A Gift to the Future

Imagine a future in which your God-given gifts continue to benefit your family and faith after you’re called home to Heaven. With a charitable estate plan, your assets—things like retirement accounts, your home or land—will leave a positive, lasting impact upon the people you love, but also the congregation or ministries you care about most.

What is a gift plan?

Many people don’t believe they have the wealth to leave a significant bequest to their congregation, or to create an endowment for their LCMS school. However, in today’s world, most of our assets are “non-cash.” Whether it's retirement accounts, life insurance or our home, when we leave this Earth, we often have greater blessings than we realized.

A gift plan structures how you’ll leave those assets to your loved ones in a way that often minimizes the taxes on your estate, providing an opportunity to do more with the blessings God has provided. More specifically, using financial vehicles, such as charitable remainder trusts, a gift plan often provides the same level of inheritance to your heirs while also allowing you to make a substantial gift to the ministry of your choice.

Gift plans are for everyone, as we all possess gifts from God, and even the humblest gifts can make a positive impact.

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Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7

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Gift Planning Benefits

Having a gift plan in place provides numerous benefits beyond the more obvious benefits it can provide to your heirs. Those benefits include peace of mind, numerous beneficial tax savings, the chance to leave a legacy and so much more.

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How to Create a Gift Plan

The LCMS Foundation has designed a simple, no-pressure process that’s far more rewarding than stressful. It starts with a call with a gift planning counselor, contains no fees of any kind, and can be started as soon as you’re ready.

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What if I Have a Will?

The best intentions detailed in a will can be easily overruled if your non-cash assets have beneficiary designations that differ than what's listed in your will. Plus, wills or estate plans usually don’t include a charitable gift. Learn more about wills in our FAQ section.

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How can we help you today? If you're a current donor, or if you're new to the LCMS Foundation and would like more information, we'd love to hear from you. Please use the "I have a question or comment about" drop-down field below to get your comment to the correct person or department faster.