An Under Tapped Tool for Churches

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Earlier this month the results of a survey conducted by LifeWay Research among pastors of Southern Baptist churches throughout the USA were published. The purpose of the survey was to gauge the awareness and preparedness of churches to the issues surrounding estate stewardship.

Let me share a few of the findings for your awareness and for any needed action you and/or your church might need to take in light of the findings. Only 16 percent of churches received any kind of estate gift in the year preceding the survey; that meant 84 percent did not. Churches that reported receiving at least one estate gift received an average of $22,507. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy the average estate gift to all charities was $70,000.

72 percent of pastors believed every Christian should include the church and other ministries in their estate plans, but 86 percent of them confessed they had not provided their congregations with seminars or even basic information on estate planning during the last year. The survey results also revealed the majority of pastors were more comfortable and more inclined to preach on the importance of giving from one’s income than one’s estate.

The KBF has the conviction that for Kentucky Baptist churches to be successful in reaching Kentucky and the world for Christ, Kentucky Baptist churches must be equipped to cultivate and secure estate gifts from their members. And, the KBF was established in 1945 “by the churches, for the churches to help the churches reach Kentucky and the world for Christ.”

If your church has not yet called upon the KBF to assist it in putting in place a plan of education and awareness, casting a vision about the vital importance and use of estate gifts and facilitating the receipt and administration of such gifts, please do not hesitate any longer and take advantage of this under tapped tool. Laurie Valentine and I are awaiting your call and the opportunity to assist. 

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.

Charitable IRA Rollover— Reinstated

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel

The recently enacted American Taxpayer Relief Act (“ATRA”) reinstated the IRA Charitable Rollover giving opportunity through the end of 2013.

Generally, IRA owners must report distributions out of their IRA as income, whether they receive the IRA funds or direct them to someone else. And, while an IRA distribution to charity is a charitable contribution for income tax deduction purposes (if you itemize); the increase in reportable income and restrictions on the amount of charitable gifts that may be deducted in a given year may not result in a “wash” for tax purposes.

The Charitable IRA Rollover provisions are an exception to the general rule. They permit a person who is 70 ½ or older to make tax-free outright gifts in any amount up to a total of $100,000 during 2013 from a traditional or Roth IRA to qualified charities. Your church and our KBC and SBC agencies and institutions are “qualified charities”. Private foundations and donor advised funds are not.

The distributions must be made directly from your IRA to the qualified charitable organization. A distribution to the IRA owner/donor, followed by a gift to charity, does not receive the special treatment provided by ATRA.

A Charitable IRA Rollover distribution is not included in the income of an age 70 ½ or older IRA owner, but it does count as part of their required minimum distribution. And, while it is a gift to charity, it is not a deductible charitable contribution for income tax purposes.

For those age 70 ½ with IRA assets, make sure you take a look out this “window of opportunity” before it closes on December 31, 2013.

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.

Communicating With You

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Every charitable organization, the KBF included, faces three major challenges: (1) the communication challenge; (2) the cultivation challenge; and (3) the competition challenge.

The cultivation challenge for us is to have the opportunity to encourage, educate and enable every adult Kentucky Baptist to have a Christian estate plan. An effective way to do that is to receive an invitation from a church or an adult group in the church to conduct one of our Christian estate stewardship education seminars. We have nothing to sell, and we do not twist anybody’s arm to do anything; it’s purely an educational experience.

With more than 1.5M charitable organizations seeking to tap into the greatest generational wealth transfer in history, the competition among these organizations, including churches and church-related organizations, has become fierce, thus the competition challenge. Our greatest concern is charitably minded individuals will become confused about which organizations to support, and as a result will become desensitized in their giving. We remind them as Christians in the matter of financial stewardship our first loyalty is to Christ through our churches and other Great Commission service ministries.

The communication challenge is our greatest challenge. Since information and news is received in so many different ways today, it is a challenge for us to disseminate effectively the information we want to share via all of the different media methods people are using. The cost of communicating is also part of the challenge. As a religious organization we must maximize the stewardship of the limited financial resources available to us.

As we look to future we would like to communicate with you via email. And we pledge never to share your email address with anyone else. We shall appreciate you providing us your email address either by email response to me at barry.allen@kybaptist.org or by telephone at 502.489.3533, or toll free Kentucky only at 866.489.3533.

Also, please “Like” us on Facebook if you are a Facebook user – and – share our page with others any time you find it useful.

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.

The Gospel in a Nutshell

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 

John 3:16 has to be the most often quoted verse in the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

As part of my 2013 devotional plan I am using “The Joshua Code,” written by my friend and president of GuideStone Financial Resources, SBC, Dr. O.S. Hawkins. By the way, all royalties from the book go to support Mission:Dignity, a GuideStone ministry that enables thousands of retired ministers and widows who are living below the poverty level to live out their days with dignity and security.

In the book, O.S. reminded me the late evangelist Angel Martinez referred to John 3:16 as salvation’s formula revealed in one verse – the entire gospel in a nutschell. During my growing up years in Mississippi in the late 1950’s and early 60’s our church had Angel Martinez as the spring revival evangelist on several occasions. O.S. further observed Martinez suggested John 3:16 revealed salvation’s cause, cost, condition and consequence.

First, God’s love for every person is the motivating cause of His salvation plan, and not just that God loves us, but He so loves us.

Second, the forgiveness of our sin and the promise of life abundant and eternal come with a cost. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners. Christ died for us.”(Romans 5:8). Our salvation in Christ came at great cost: God gave His one and only Son.

Third, our good works are not the pathway to eternal life. Our salvation has been purchased for us by the blood of Jesus Christ. The condition is to believe, or as O.S. Hawkins stated, to transfer our trust from ourselves and our own efforts to His finished work on the cross of Calvary.

Fourth, those who do not believe in His finished work are perishing; and those who believe have the promise of eternal life. And what a promise! What a consequence!

Let’s share the good news in 2013 like never before!

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.

12 Things to Do in 2012- IRA Rollover

Each Month, the Kentucky Baptist Foundation will share "12 Things to Do in 2013." CEO Barry Allen will share 12  article on faith, philanthropy and stewardship. Trust Counsel Laurie Valentine will focus her 12 on financial, tax and estate planning. 

The IRA Rollover has been extended and expanded!

That’s right ---the recently enacted tax bill extends the IRA Charitable Rollover through 2013.  It also provides a window of opportunity for you to make a gift from your IRA by January 31, 2013 and have it count towards your 2012 charitable contributions.

The Charitable IRA Rollover provisions permit a person who is 70 ½ or older to make tax-free outright gifts in any amount up to a total of $100,000 from a traditional or Roth IRA directly to qualified charities. Your church and our KBC and SBC agencies and institutions are “qualified charities”. Private foundations and donor advised funds are not.

You are not entitled to a charitable income tax deduction for your IRA Charitable Rollover distributions.  They do, however, count as part of your required minimum distribution.

Your IRA Charitable Rollover gifts for 2012 must be completed by Jan. 31, 2013.  You have until December 31, 2013 to make another $100,000 in IRA Rollover gifts for 2013. 

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.

Charitable Gift Annuities

By: Laurie Valentine, COO & Trust Counsel
Would you like to provide support to your church or another favorite Baptist cause while benefiting from lifetime payments, management of assets and tax savings? If your answer is yes, a charitable gift annuity may be just what you are looking for.

A charitable gift annuity is a contract between you and the Kentucky Baptist Foundation under which you agree to make a gift of cash or appreciated stocks, bonds or mutual fund shares and, in exchange for your gift, the Kentucky Baptist Foundation agrees to pay you a fixed amount each year for your lifetime. The lifetime payments to you are backed by the general assets of the cause(s) that will ultimately benefit from your gift.

The annual payment to you depends upon the value of your gift and your age at the time you make the gift. The older you are the higher the payment rate. The payment amount is not dependent on what your gift earns.

Establishing a charitable gift annuity during your lifetime allows you to provide for your financial needs and those of your family, while at the same time assuring vital future support to the causes you designate to ultimately benefit from your gift.

Tax savings may be available from the charitable income tax deduction that is allowable and also from the fact that part of each payment you receive is tax-free. These benefits can make the cost of establishing a charitable gift annuity very reasonable.

Using appreciated stocks, bonds or mutual fund shares to establish a charitable gift annuity can also provide capital gains tax savings.

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.

Giving: Charity or Worship?

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 
What is your attitude toward giving to your church and to other Christian ministries? Do you find yourself sometimes giving grudgingly instead of cheerfully? Is your attitude affected from time-to-time by fear or greed, or a concern for how your church or charity will use your gifts?

As you begin the New Year, let me encourage you to get a lesson from the Apostle Paul on the proper attitude toward giving. In his famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, Paul contended it is love alone that counts, love alone that triumphs and love alone that endures. The love about which Paul spoke to the Corinthians then and to us today is the agape kind of love, the caring love that expresses God’s nature and that He extends to us undeserving creatures. It’s God’s gift; we cannot earn or gain it; we receive it in response to His love in Jesus Christ. It comes not through self assertion, but self surrender. It evokes faith that in turn evokes love. It is centered on concern for others. To follow the way of love is to follow the very nature of God Himself, for God is love.

Therefore, God’s love should define our attitude toward giving. He wants us to give cheerfully, prompted by love and in response to His giving.

In 1 Corinthians 13:3, Paul shows the relationship of love to giving and to deeds of goodwill. He clearly stated it is possible to give and to do good deeds for some motive other than love, and when we do, we gain nothing; in fact, such giving reflects selfishness, not love.

Starting now, each time you give visualize placing your gift in the nail scared hands of Jesus, who loved you enough to die in your place for the forgiveness of your sin and that you might have life abundant and eternal. And, give thanks to Him for His unending love and for the privilege of participating with Him in reconciling the world unto Himself. In so doing, your giving attitude will be much more than an act of charity; it will be an act of worship.

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.