Legacy Giving & Planned Giving

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ―Matthew 6:19-21

In these verses, Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. He tells them to be single hearted in their service to their heavenly Father, and not to worry about the future. He reminds them that worrying doesn’t change circumstances, and, more importantly, their Father loves them and will care for them.

There is an obvious reason we shouldn’t concern ourselves with laying up treasures in this life—earthly riches just don’t last. Things happen unexpectedly, financial markets tank, and eventually we die. But the more important reason to not store up treasures on earth is that, by their very nature, they captivate our hearts and desires. They will become the focus of our thoughts, our time, our energies, and our devotion. The terrible thing about that, for the children of God, is that only Jesus is worthy to be our “treasure.”
 
The phrase in these verses that helps us understand the intention of these verses: “for yourselves.” Jesus wants us to know that storing up things in this life as an owner of those things will make them our treasure. Storing up things as a steward of Jesus will keep them in their proper place—instruments to bring him glory.

With that in mind, let’s talk about Legacy Giving and Planned Giving. These two types of giving are often lumped together as Legacy Giving, but they are really two different things.
Legacy Giving is giving to a charitable cause under a will, living trust, or other instrument, which occurs after the death of the giver and only benefits the charity. Most often, such gifts given via a will or trust are either a dollar amount or a percentage of the estate. If gifts are given under a will, that will require that the gifts go through the probate process, which is public and can be both costly and time consuming.

A better vehicle for making gifts is a Revocable Living Trust, a private document, which, if funded properly, bypasses probate. Another good way to give Legacy Gifts is by naming a charity as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a tax-deferred retirement account.
Planned Giving, in contrast, involves a charitable gift made for the benefit of a charity while the donor is still alive, but which also benefits the donor or his family in some way. An example of a Planned Gift is transferring income-producing property (such as an apartment building) into a Charitable Remainder Trust which provides a tax deduction to the donor in the year in which the transfer was made, income to the donor during the rest of his or her life, and ownership of the property to the charity upon the death of the donor.

Another type of Planned Gift is giving a sum of money to a charity in return for a Charitable Gift Annuity. In this way, the charity receives the gift of money, the donor gets a tax deduction in the year the gift was made, and the donor receives an annuity for his or her lifetime or for the lifetime of the survivor of the donor and the spouse.

Whether our gifts are made via Legacy Giving, Planned Giving, or regular giving during our lifetime, the ultimate goal of our giving, as well as how we manage all of our finances, time, and energy, is to bring glory to Christ, the one who is the Ultimate Gift to us and also the Ultimate Giver of all good things (John 3:16).

Live thankfully and generously!