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by David G. Schmeling
Reprinted from the February 1998 issue of Planned Giving Today®. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved.
Over the years I've concluded that
local congregations — not their parent church bodies or church-related
organizations — are 10-15 years behind even the smaller charities in
America in introducing the benefits of charitable gift planning to
their members.
It's not that local churches don't
have the donors — they do. They are the same people the hospitals and
colleges have been cultivating all these years. It's not that they
don't have the knowledge basis — they do. Planned giving officers,
development directors and allied professionals belong to churches and
synagogues.
It's not that they don't have the need — they do. Church ministries, home missions and world-wide missions are
always under-funded and have room for expansion. More and more
opportunities to serve are being presented to churches as the federal,
state and local government bodies cut back on social programs.
Reasons for Neglect
Why, then, don't local churches have proactive planned giving programs? Like many other things, the reasons are many.
One is "manpower," that which is there
and that which is not. Mail regarding planned giving is sent to the
church, opened by the clergy and often stops there. Nothing in their
education and training has equipped them to understand planned giving
and make it an important part of their stewardship program. If they do
pass it on to their stewardship committee, it is too often
"back-burnered" even then. The majority of these lay volunteers do not
have the know-how 3/4 practical and technical 3/4 to implement such a
member-sensitive planned giving program.
A second reason is budget. Secular
nonprofit organizations have translated the business principle "it
takes money to make money" into philanthropy: "It takes money to raise
money." Development budgets support the fund-raising activities of the
development departments: direct mail, special events, paid professional
staff and support staff, consultants and resource materials.
With perhaps the exception of the
"mega" church, this isn't the case with local congregations. The clergy
and, if they're fortunate, church secretary and part-time janitor run
the show. Fund-raising activities (of course, they are not called that
) consist of passing the collection plate on Sundays, door offerings
and an occasional sermon on stewardship (i.e., give now as the Lord has
blessed you during the week now past).
The third reason is the
misunderstanding and under-utilization of professional fund development
principles. Workers in the local church tend to believe that what works
in secular nonprofits won't work in churches. While this may be true to
some extent, for the most part fund-raising principles can be carried
over into the local church. People/donors still need to be asked. They
still need to know and accept how their gifts/offerings will be used.
They still need to be thanked and appreciated.
All three of these principles — I call them "exchanges" — can be adapted to church circumstances and appropriately utilized.
It would appear that God and the IRS
agree on one thing — we can't take it with us. Therefore, it behooves
us to leave it behind where it can do the most good. If a local church
and its ministries have served the spiritual needs of its members, then
its members should include their church as beneficiaries of their
estates. It should be as natural to their way of thinking as
remembering their spouses and natural heirs as beneficiaries. Their
estate plan should reflect who they are and have become during their
lifetimes — loving spouses, concerned parents and grandparents, and
faithful stewards who care for others, especially those served by the
ministries of their local church.
Creative Stewardship
I call this "creative" stewardship
because it takes the concept of biblical stewardship — managing
properly God's daily blessings to us — one step beyond (e.g.,
"creative"). Stewardship includes not only managing the benefits of our
weekly paycheck but the appreciation in the value of our accumulated
assets in our estates. A creative stewardship program reaches out and
talks to the member/donor as a whole person, someone blessed by God
with the means to buy his/her daily bread and a steward who has under
his/her financial management the accumulation of a lifetime of
blessings.
Creative stewardship is an "enabler."
It enables the members/donors to be part of the church's home and
world-wide ministries beyond their physical lifetime. It enables the
church to plan more effectively because its financial support has not
been diminished by the deaths of its members.
A while back, a friend remarked that
his pastor had recently shared a personal complaint with him. The
minister had buried 50 members of his church the previous year and not
one of them had remembered the church in his/her estate plan. The
inference was, of course, that these people were thoughtless and
uncaring and, perhaps because of this singular lack of foresight, might
be somewhat undeserving of the glories of heaven.
I expressed the hope to my friend that
he had informed his pastor about this and had told him that he was
doing an incomplete job of teaching stewardship, the proof being that
not one of these 50 members had become faithful stewards of their
estates. My friend looked at me as if I had just arrived from outer
space, said "No!" and walked away as if I might have something
contagious.
Another time I addressed a group of
stewardship committee members. I pointed out that stewardship of one's
estate should begin with the pastor, members of the church council and
the stewardship committee. A young woman commented that she and her
husband were in the process of reviewing their wills, but the thought
of remembering their church in their estate planning simply had not
occurred to them.
"Why?" I asked. "Is it because you don't love your church or don't appreciate its ministries to you and your family?"
"No, of course not," she replied. "We just never thought of the church in that way."
No one had ever asked them to remember the church and its ministries in their estate plans.
If members of local congregations are
exposed to any planned giving ideas at all, it usually is from "the top
down" (i.e., from the major church body in which their local
congregation is a member). I believe the more effective way would be
from "the grass roots up." A member talks to a fellow member, speaking
personally of the joy he/she feels in having remembered the church and
its ministries in his/her estate plan. Perhaps they might even mention
the financial benefits he/she has received. This is much more
motivating and inspiring than someone from outside the local church
giving a "pitch" for planned giving.
Stepping Forward
Since the clergy by their very
education and training are "planned giving challenged," they are
unsuited for this job, even though it is in their job description to
"equip the saints." This definitely is a task which can and must be
shared and/or delegated elsewhere, to those who know the what, why,
wherefore and how of planned giving.
I think it is time that we who are
aware of the benefits of charitable gift planning, step forward and
become faithful stewards of this knowledge in our home congregations.
We can join the church's stewardship
committee. We can challenge it to go beyond the concept of its
traditional stewardship of the paycheck. We can encourage the tithe of
one's estate as vigorously as we do the tithe of one's income. We can
introduce the concept of giving for endowment purposes, of church
council-designated endowment funds and endowable ministries, "named
accounts" and "designated use" at certain gift levels.
We might even suggest that the local
congregation recognize through its planned gift society the unique act
of these faithful stewards in remembering their church and its
ministries in their estate plans.
Stewardship of time and talents ends at the graveside. Stewardship of treasures through "creative stewardship" continues beyond.
 David G. Schmeling, CFRE, is an independent planned giving consultant with his own firm, `Deferred Giving Services,
in Wheaton, Illinois. He is an ordained minister, having served three
congregations in three states. He is a seasoned planned giving officer
of 19 years and is the author of `Planned Giving for the One Person Development Office, and `Creative Stewardship for the Local Congregation. You can reach David at (630) 682-4301 or e-mail him at Schmeling@mw.care.org.`
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