gift in my Will or Trust?
Click on the “Create an Estate Gift” Button Above to be taken to a page with an overview of how this works
Can I gift Life Insurance or Retirement Assets?
Yes! There are many different creative and potentially tax effective ways to leave your legacy to the church. Click on the “Additional Estate Options” button above to be taken to a page that provides links to helpful videos you can watch on gifts of retirement assets, charitable remainder trusts, IRA charitable distributions, and more.
What are the different ways to direct my gift to the Church?
There are three ways you may give a legacy gift: include it in your will & estate planning by endowing you pledge, giving an unrestricted gift, or by giving to a specifically designated fund or the general endowment fund to sustain the church in perpetuity. Each of these three is outlined below.
(1) Endowing Your Pledge in Your Estate
A wonderful way to ensure that your support of the church continues on after death is to make a gift to our endowment funds that will generate annual contributions to our mission and ministry long into the future. Click here to learn more.
(2) Unrestricted vs. Designated Gifts
If a donor names the church in their estate but does not designate the use of the gift for a particular program (an unrestricted gift), the Session determines how to best employ the gift. For example, the Session may have a pending program or project that requires additional funding beyond the annual operating budget. They may determine the new estate gift could be best used for this program. Alternatively, the Session may decide to place some portion or all of these gifts into our permanent endowment funds held by the First Presbyterian Church Foundation.
If the donor’s wishes are to designate their estate gift to a particular area of interest within the church, the Session will make every effort to honor the request of the donor. The Session determines whether to use the gift immediately for the program or to place the funds in a temporarily restricted fund to be used for the program at a later date. Alternatively, the Session may decide to place some portion or all of these restricted gifts into our permanent endowment funds held by The First Presbyterian Church Foundation for the purpose intended by the donor.
(3) Giving Directly to the Church Foundation
On December 13, 2005, our Session created The First Presbyterian Church Foundation. The purpose of The First Presbyterian Church Foundation is to manage the permanent endowment funds of the church. Annual distributions are made exclusively to our church to support the programs and activities within our annual operating budget. In 2021, 36% of our church’s annual operating budget was generated from endowment distributions.
While the Session may direct gifts to the Foundation, the donor also has the option to give his or her gift for the church directly to The First Presbyterian Church Foundation. Whether directed by the Session or the donor, upon receipt by the Foundation, each gift is placed in one of five endowment funds designated by the donor or the Session. Click on “The Foundation Funds” button above to be taken to a page to learn more about the five different funds.
Each fund is a permanently invested sum of money that provides a steady, predictable source of income for the church’s annual operating budget. In short, this as an annuity for the church. A portion of endowment income is distributed to our church annually. The annual distribution is determined based on a three-year rolling average of each fund’s balance plus an amount retained to equal the current year’s inflation. Through this process each fund will maintain its purchasing power for future annual distributions to the church’s operating budget.