…is our future
There are many ways to create or further your legacy benefitting the future of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church through the PHUMC Foundation:
- including the Foundation in your will (Willing Friends Society),
- creating a living endowment,
- creating a scholarship opportunity,
- establishing a charitable gift annuity, or
- defining a destination for gifts that may be received in your memory or even creating a bequest of your estate.
There are several ways we can assist you with crafting your legacy to live in perpetuity. There are investment and tax benefits you may take advantage of (with appropriate legal and tax counsel).
Creating your Legacy Now
Gifts provided to the Foundation are an easy way to establish your Legacy NOW. When you direct a memorial or honorarium gift to the PHUMC Foundation, you furthering a legacy that has been established by our predecessors, either to a specific named endowment or to the General Endowment. These can be one-time or recurring gifts. For that, we thank you.
Other ways to create your legacy include applying a Qualified Charitable Distribution (as part of a Required Minimum Distribution) toward funding a Donor-Advised Fund to serve as a receptacle for asset surpluses. Of course, you should always consult your tax professional for the current and projected benefits related to your tax situation.
Creating Your Legacy in the Future
In terms of creating your legacy for the future, again the PHUMC Foundation provides several tools to allow you to craft how you would like your gift to impact the life of PHUMC into the future. The easiest way to begin thinking about your legacy is to decide to include the PHUMC Foundation in your will – either as a set amount, non-cash gifts (in accordance with our Gift Acceptance Policy, or other specific bequests. The Foundation has a group of people who have made such a decision and are recognized as members of the Willing Friend Society. We have no indication of the type or magnitude of gift intentioned in a will, we simply ask that if you decide to include us, to let us know and tell us if you would be willing to have your name listed as a member.
As you consider your estate and how to provide for you and your family, you may want to consider a Charitable Gift Annuity which provides an income stream for your lifetime, with a gift to the Foundation at the time of your demise. Purchasing a life insurance policy for you or a family member with the PHUMC Foundation as the beneficiary is yet another means to plan now for a gift in the future. The PHUMC Foundation has been the recipient of several life insurance or Charitable Gift Annuities in the recent past.
Creating Your Legacy in Perpetuity
Restricted and Unrestricted endowments are a common tool used for both gift and estate planning. Restricted endowments are those gifts made with a specific purpose in mind for the earnings from the endowment. Unrestricted endowment earning are considered collectively and are designated to the Foundation’s support of the PHUMC annual budget, Foundation operations, and discretionary grants. A minimum gift of $10,000 allows the donor to ‘name’ the endowment account in memory or honor of someone and for a specific purpose. Donors generally have a three-year window to complete the minimum gift amount.
The PHUMC Foundation is also home to a number of scholarship endowments. In these situations, the donor makes a gift of at least $100,000 to create a spending account of approximately $4,000 annually. This allows the award of four $1,000 scholarships each year (or any combination thereof). Currently, scholarships are offered as one-time and renewable awards for students with experience in PHUMC Youth activities, students studying music and the arts, and students pursuing a degree or certification in various medical fields.
The Foundation Board of Directors has approved the Gift Acceptance Policy and Guidelines to help define the most effective means of giving. The Gift Acceptance Policy defines the gifts the Foundation can and cannot accept. The sample Gift Agreement is a template which you can use to define the intent of your gift as well as the use of the earnings from your gift. This document must accompany any gifts to the Foundation.