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DONATE
Lord of Life welcomes donations and is blessed by your generosity! You can donate online securely and conveniently using either a debit or credit card. Your gift will go a long way in helping the church continue to serve its ministries. Thank you for your generous support!
GIVE ONLINE
Click below to make an online donation. You can choose to make a one time donation or set up a recurring donation to make giving easier.
Other than envelope offering, Lord of Life accepts donations for our Gratitude Gifts, Memorials, Mission Endowment Fund, and more. Click Donate Now to see the complete selection.
The Mission Endowment Fund at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, established in 2004, supports mission work beyond regular church donations. Gifts to the fund can be made through various means, ensuring long-term support for God's mission. Contact the Endowment Committee for more information on making a lasting impact through your legacy gift.
Planned Giving
Planned Giving is an intentional process to support causes that reflect your values and ministries that are close to your heart. Also called “legacy giving”, it can include things such as bequests in a will, capital gifts to an endowment, and annuities that allow you to support a favorite charity while providing income for you and your family. Here is the first of five short monthly Lifelines articles about planned giving, along with contact information for a resource person provided by our church through the ELCA Foundation.
To discuss this and other ways to make a planned gift to support the ministries you love, contact Lisa Marie Higginbotham CFRE, FCEP, Regional Gift Planner, ELCA Foundation, 805.910.5048 or lisa.higginbotham@elca.org.
Planned Giving through a Will
Do you have a will? It is a basic question, but one that many people prefer not to answer. We don’t like to think about our will because we don’t like to think about life after we are gone.
The sad reality is that as many as 60% of Americans don’t have a valid will. A will is an important final way to tell family and charities what is most important to you.
A will simply directs those we leave behind how to divide up what is left. When instructions aren’t given, chaos can ensue. That is when relatives fight with each other and tension enters relationships.
A will can also be a statement of what was important to you. It can be a final way to teach your kids that they were important to you, but so were some ministries that are making a difference in the world. Contact your attorney to make a will or to add a codicil to your will to include favorite ministries such as Lord of Life.
Planned Giving through Life Insurance
One of the easiest ways to make a gift to Lord of Life is through life insurance. Simply, you can make the church a full or partial beneficiary of a life insurance policy that you own or intend to take out.
Another way to leave a life insurance gift to Lord of Life is to make the church the owner of the policy. Then, you can provide a gift to Lord of Life each year to pay the premium. The annual premium payment will qualify as a gift to the ministry each year and so may be tax deductible.
Lord of Life will then make the annual payment to keep the policy current.
Planned Giving through an IRA
Individual Retirement Accounts are often the best gift you can leave to the church through your estate. The reason is that traditional IRA’s have tax consequences for your children or other individuals who inherit them. They can take the IRA either as a lump sum or paid out over years, but there are taxes due.
The church gets to avoid the taxes due and therefore can place the entire amount of the IRA into use for ministry.
Giving through an IRA is very simple too. You don’t need an attorney. Simply call your IRA administrator and tell them what you want to do. They will get you the form right away.
Additionally, Congress has made permanent legislation where you can give directly from your IRA to a charity if you are 70-1/2 years or older. Your gift counts towards your required minimum distribution for the year and it does not count as income to you (there is no gift tax credit though). his is termed a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD).
Planned Giving through an IRA
Individual Retirement Accounts are often the best gift you can leave to the church through your estate. The reason is that traditional IRA’s have tax consequences for your children or other individuals who inherit them. They can take the IRA either as a lump sum or paid out over years, but there are taxes due.
The church gets to avoid the taxes due and therefore can place the entire amount of the IRA into use for ministry.
Giving through an IRA is very simple too. You don’t need an attorney. Simply call your IRA administrator and tell them what you want to do. They will get you the form right away.
Additionally, Congress has made permanent legislation where you can give directly from your IRA to a charity if you are 70-1/2 years or older. Your gift counts towards your required minimum distribution for the year and it does not count as income to you (there is no gift tax credit though).
Planned Giving through a Charitable Gift Annuity
Do you want to make a lasting gift to the church, but you still need income from your money today? A charitable gift annuity may be right for you. Here is how it works.
You transfer an asset to fund a Gift Annuity to a certain level. Then based on your age, you will receive a guaranteed payout for life. A portion of this payout each year will be eligible for a tax deduction and the original gift to fund the gift annuity is partially deductible.
Charitable Gift Annuities are great for people looking to guarantee income and often to increase the income stream from an asset. It is important to note that once you place an asset into the Gift Annuity, you cannot get it back, but you do get the income each year for life and the income is guaranteed.
Gift annuities can help avoid or significantly reduce capital gains taxes. Charitable Gift Annuity Rates can be found at http://acga-web.org/gift-annuity-rates
Planned Giving through a Charitable Trust
For some people, establishing a Charitable Trust can provide great opportunities for themselves, their heirs, and for their church. Charitable Trusts work two ways.
Remainder Trusts: With a remainder trust, the donor gifts an asset to the trust (often to avoid capital gains taxes), then the donor receives an income for life, or a period of years from the trust. It is also possible to grant your children or grandchildren a period of time to receive that trust income. Following the prescribed time period, the trust assets are then transferred to the church.
People who don’t want their children to inherit a lump sum of money will appreciate this option so that the income is provided to heirs over a period of time.
Lead Trusts: These work opposite of remainder trusts. In a lead trust, the charity receives an income stream from the donated assets for a period of years. Following the term of the agreement the asset transfers back to the original donor or to whoever the donor designates.
Both Remainder trusts and Lead trusts require professionals to set them up.