Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Advancing the Kingdom Through the Kentucky Baptist Foundation

By: Laurie Valentine-COO & Trust Counsel 

Using the Kentucky Baptist Foundation to accomplish your legacy giving objectives can benefit both you and the Baptist causes you wish to support.

As the trust agency of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, the Kentucky Baptist Foundation receives legacy gifts for the support of all Kentucky Baptist and Southern Baptist causes. The Foundation, as a “member of the family”, has a special appreciation and affection for the mission and ministry of the causes that will be supported through your gifts. This connection assures you, as the giver, the Foundation has each cause’s best interests in mind as it manages the gifts made for that cause’s benefit.

Many givers want to benefit more than one cause and realize that dividing their gift may result in lower total support. A single trust or endowment fund can be set up with the Kentucky Baptist Foundation to provide support to more than one Baptist cause. This can result in more consistent levels of support for all----each cause will have the benefit of the same level of competent investment management oversight services and the economies of centralized fund management.

Setting up the Kentucky Baptist Foundation as the manager of your gift assures the causes you want to support are left to do what they were called to do---missions, Christian education, child care, evangelism, disaster relief, etc. You relieve their board, trustees and/or staff from day-to-day investment research, analysis, decision-making, transacting and reporting, and place those responsibilities with the organization whose mission is to provide competent, prudent financial management for the causes designated by its donors.

The board and staff of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation have a sincere desire to help each Kentucky Baptist determine how they can advance the Kingdom and practice their Christian financial stewardship at a deeper level. This desire is reflected in the variety of legacy gift plans offered and the ability of the Foundation to accept gifts of any size. 

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Adapt, Change or Die

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 

Alvin Toffler’s book, “Future Shock,” was the first to sensitize me in the mid 1970’s as a denominational leader to the absolute necessity of identifying and adapting to the megatrends of the future over which I would have no control. Renowned gerontologist, Ken Dychtwald, in his book, “Age Wave,” got my attention in the early 1990’s concerning demographic trends, and particularly the impact the baby boomer generation, of which I am one of 76 million, would continue to have on society in general and the church in particular.

Immediately upon becoming KBF president in 1996, after 25 years with the KBC Executive Board (now Mission Board), I began to alert Kentucky Baptists about the major trends in giving that would impact significantly the financial future of our churches, associations, the KBC and all the related entities. Today, 17 and a half years later, I still am trying to alert Kentucky Baptist church and denominational leaders of the perils of ignoring these trends and the vital importance of adapting to them in order to have a viable future in Kingdom advancement. Also, I am still urging them to recognize the vital importance of the KBF’s mission as part of the solution in resourcing Kingdom advancement, given the trends already impacting traditional giving, not the least of which are the demographic trends.

Emmett Carson, a community foundation president in California, stated it this way: “Charities that don’t recognize demographic trends are going to shrink and ultimately go out of business. The populations in the past that have supported them spectacularly will not have the base to support them going forward. This is adapt, change or die.”

Consider how these demographic shifts will impact your church or ministry. By 2045 people of color will outnumber whites. Already 40 percent of women with children under 18 are the primary breadwinners of which 37% are married and earn more than their husbands. Young adults are more demanding than others and seek concrete results from their gifts and show little allegiance to the organizations the way their grandparents did. They are more likely to give their time than their money. Roughly one in five Americans claims no religious affiliation, and this number is rising especially among those in their 20’s and early 30’s.

Don’t wait! Call us for assistance in your personal stewardship as well as your church’s.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

12 Things To Do in 2013-Retirement Income

12 Things To Do In 2013 #7-Barry Allen


 Will your income from social security, your IRA or 401k plan and your investments be sufficient for your retirement years? Will market fluctuations and low interest rates impact your retirement income. One way to bring some stability and perhaps increase your retirement income is a charitable gift annuity. If you are 78 years old, your gift annuity rate is 6.4%. If you funded a gift annuity with $100,000 in cash or appreciated securities, your annual income would be $6,400, and only a portion of it would be subject to income tax. And, that income amount won't shrink and you can't outlive it, regardless of what happens to your underlying gift. Also, you would be eligible for a charitable income tax deduction on a portion of the $100,000. The older you are the higher the payment rate up to 9%. Also, you can create a joint life gift annuity for 2 people. Call Laurie Valentine or me toll-free for more information about how a charitable gift annuity of $5,000 or more can provide you a lifetime of dependable income while advancing Christ's mission through your church and other Christian causes.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Remember the Crystal Cathedral

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 

Even if you never have visited the site of Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, you likely have an image of that ministry and its facilities. The 13-story majestic Tower of Hope, which was dedicated to God’s glory in 1968, now stands idle along with the thousands of dirty glass panes in the cathedral itself. This ministry is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. It is likely thousands of other churches and ministries will be in bankruptcy within the next decade or two.

There are numerous factors that will contribute to this, but among the most significant is the passing away of the older contributors who have been and continue to be the sustaining members of evangelical churches and ministries around the world.
 
Those who are coming behind them, children and grandchildren, have not demonstrated anything like the level of commitment to share and to support their churches and ministries. Some futurists have projected a 70 percent decline in giving over the next decade or two if giving trends do not change dramatically. One writer has described it as “a silent tsunami that has already broken—unnoticed and miles off the coast.” Regretfully, most churches and ministries are unprepared.

Did you know people over age 75 give four times as much of their income as 25 to 44 year olds, according to “The State of Church Giving Through 2009?” Each younger generation gives significantly less of its income to ministry. 

Although older members account for only 19 percent of the membership of churches in the USA, they give 46 percent of the donations, according to a Barna Survey. Can your church sustain a 46 percent drop in donations?

These older, more generous core members are the ones whose funerals are being held every day across this country. Collectively they will be passing 41 trillion dollars of wealth to their children, grandchildren, other heirs—and to the government in taxes. It is highly unlikely your church is receiving even a tithe of this largest generational transfer of wealth in history? Why? Because pastors and other church and denominational leaders are not allocating the resources necessary to educate, encourage and enable these faithful members to consider their church and other ministries in their estate plans.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation exists for that very purpose. Please give us the privilege of assisting you and your church, and other ministries.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Giving That Benefits Family & Charity

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel


Legacy giving not only offers a variety of ways to provide valuable support to charitable causes important to you, it can also help you solve personal financial challenges.

One such giving plan is a charitable remainder annuity trust (“CRAT”). A CRAT is an irrevocable trust that pays a fixed, never-changing income stream to the giver and/or others for life or a term of years and the remainder to one or more charities.

Your lifetime gift of cash, securities or real estate to a CRAT entitles you to a charitable income tax deduction equal to the present value of the charity’s remainder interest. And, a CRAT can provide beneficial ways to solve a variety of financial challenges such as:

Help with College Expenses: Your grandson will be heading to college in the fall and you want to provide him with funds for tuition and other expenses. A gift of $50,000 to a 10% five-year CRAT will provide your grandson $5,000 per year for 5 years (a total of $25,000) and entitle you to a charitable income tax deduction of $25,900. If the trust assets earn an average annual total return of 7.0% over the five year trust term there will be almost $42,000 left to distribute to the charitable causes you name in the trust agreement.

Financial Assistance to a Sibling: You have been providing $210 per month ($2,500 per year) to your 80-year-old brother for the past few years. While at age 78 you currently have no health problems, you want to make sure that support would continue for your brother no matter what your future circumstances. A gift of $50,000 to a two-life 5.0% CRAT allows you to set up a plan that would pay your brother $2,500 per year for the rest of his life and then that same amount would be paid to you for the rest of your life. Your gift to the CRAT entitles you to a charitable income tax deduction of approximately $21,750. And, this giving plan will provide a significant future gift to the charitable remainder beneficiaries.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.