Planned giving in the Church: Is it spiritual enough

1
Planned giving in the Church Is it spiritual
enough?

• Karen Cooper
• Richard Ely
• ICSC, New Orleans
• September 2004

2
Purpose of presentation

• to initiate dialogue about spirituality and
  planned giving here at ICSC

3
What were NOT going to do

• provide a rationale for giving
• provide a theology or psychology of stewardship

4
Our focus

• marketing
• our thinking
• more effective marketing equals more planned
  gifts
• more planned gifts equals a more effective Church

5
What we realized

• we needed to
• identify prospects
• determine their values
• determine their motivation
• the key is the specifically Catholic element of
  these values and motivations

6
Looking at obstacles

• obstacles similar to all non-profits
• obstacles unique to being Church

7
Todays presentation

• present our discoveries and unresolved questions
• initiate a dialogue at ICSC about spirituality
  and planned giving

8
Giving statistics for religion
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Sources of charitable giving
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Uses of charitable giving
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AAFRC comment

• In general, charities rely on philanthropic
  support for about one-fifth of their funding. For
  some groups, such as religious congregations and
  United Ways, gifts are often the only source of
  money.

Press release for Giving USA 2004 at www.aafrc.org
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What counts for religion?

• religious congregations
• national or regional offices of
• faith groups
• mission societies
• religious media
• groups formed for worship or fellowship

Giving USA 2004, p. 94
13
What does NOT count?

• separately incorporated (even if faith-based)
  organizations that provide
• health care
• social services
• education

Giving USA 2004, p. 94
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Contributions to religion
15
IRS statistics
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Number of bequests for religion
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Dollar amount of bequests for religion
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Apples and oranges

• IRS statistics capture only bequests of those
  estates filing federal estate tax returns
• Giving USA statistics include IRS statistics

19
Questions created by statistics
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Is religion late to planned giving?

• initial reaction no
• American Bible Institute offered earliest
  charitable gift annuities
• origin of trusts is based in the medieval Church

21
Has religion kept pace?

• religion has not kept pace
• CARA report only 57 of US dioceses have
  foundations
• mainline Protestant Churches have national
  foundations but less local presence
• Jewish and Evangelical Christian communities lack
  national structures

22
Religion has committed fewer resources

• Why?

23
Smaller staffs

• often one person shops
• responsible for
• stewardship
• annual giving
• managing data base
• planned giving -- if theres time

24
More emphasis on annual giving and capital
campaigns

• planned giving not traditionally included in
  parish capital campaigns
• rare for campaign literature to mention it
• endowments are only an option for over-goal
  dollars
• planned giving seen to distract and compete
• urgency for immediate dollars pushes endowments
  lower on the priority list

25
Why smaller bequests?

• our demographics different from other
  organizations?
• tax considerations are our constituents less
  motivated?
• are our donors fed up or tapped out from
  repeat requests for annual and capital gifts?
• we dont know!

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Our contention

• Emphasizing the Churchs unique spirituality in
  planned giving marketing could have important
  benefits

27
Spirituality

• what our religious traditions are about
• examines questions of human existence
• different spirituality among different traditions
  within the Church

28
Key concepts

• there are shared values and perspectives
• there are shared experiences and histories
• these experiences make us the unique human beings
  that we are

29
These shared experiences

• a source of religious identity
• a source of cultural identity.

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Our contention refined

• identifying these values, perspectives and shared
  experiences could help marketing of planned
  giving
• if we could determine how to apply them

31
Benefits of identifying values

• speak to our donors core values
• open up opportunities beyond technical issues of
  planned giving to educate our donors about their
  specifically religious values
• tap additional sources of motivation

32
Other benefits

• increase our own credibility
• garner additional marketing resources by
  emphasizing our role in the particularly
  religious aspects of the Church

33
More tangible benefits

• increase fundraising revenues from planned giving
• increase Churchs mission effectiveness
• these values make talking about endowment and
  estate planning issues easier
• note dual meaning of mission

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On religious or spiritual level

• help our community grow in the unique ways called
  for by the Gospel
• help our members become better disciples
• deepen their religious experiences and increase
  their sense of what living out their faith
  entails
• provide opportunities to express this increased
  understanding in concrete ways

35
Our experiences (shared with others!)

• experiences that
• humble us as people
• point out the truth of our contention

36
Our experience

• prospects and donors often describe their
  motivation to make gifts in profoundly religious
  language
• many enjoy the tax and financial benefits, but
  their primary motivation is expressing their
  faith in a tangible way
• examples

37
Judeo-Christian spirituality of giving
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Todays presentation

• a different idea from fundraising stewardship
  -- not post-gift activities of thanking
• rather, peoples response to Gods activity in
  their lives

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The Jewish perspective

• tzedekah justice and acts of righteousness
• mitzvah commandment or good deed
• tikkun olam repairing or healing the world
  the action of serving justice

40
Overarching ideas

• giving is an obligation and a duty
• emphasis is on today, the here and now
• survival of the Jewish community and faith is
  primary
• Jews participate in tikkun olam through mitzvahs
  so they can develop tzedekah in this world

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How to do we relate spirituality to planned
giving?
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Working definition

• from National Conference of Catholic Bishops
  pastoral letter on stewardship.
• goes beyond the traditional time, talent and
  treasure

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A Good Steward is one who

• receives Gods gifts gratefully
• cherishes and tends them in a responsible and
  accountable manner
• shares them in justice and love with others
• returns them with increase to the Lord.
• Stewardship, A Disciples Response A Pastoral
  Letter on Stewardship. National Conference of
  Catholic Bishops, 1993. www.usccb.org.

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Our contention

• this description of stewardship offers specific
  counsel
• for ones response to Gods activity in his or
  her life and
• for how one conducts his or her own unique faith
  journey
• helps address key planned giving and estate
  planning issues

45
This description and planned giving
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Receiving Gods gifts

• everything we have is not solely ours
• rather a gift that we receive from God
• what gifts have we received?
• only material gifts?
• what about our values?
• how grateful are we for all these gifts?

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Cherish and tend

• only about 42 of people have wills
• do our donors have wills?
• having a will is part of ones faith journey
• how do we nurture our values?
• Planned Giving in the United States 2000, A
  Survey of Donors.
• National Committee on Planned Giving. 2001.

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Share

• who are these others?
• does justice extend beyond the family?
• without a will, state law determines sharing
• reflect on the needs and opportunities for
  sharing -- sharing not simply of resources but
  also of values

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Returning with increase

• legacies
• what values will we pass on?
• what causes will we support after we pass on?
• what statement do I make for others to hear?
• lifetime planning
• Jewish term, ldor vdor -- from generation to
  generation

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Legacies

• our lives in the context of our faith are far
  richer
• how can we pass on greater gifts than those given
  to us
• creating a legacy at death is as important as
  during life

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Overall

• creating accountability and gratefulness for our
  wealth
• not an accountability that mandates charitable
  giving
• rather a mandate to use that wealth joyfully in a
  responsible manner
• stewardship can make us better believers
• make us more productive and caring members of
  civil society and our Church

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One caution

• distinction between duty/obligation and
  grateful response
• shift away from pray, pay and obey
• our Jewish colleagues have pointed out that
  giving out of obligation can clouds the joy of
  giving
• Integrating both concepts is a difficult
  challenge for planned giving fundraisers

53
Philanthropy and Stewardship

• giving to a need vs. needing to give gratefully

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Traditional planned giving issues

• dont forget traditional planned giving factors
• elevate Church to the status of family member
• tax and financial incentives still work
• legacy issues help us perpetuate our giving

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Obstacles for planned giving
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To name a few

• the nature of what we do
• ultimately financial
• about securing more financial resources
• where our work is positioned within the Church
  structure
• perception that our work is not in the spiritual
  business

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Our temporal work

• is our function a vocation or just a job?
• theological critics that argue that stewardship
  and fundraising should not be linked
• that stewardship belongs with evangelization and
  not with development

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Relationship with the local Church

• control diocesan management of funds of parish
  or other entity
• distrust Is this just another way for the
  diocese to reach into parish pockets?
• distinctions and competition between
  international, arch/diocesan and parish
  priorities
• for example, the second collection

59
Pastor Relationships
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The Supporters

• in word -- preaching and talking about it with
  peers and parishioners
• in deed -- giving themselves

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The Adversaries

• distrust is evident
• proponents of us vs. them philosophy
• this is just another way for the arch/diocese to
  exercise control over their resources, money
  will be diverted away from the parish

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The To Be Convinced

• dont talk about endowments God will provide
• lack of interest
• lack of familiarity
• lack of confidence with the subject matter

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Other obstacles

• endowments not a priority church wide
• over reliance on prospects self identifying --
  waiting for people to step forward
• how to move annual fund major donors to planned
  givers

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More obstacles

• humility -- unique to religion
• need to convince donors about testimonials
• giving is a faith-driven and private matter
• limited resources and staff
• communicating
• theological/practical aspects of sacrificial
  giving
• giving proportionate to ones means

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The Diocese of Providence

• A Work in Process

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The Catholic Foundation

• founded in 1983
• growing commitment to financially support
  personnel and programs
• planned giving complements stewardship efforts
• prioritizes endowment planning for parish
  communities

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St. John Vianney ParishEndowment Formation and
Purpose Statement
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Their history

• steeped in stewardship
• endowment approach is another way to live out
  their stewardship journey

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In Their Own Words. . . .

• Fifty years ago, a very special gift was
  bestowed upon the parishioners of St. John
  Vianney Church. This year we celebrate that
  giftour golden jubilee as a parishfifty years
  as a catholic community providing for the active
  spiritual life of its parishioners.

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In Their Own Words. . . .

•   When we look back in prayerful gratitude as
  todays caretakers of our parish, we ask, what
  will be our legacy, when St. John Vianney parish
  celebrates its 100th anniversary?

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In Their Own Words. . . .

•   The century fund is an endowment fund created
  to ensure the spiritual vitality of our parish
  for future generations. The principles of
  stewardship call each of us to receive gods
  gifts gratefully, cherish and tend to them in a
  responsible and accountable manner, share them in
  justice and love with others and return them with
  increase to the Lord.

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In Their Own Words. . . .

• By supporting the century fund we demonstrate
  our parishs strong commitment to stewardship and
  the desire to memorialize our golden jubilee as a
  parish community. The century fund will
  perpetuate its vitality and its future, and we
  will pass to those who follow us as parishioners
  an even greater gift than the one bestowed on us.

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Encouraging Results
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Increased clergy support

• actively serving pastors
• Building an endowment for my parish is the
  legacy I wish to leave.
• retired priests
• If I preach it I must live it. Lay up in heaven
  treasures where neither rust nor moths will
  destroy them--Matthew 6
• clergy influencing each other

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Other positive results

• included lay parish advisors -- e.g., finance
  councils -- in marketing efforts
• reached out to broader professional community
• formulated a process to move annual fund donors
  up the ladder
• expanded marketing efforts in print and other
  media
• stayed on the job

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The Process

• marketing plan -- target audiences and then how
  to communicate with each
• doing parish visits and seminars
• retired priests
• marketing gift annuities
• building media coverage
• tweaking the seminars

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Current Emphasis

• building personal relationships with donors
• staff member now focused on face-to-face visits
  with top annual fund donors
• important conduit to planned giving
• expansion on previous direct marketing
• continuing to refine and work the overall
  marketing plan

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Personal Conversion

• call upon the experiences that allow you to
  articulate your own discipleship
• be a proclaimer of the good news through your
  vocation
• transform and enrich the lives of others with an
  invitation to develop a closer relationship with
  God
• consider sharing with donors

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Stewardship and Volunteers

• keep goals and actions centered on the principles
  of stewardship
• the CFRI boards decision to offer donor advised
  funds, as stated in their own words

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Letter from our Chair

• The Catholic Foundation of Rhode Island is
  pleased to offer another unique opportunity to
  Catholics who actively engage in the spirit of
  Christian stewardship, caring and sharing their
  gifts with others in gratitude to God for their
  many blessings. A Donor Advised Fund or as we
  chose to call them, a Family Legacy Fund, enables
  individuals and families to remain actively
  involved in their charitable planning.

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She goes on to say

• These funds provide the necessary complement to
  engage the next generation with responsible
  stewardship of our God given gifts. In order to
  foster discipleship through perpetual giving, the
  foundation recognized that these funds could be a
  conduit to families who wish to pass on their
  values and faith commitments to their children
  and their heirs.

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Why is this significant?

• DAFs are popular
• easier than setting up private foundation
• lots of tax incentives
• key concern is how do DAFs relate to discipleship

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Plans for the Future

• placing a greater emphasis on communicating the
  spirituality of planned giving
• transition messages from the technical, tax
  aspects and leaving a legacy to being
  God-centered, being a steward is about
  discipleship
• bring out greater enthusiasm for personal
  conversion

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Practical advice

• How can all of this be used to help secure more
  planned gifts?

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Make the case for planned giving

• to those who control your budget control and
  access to your prospects
• create credibility for the planned giving
• credibility is the key to securing the necessary
  resources to carry out a sound planned giving
  marketing program

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Using the case

• present this case on all the levels
• Diocesan
• parish
• entities -- e.g., finance councils
• to all your constituencies
• not a document that is for internal use only.
• use it with prospects

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Whats in the case?
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Traditional planned giving issues

• wealth transfer
• importance of bequests in charitable giving
• how religion fares with bequests
• how planned giving can help people take advantage
  of financial opportunities and work on estate and
  financial planning issues

89
Unique planned giving issues

• evangelization aspects of planned giving
• how planned giving can help support Churchs
  pastoral efforts
• integrate planned giving as part of and not
  distinct from the proclamation of the Churchs
  distinctive message

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Call to conversion and discipleship.

• you are proclaiming appropriate religious
  messages
• you provide opportunities for
• reconciliation
• conversion
• enrichment of the religious experience your
  community has and will have

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Also include in the case

• the need to increase financial resources
• identify and present planned givings specific
  contributions
• show how planned giving is a valuable
  diversification of fundraising
• demonstrate that planned giving is an important
  way to raise money for endowment beyond setting
  aside budget surpluses

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Where do you start

• the marketing plan
• constituencies
• methods of reaching them

93
Challenges we share

• getting planned giving onto the agenda.
• citing capital campaigns that have not included
  planned giving
• a lack of resources to foster planned giving.

94
Identify key constituencies

• thinking about the religious dimensions of your
  mission will allow you to identify other types of
  constituencies.
• retired priests is an important example.

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Ideas for constituencies
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Steep yourself in stewardship

• have an understanding of its Scriptural basis, as
  well as other documents like the Bishops
  statement cited earlier.

97
Include spirituality in marketing

• use donor testimonials
• realize that marketing in the Church is more than
  education about planned giving techniques
• it is necessary to focus on
• how planned giving can help people respond to
  Gods call
• how planned giving can be part of their own faith
  journey.

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TestimonialThe Archdiocese of Toronto

• I have traveled many roads during my personal
  faith journey, filled with discovery, challenges
  and accomplishments. Along the way, Ive been
  entrusted as a disciple with many gifts and
  talents from God. As I begin to look at my
  financial planning, I think its important to
  consider ways in which I can give back in
  thanksgiving and allow the fruits of my labor to
  live on.

99
Put a face on opportunities for giving

• make these opportunities relevant and motivating
  to donors
• go beyond obligation
• include the opportunity to express ones
  spirituality through planned giving.

100
Professionalism

• your own professionalism expresses the
  spirituality you proclaim.
• we cannot conduct our professional affairs in a
  way that marks us out as less than professional
  -- e.g. policies
• our own willingness to be accountable
  demonstrates that the message we live and the
  message we proclaim are congruent.

101
Include spirituality with volunteers

• engage volunteers, planned giving committees and
  boards not simply on the level of their own
  profession.
• over time you can educate them on more and more
  sophisticated levels about your own traditions
  spirituality.

102
Include prayer

• one of our colleagues talked about praying at the
  signing of planned gift documents.
• he said that even if a primary motivation for the
  gift was tax or financial or estate planning,
  lifting up the gift in prayer at the close
  created a powerful experience for the donor and
  put the gift in its proper perspective.

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Stay in your job a long time

• we have become convinced that a key predictor of
  planned giving success is time on the job.
• the longer you can stay in your job, the greater
  will your success be.
• note AFPs findings that average tenure of
  development people is about 18 months!

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Dont forget God

• get straight in your own mind
• your own role in fundraising and in planned
  giving
• your understanding of stewardship
• your sense of discipleship and vocation
• making it your ministry to assist people in
  carrying out their individual response to Gods
  action in their lives.

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Conclusion
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Our goal

• to initiate a dialogue at ICSC about planned
  giving in the Church.
• we welcome comments or praise or criticism.

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Peace be with you!Shalom!
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Contact Information

• Karen R. Cooper
• Associate Director
• Stewardship Development
• Diocese of Providence
• 1 Cathedral Square
• Providence, RI 02903
• kcooper_at_dioceseofprovidence.org
• 401.277.2121 (voice)
• 401.277.2120 (fax)

• Richard Ely
• Strategic Fundraising Consultants
• 86 Lorraine Ave.
• Providence, RI 02906
• rely_at_planned-giving.com
• www.planned-giving.com
• 401.274.3863 (voice)
• 401.274.3194 (fax)

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