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ELCA Foundation Legacies July 2001

Carrying out the Gospel Mandate . . . Lutheran Ministry Organizations Provide Network of Care

Feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit the lonely and imprisoned—these are the mandates of the gospel. Every day, across the nation in rural and urban areas, ELCA congregations and social ministry organizations respond to the call of the gospel to reach out to those who are in need.

In fact, Lutheran Services in America, an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and their nearly 300 health and human service ministries is one of the largest of such networks in the United States.

Each year, these nearly 300 health and social ministry organizations provide $6.9 billion in services to more than 3.1 people in nearly 3,000 communities. Among the many services these organizations provide, programs include: foster care and adoption; child care; employment services; affordable, permanent housing and counseling services; residential care for older adults, children and youth, and persons with disabilities; emergency assistance, including meals, shelter and disaster assistance; and inpatient and outpatient hospital care.

Many of these programs were begun in the 1800’s by Lutheran individuals and congregations in response to the needs of people in their communities. Today, individuals and congregations remain an active and vital part of these organizations, partnering to provide ministry and support services through faithful philanthropy.

Those philanthropic dollars are vital for social ministry organizations, says Paul Tillquist, vice president of resource development at Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota. While most organizations receive public dollars, it is the private funds from individuals and congregations that help leverage more services, insure quality ministries and seed new and innovative programs, Tillquist says.

Renee Dietrich, director of gift planning at LUTHERCARE in Pennsylvania notes that donors find it satisfying to give to social ministry organizations because they are giving to a need they can see in their own community. In addition, because social ministry organizations are so close to the people they serve, donors can actually meet those they help through their support of services, Tillquist adds.

For instance, Tillquist says that recently a couple who had supported LSS of Minnesota met a young woman who described herself as “a child of the system.” Her parents and grandparents had all been part of the governmental assistance system, and she herself had suffered from severe abuse and neglect. When an LSS staff member found her, she was a young teen living by herself on the streets. Staff got her into a shelter and from there into an LSS transitional living program. Today, she has completed her undergraduate degree and is now working for LSS of Minnesota as a staff worker, helping other youth who are abused, neglected or living on the streets.

After the couple met this young woman, they decided to make a major gift, not only to LSS of Minnesota, but also to other ministries important to them. Tillquist worked with the ELCA Foundation to help this couple achieve their philanthropic goals.

In fact, both Dietrich and Tillquist work closely with the ELCA Foundation on all types of planned, or deferred, gifts. Tillquist anticipates that he will process close to $1 million in such gifts through the Foundation this year.

“They have the staff and resources to help make these kinds of gifts happen in ways that are satisfying to the donor and efficient from our standpoint as an organization,” Tillquist says. For instance, when donors wanted to make a large endowed trust gift and to fund it with farm machinery, the Foundation staff knew how to help that happen and still met the donor’s goals. Or, when donors want to make a charitable gift annuity, the Foundation takes care of administering the annuity payments over the course of the donor’s lifetime and then oversees distribution of the charitable gift that remains, he adds.

Dietrich says that the responsiveness and technical expertise of the Foundation are vital for small social ministry organizations that would have difficulty affording such expertise otherwise. Donors, particularly those of moderate means, also benefit from the Foundation’s expertise and attractive rates for giving vehicles such as charitable gift annuities, she adds. In addition, Dietrich notes that donors truly appreciate the ability to give to many of the church’s ministries through one gift, which is made possible because the Foundation oversees the distribution of gifts to various ministries according to the donors’ wishes.

“I wish people knew all the options they have to give to ministry, and that they can make all those gifts—to any ministry in almost any way—through the Foundation and its staff,” Tillquist adds.

Support of the church’s health and social ministry organizations continues to be vital in carrying forward the gospel mandate to care for those who are poor and in need. There are increasing numbers of people needing services and their needs are becoming more acute and complex. Generous stewardship and faithful partnerships between individuals, congregations and ministry organizations are more vital than ever in meeting the needs of a hurting world.

Did you know? Lutheran Services in America, an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church-Missouri synod, and their nearly 300 health and human service ministry organizations, is one of the largest health and human service networks in the United States, as reported by the NonProfit Times in November 2000. Through this network of services:

You can make a difference. For more information about how you can support Lutheran health and social ministry organizations, contact your Regional Gift Planner or call the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970, 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL  60631; or visit us on the web at www.elca.org/fo.

Encouraging Faithful and Promising Leaders for the Church
The Fund for Leaders in Mission

Guaranteeing that the church ahs well prepared leaders for the future of its mission must be a top priority for all members of the church as Earl Mummert sees it. Mummert, a member of the Fund for Leaders in Mission Leadership Council, is a strong advocate for both the Fund and for the whole issue of identifying, recruiting and supporting the preparation of future leaders for the ELCA.

Mummert’s valuing of leadership in the church began at an early age as he was growing up in rural Pennsylvania nearly 50 years ago. “Our pastor was an important leader in my family’s life—in my life,” Mummert says. “Pastors were leaders in the community, as well. My father—in his last years—said that the most important thing he had ever done in his life had been to serve on our congregational call committee.”

His experience and concern for leadership development made Mummert a natural choice to serve on the Fund’s Leadership Council, which has responsibility in matters pertaining to the interpretation and financial development of this new churchwide seminary scholarship resource.

Mummert’s concern for identifying and preparing leaders translated into his career as an actuary, as well. In business, leaders are identified early from the ranks of employees; over a process of years they are intentionally trained and their skills developed so that when they assume leadership positions they have been well-prepared, he says.

In the future, the church will need to be even more intentional about identifying faithful and promising people early and then nurturing them through opportunities to develop skills and experience. While the ELCA seminaries do an excellent job of providing theological education, it is impossible in only four years to teach or absorb all of the knowledge and experience that effective parish leadership requires, says Mummert, who also serves on the foundation board at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

At a time when both young people and second-career people have so many career opportunities, it is important to address barriers that people experience in pursuing a church vocation, he adds. First, it is important to emphasize the value of parish leadership and the role of ordained and rostered lay leaders in the life of the congregation, while intentionally identifying people with gifts for ministry.

Second, it is important to address compensation and benefits issues, for which Mummert has consistently been an advocate in his service on the board of the ELCA Board of Pensions.

Finally, it is important to address the significant educational and living costs students must incur while completing their theological education. “Many of the parishioners I talk to assume that the church covers the tuition and board of its seminary students as was often the case two or three generations ago. They are often quite surprised to learn that students are now responsible for tuition and living expenses themselves,” he says.

The rising costs of both tuition and living expenses mean that many students graduate seminary with a significant debt-load that they must carry into their first parish. The average debt for seminary students who must borrow to finance their education is currently $25,000. The need to make payments on their educational loans means that many students find it difficult to accept a call to smaller, rural or struggling congregations—even though they may feel called to serve in those settings—because they simply cannot repay their debt with the salaries those congregations can afford.

With expanding mission fields at home and abroad filled with people who hunger for the Gospel, it is important that the ELCA develop more leaders who are equipped to meet the challenges of today’s world.

“It has to be a top priority for members of the church to insure that we have effective, faithful future leaders,” he adds. “The Fund for Leaders in Mission provides an opportunity for the people of our church to do something significant to support the preparation of our leaders.”

Fund for Leaders in Mission Leadership Council

Pastor Herbert Chilstrom, Pelican Rapids, MN
Kent D. Dauten, Northfield, IL
Willis Else, Hudson, OH
John O. Gilbert, Appleton, WI
Lynne W.B. Hansen, Pleasantville, NY
Pastor Donald F. Hetzler, Appleton, WI
Diane Hill, Barrington, IL
Ed Hunsinger, Goshen, KY
Pastor Arnold E. Lack, Arlington Heights, IL
Earl L. Mummert, Harrisburg, PA
H.W. Pfennig, Pasadena, TX
Pastor J. Christian Quello, Appleton, WI
Pastor Donald Hallberg, executive director, ELCA Foundation
Pastor Joseph Wagner, executive director, ELCA Division for Ministry
Pastor Jonathan Strandjord, director of theological education, ELCA Division for Ministry
Cynthia Halverson, director, Fund for Leaders in Mission

Supporting the Preparation of Leaders

The Fund for Leaders in Mission is a churchwide initiative to identify and prepare future leaders for the ELCA. The Fund, when fully endowed, will support full-tuition for every qualified student at an ELCA seminary who has a commitment to ordained or rostered lay ministry within the church.

Fund Goals:

Current Scholarship Program: 2000—8 scholarships, $51,000 distributed; 2001—16 new scholarships and 8 second-year scholarships, $163,000 distributed.

Ways to Give include, but are not limited to: cash, stocks, bond, land, life insurance, Charitable gift annuities, charitable trusts, retirement plans, wills and bequests. Visit us on the Web by clicking on the Fund link at www.elca.org/fo.

You too can support the Fund for Leaders in Mission by making a gift in the enclosed envelope or by calling:

Cynthia Halverson, Director; Fund for Leaders in Mission; 8765 W. Higgins Road; Chicago, IL  60631-4179; 800/638-3522, ext. 2119

Modeling Stewardship as a Gift of Gratitude

For Blanche Grube stewardship is simply a way of life. From the time she was a girl growing up in Depression-era Brooklyn, New York, Blanche saw both her parents and her pastor model stewardship and express concern for the ministries of the whole church.

She and her family attended Incarnation Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, New York, where Pastor Harold Miller, who served the congregation for 50 years, consistently encouraged the congregation to be aware of and responsive to the work of the church beyond the congregation’s walls. “Pastor Miller and other staff at the church had a breadth of vision; they worked hard at conveying the mission and ministry of the wider church to us,” she says. “It was an everyday thing to be involved in stewardship efforts.”

When Blanche graduated from high school at the age of 16, the country was still wrestling with the Depression. Her father died unexpectedly as she was preparing to enter college, with hope of becoming a doctor. Despite the pressing financial circumstances, she and her mother decided she should go ahead with college and Blanche changed her focus to nursing, which seemed like a more attainable goal give the financial realities. While her mother did not have the funds to pay the $100 fee for nursing school, an aunt generously provided those funds, which enabled Blanche to earn her nursing diploma. As she graduated, World War II began and nurses were leaving hospitals in large numbers to enter military service. She was soon asked to accept a position to teach nursing students.

Until her retirement 13 years ago, Blanche worked in wide variety of nursing positions, including the initiation of a hospice program for terminally ill patients. She notes with gratitude the real fulfillment she found in her work as a nurse teacher. “A teacher can have a truly fulfilling life if they are dedicated to their students,” she says. In fact, “every one of us is a teacher. The only real questions is what kind of a teacher are we going to be?”

As her responsibilities grew and her salary increased, Blanche simply gave more because that response of gratitude for all she had received seemed natural and right. Over the years, she has supported many Churchwide ministries, including World Hunger, social ministry organizations, programs for the elderly, Vision for Mission and Domestic Disaster Relief, and the preparation of future leaders for the church through the Division for Ministry and the Fund for Leaders in Mission. She is particularly pleased that the church’s efforts focus on both relieving an immediate crisis and on teaching people skills that allow them to become independent and to lead more fulfilled lives.

“We all need to be conscious that we are models. We must ask ourselves, “What would life be like if the church wasn’t involved in these ministries. People in our world need so much, and the church makes wise use of our gifts,” she adds.

In addition to making gifts that directly support ministry, Blanche has found that through charitable gift annuities, she can provide future support for ministries, while making wise financial decisions that provide for her own future. Blanche continues to respond out of her gratitude for all God has given her in her life. In keeping with her lifelong sense of responding to God’s gifts, she remarks simply, “I try to be a good steward.”

You too can leave a legacy for ministry, for more information, contact your regional gift planner or the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970. 8765 W. Higgins Rd. Chicago, IL  60631. email: hallberg@elca.org, website: www.elca.org/fo.

A Gift that Continues to Give

When you make a gift through a charitable gift annuity, your gift provides you with a guaranteed annual income for life. After your death, the remaining portion of the annuity goes to church ministries of your choice.

A charitable gift annuity is a direct contribution of cash or securities made to the ELCA. In return, the ELCA gives you annuity payments for life, with payment rates based on your age at the time of the gift. A portion of each gift annuity payment is tax-free.

In addition, a gift annuity provides you with a charitable income tax deduction for your income tax return for the year of the gift, which may give you substantial tax savings. If the tax deduction is too large to use all in one year, any unused deduction can be applied to tax returns for the next five years.

Younger individuals may want to consider a deferred annuity, in which payments to you do not start immediately, but rather begin at some future date that you select. Deferred gift annuities are best suited for people who want to make a charitable gift and receive a charitable tax deduction now, but do not need the annuity payments immediately.

With charitable gift annuities, you not only enjoy significant financial and tax advantages, you receive the satisfaction of knowing that you have made an important contribution to ministries of the church that are important to you. Those ministries may include your congregation, synod, social ministry organizations, colleges and universities, seminaries, worldwide missions and numerous other domestic and global endeavors.

Charitable gift annuity rates are changing. The ELCA Foundation will honor the pre-July 1 rates for gifts post-marked before September 1, 2001. The ELCA Foundation staff are happy to discuss gift annuities or other planned gift options with you as a way to support the ministries of your church. Please call 800/638-3522, ext. 2970 to talk with someone about gift annuities or other gifts.

You can make a significant difference through your gift. For more information on charitable gift annuities, contact your regional gift planner or the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970. 

Estate Tax and IRA Changes Worth Noting

On June 7, 2001, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was signed into law. This Act provides a gradual reduction in the estate tax, resulting in complete repeal on December 31, 2009. Without further action by Congress, the Act is set to sunset (repeal itself) on December 31, 2010, returning to today’s structure. Many individuals may want to review their current plans and discuss their situation with advisors. During the review process, if you haven’t already, consider including ministry as a beneficiary of your will or living trust.

Many individuals are over or approaching 70.5, the age when mandatory minimum distributions from IRAs or other retirement plans must begin. In January, 2001, proposed regulations were issued by the IRS that change the way required minimum distributions are calculated. Under previous regulations, the plan participant received distributions based on a complicated formula using life expectancies of the participant and all designated beneficiaries. The proposed regulations, which an IRA plan participant can elect to use in the current calendar year, provide one table for distributions. The table assumes the IRA has a designated beneficiary (spouse, child, charity) that is exactly 10 years younger than the participant. The new table creates far smaller required minimum distributions than in previous years. The regulations also permit ministry to be named as a designated beneficiary without negatively impacting non-charitable beneficiaries.

Both the new tax bill and the proposed regulations should encourage you to review your estate plan. Call your Regional Gift Planner or the ELCA Foundation (800-638-3522, ext 2970) to learn specifics on how either of the above changes can assist you in providing for ministry.

Become a Willing Witness

You are a witness to the Gospel during your lifetime. Your day-to-day decisions stem from the roots of your faith. In the same way, your will and long-term financial plan can become testimonies of faith that continue beyond your lifetime to nurture and sustain future generations.

Your will can be a stewardship vehicle that allows you to:

For more information on becoming a willing witness, call the ELCA Foundation, 800/638-3522, ext. 2970, or visit our website www.elca.org/fo.

End of Legacies July, 2001  issue