Endowment Power

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 

Do you know what an endowment fund is? Colleges, universities, children’s services, museums, the arts, other public charities and some church traditions have utilized endowment funds for decades to enhance and to strengthen their financial futures and to assure the perpetuation of their missions. However, endowments have not been utilized widely among Baptist churches, except in a few instances, until now.

Some church members resist philosophically the endowment concept for a church lest the church become too dependent upon them and relieve the current members of their on-going giving responsibilities. Others lack confidence in the church’s ability to administer such funds. These obstacles can be overcome through education and vision casting.

First, the sources for endowments are not the same as the sources for the on-going giving of the members. Offering plate giving typically comes from one’s cash income; endowment giving typically comes from one’s estate, represented by non cash assets such as securities, real estate, bequests in wills or trusts and beneficiary designations of life insurance and retirement accounts. Second, the Kentucky Baptist Foundation exists to relieve your church from the on-going administration of endowment accounts and is available to assist church leaders in casting a vision for how and why endowment funds should be incorporated into the stewardship ministry of the church.

Think about this. If a church member, who died 20 years ago, had included in his or her will a $20,000 bequest to establish an endowment with the KBF for the benefit of your church, your church would have received $22,875, an average of $1,144 per year, over that 20 year period to further the church’s Kingdom impact. Those funds could have been used for special mission opportunities, capital improvements, student scholarships, human need ministries or other special purposes. Furthermore, this $20,000 fund would have grown to $32,454 and would continue to provide, until Jesus comes again, a growing stream of funds for ministry.

What if 5 members had done the same thing, or if one member gave $100,000. In that case the church would have received $114,374, and the fund value would be $162,270. That’s what I call endowment power.

Call us toll free for individual assistance or to assist your church to utilize this power.

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.

A Popular Way to Give

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Giving through donor-advised funds (DAF) is surging in popularity these days, especially with the strong stock market, which has resulted in capital appreciation on which a capital gains tax will be owed when the securities are sold. Giving through a DAF allows you to give the appreciated security, or cash, avoid the capital gains tax and receive an immediate tax deduction without specifying at the time of the gift the charity or charities you want to benefit. The specific charity or charities can be determined at a later date.

In addition to spontaneous giving opportunities, a DAF also can be used for strategic gift planning and for helping you make giving a multi-generational family affair. Many donors use a DAF in anticipation of selling a business or a business interest. It’s very much like establishing your own private foundation but without the hassle and expense.

Even a business can establish a corporate DAF. Stewardship is not limited to individuals and families. Oftentimes business owners and corporations feel the same “to give back” as individuals and families feel.

The KBF has been offering the DAF option since 1993. Those who have utilized this option have found it to be most beneficial. Rather than writing multiple checks and tracking numerous receipts, you only need the receipt you receive from the KBF. You can empower children or grandchildren to participate in the “advisory role” to provide them hands-on experience in stewardship decision-making. The DAF ultimately can become an irrevocable, permanent endowment fund as a lasting legacy of your stewardship through the cause(s) near and dear to you. The DAF facilitates you taking advantage of the tax benefits available to you without the administrative burdens and expense of a private foundation. And, last but not least, you receive the beneficial assistance of our professional staff to maximize the impact of your giving.

Don’t wait! Act now! Call Laurie Valentine or me toll free for assistance in establishing a DAF for you, your family or your business.

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.

The Other Transfer Tax

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel  

While most people know there is a federal estate tax payable by the estates of folks who die with taxable estates which exceed the unified credit amount (currently $5.25 million), many do not know that gifts made during life can also trigger another transfer tax---the federal gift tax.

Like the federal estate tax, lifetime gifts to U.S. citizen spouses and charities incur no federal gift tax---no matter how much is given to your spouse or the charity. And, each person can shelter a total of $5.25 million of lifetime taxable gifts with the unified credit. To the extent the unified credit is used up with lifetime giving, it will not be available to shelter the transfer of your wealth at your death.

The annual exclusion shelters from gift tax the first $14,000 of gifts made in a given year to an individual other than your spouse. If total gifts in a given year to one individual exceed the annual exclusion amount, then a federal gift tax return must be filed to report the gift. You won’t have to pay gift tax unless your total combined taxable gifts for the current and prior years exceed the unified credit amount.

You may also pay medical bills for any person of any amount directly to a healthcare provider and not be treated as making a gift. Likewise, tuition payments made directly to an educational institution on behalf of someone else are excluded from gift tax liability. Giving someone funds to pay their medical expenses or tuition doesn’t qualify for these exclusions.

Spouses may “split” gifts made with assets owned by just one spouse by filing a gift tax return in which each spouse reports a gift of one-half the value of the gifted asset. 

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 2013- Make a Legacy Gift

12 Things to do in 2013- #4-Barry Allen

WHAT IS A "LEGACY GIFT?" These are the 5 characteristics of a legacy gift. First, it's a gift that can not be placed in the offering plate at your church. Second, it's a gift using assets, not income - assets like securities, real estate, life insurance, etc. Third, it's a gift one makes in the context of one's overall estate and financial planning. Fourth, it's a gift that uses tax advantaged methods to accomplish the donor's objectives. Fifth, it's a gift that may require a professional adviser's assistance to complete. For more information about how to make a legacy gift for the benefit of your church and/or other Christian causes, please contact Laurie Valentine or me.

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.

Memorial Gifts

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 


Gifts made in memory of someone are among the most personal of expressions and ones that occur most often in the context of very emotional circumstances. Those who make memorial gifts are people who have given considerable thought to their decision to make those gifts. They are sensitive, thoughtful, caring people who want to make a meaningful donation in honor of someone special, like a spouse, a child, a sibling, a parent, a friend, a teacher, a minister, or other loved ones who have predeceased them.

A memorial gift is a way for you to establish a legacy in memory of that special one, and, at the same time, provide financial resources to one or more charitable organizations for the effective fulfillment of their missions.

As you approach Memorial Day, I encourage you prayerfully to consider making a memorial gift in honor of someone who was special in your life. Consider the focus of your gift to be a living memorial to further the mission of Christ through one or more of the organizations with which you and/or that special person have been affiliated.

Give Laurie Valentine and me the privilege of assisting you in your consideration. There are a variety of tax-wise giving methods available to you. In addition to cash gifts, gifts of appreciated securities and real estate have specific tax advantages. You may have a cash value life insurance policy, the original purpose for which you purchased it no longer exits. Gifts of life insurance provide an excellent way to make a memorial gift and to receive a tax benefit. A beneficiary designation of a retirement account also offers some important tax advantages. In fact, for those over 70 ½ there is a special window of opportunity in 2013 to make tax-free memorial gifts up to $100,000 from IRA funds. A charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder trust and a bequest in your will are ways to accomplish memorial gifts at your death.

Call Laurie toll-free for the details. Happy Memorial Day!

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.

KBF Partners in Ministry- Sky and Priscilla Tudor

Sky and Priscilla Tudor of Lancaster, Kentucky, two servant hearts beating as one, have gone to extremes in their service to Christ and His mission in this world. While serving 25 years in the armed forces they lived in 13 different houses in 8 different locations and reared two sons, and service to Christ was always an integral part of their lives as it continues to be in their retirement years.

Sky was reared by a single parent in Lancaster along with his two siblings. He was nurtured in the faith and baptized by the Lancaster Baptist Church where, as a young man, he was active in all aspects of the church, including RA’s, choir and bible drills. Upon graduation from Lancaster High School in 1960 he attended Berea College where he met Priscilla France. They married in 1963.

Pris worked while Sky completed his bachelor’s degree, which he received in 1964. Following graduation they moved to Lexington where Sky was an actuarial assistant at the Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company and Pris worked for a construction firm.

The call to military duty came in 1966. Sky attended the U.S. Air Force Officer’s Training School. He first served at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, but his military service took them to numerous other locations. Everywhere they lived they became involved in the service opportunities of their communities, as well as their churches. From Belleville, Illinois where they taught the youth, to Honolulu, Hawaii where they worked with Boy Scouts, handicapped children and taught a single mother’s class for Navy wives whose husbands were at sea, and other places in between, these two servant hearts were found to have been faithful to Christ’s call to be salt and light.

Sky’s final Air Force assignment was a return to Alaska where he had served two previous assignments. From 1986 to 2005, Sky and Pris served the Lord through the Calvary Baptist Church, Chugach Baptist Association, the Alaska Baptist Convention and the Alaska Baptist Foundation.

The Lord used Priscilla’s journey through breast cancer surgery and chemotherapy in 1993 and the 20 years since as testimony to His amazing grace, strength and healing power. Pris retired from a 30-year career in credit unions and banking. Sky retired and went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration where he was a charter member of the group that tested the next generation of GPS technology that will replace our nation’s radar systems.

In 2005, Sky and Pris followed God’s call back home to Kentucky and quickly became caregivers to Pris’ stepmother and involved actively in the ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church, South District Association and the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

Among the ways this wonderful Christian couple has demonstrated their servant hearts and faithfulness in stewardship was to establish with the KBF the Sky and Priscilla Tudor Endowment Fund for the perpetual benefit of their church, association and a KBC-related ministry near and dear to their hearts. They funded the endowment with a tithe of the portion of the estate Pris received from her stepmother. What a testimony! What a legacy! What a blessing to the multitudes whose lives will be impacted, until Jesus comes again, by their love and generosity.

The KBF is honored to have been selected as the fiduciary of their life-changing legacies for Kingdom advancement. May others emulate what they’ve done as together we seek to connect all men, women, girls and boys to Jesus Christ.

And, by the way, these two servant hearts are planning an 11 week ministry this summer as volunteers in mission work through their previous church in Alaska, hosting mission teams from the lower 48 states.

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.

Famous Last Words

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Recently a pastor called me and informed me a church member wanted to make a gift of appreciated stock to the church. He needed help in how to do that. I asked him if the church had a brokerage account to which he responded, “no.” I suggested step #1 was for the church to open a brokerage account. Not only would that accommodate this member’s stock gift but also would open the door to a whole new way of giving for other church members who likely would make non cash gifts for the benefit of the church if such opportunity were available to him. The pastor was a bit resistant to the idea, and guess what he said? “We’ve never done that before.”

Those are the “famous last words” of too many Baptist church and denominational leaders. Instead of those words, church and denominational leaders should be encouraging, educating and equipping church members in how to give non cash gifts to and through their churches. I urge pastors and church leaders to communicate regularly to church members your gratitude for their faithful, consistent and generous support of the church and other Kingdom ministries. In addition, I urge pastors and church leaders to ask church members to consider extending their stewardship beyond just offering plate gifts to include estate gifts. More often than not when I speak in churches about estate stewardship church members respond by saying “you know, I’ve never thought about that before, and my church has never asked me to consider such giving.”

If your church is going to be effective in reaching for Christ your community, this state, the nation and the world, it must encourage, educate, equip and enable its members in how to steward out of their estate assets. Offering plate dollars will not be sufficient. The Kentucky Baptist Foundation exists and stands ready to assist your church. Please do not delay. Contact Laurie Valentine or me today.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ I want these to be the “famous last words,” of my life: “… Well done, good and faithful servant!” What about you? 

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.