Definition

Planned giving is a form of financial stewardship. Most of our members know stewardship through their regular offerings. Compared to annual pledges or Sunday offerings, planned gifts:

• represent a committed gift that is deferred into the future for the benefit of St. Thomas';

• are made much less frequently, usually only once or twice in a donor's lifetime;

• come from accumulated financial assets, as opposed to income;

• are usually significantly larger in dollar value.

Many of the gift vehicles commonly used in planned giving have been available for many years and are quite familiar to most people. Bequests, trusts of several types, life insurance and annuities have been used to make charitable gifts for decades, in some cases centuries.

Philosophy

Have you ever thought about what type of legacy you would like to leave for future generations? Have you ever wondered how you can make a difference in your own community and region?
We’re all at varying points in our lives and have different financial situations and obligations; however, if each and every one of us did something, big or small, in the way of a planned gift for St. Thomas' Church, what an amazing legacy we would leave.

St. Thomas' Planned Giving believes in a donor-centered approach and is not necessarily soliciting gifts for particular Church programs. St. Thomas' tries to help donors identify their own passion for ministry. If a donor doesn't know where that ministry is carried out, the Church will offer information that matches a need with the available gift. The goal is to make the process of gift planning easy and pleasant for donors while providing service that is both efficient and confidential.  St. Thomas' invites you to join the visionaries who have already made a planned gift and, by doing so, secure your place in the 1698 Society, which was created to honor those who have provided us with a planned gift.

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