The LCMS Foundation
The LCMS Foundation regularly hosts Lifetime Plan for Giving™ courses, workshops and online sessions to train ministry leaders on how to reach out to their members and supporters about including the ministry in their gift plans through their financial plans, wills or estate plans.
The courses, workshops and sessions are for anyone—including pastors, staff coordinators, lay leaders, school administrators and development officers.
Participants will learn from a variety of gift planning and development experts about the best practices and techniques for surfacing and creating planned gifts, enhancing charitable planning efforts or growing endowments.
Starting a gift planning program in your ministry can be simple and the rewards great. We have partnerships with dozens of LCMS congregations, schools, RSOs and even our seminaries. Each year these partnerships result in $125 to $150 million in future planned gifts for LCMS organizations.
There are many benefits to having a gift planning program, but for ministries, the most measurable is often the generosity of the gifts their members create. Most basic partnerships with the Foundation lead to about 10 gift plans in the first year, with an average gift in the $250,000 range.
Like most ministry initiatives, success depends on having an organized effort, led by dedicated champions who inspire others to join them. Our approach will help you build support, internally, for the program, while being adaptable to your culture and needs.
Our school was blessed with our first gift from a donor who wanted to start an endowed scholarship fund. The LCMS Foundation helped guide us through the process of creating an investment fund that reflected the donor’s wishes and provided an opportunity for future financial growth for our school. We were thankful to work with a trusted partner who understood the importance of incorporating our mission and vision in our financial planning.
Jen Pawlitz
Director of Mission Advancement, Christ Community Lutheran School
St. Louis, MO
As a pastor in the LCMS, my wife and I have always desired to be faithful stewards of God’s blessings. It was refreshing to work with the LCMS Foundation to see how we can make a substantial gift to the local congregation and seminary without impacting the inheritance to our children.
Pastor Nathan Janssen
Martinsville, IN
The process provided us with an easy to use form to compose a gift letter that models for our children continued ministry support after our passing as well as a personal faith statement that will be given to our children and their families upon our passing.
Cam & Janet Fuerniss
Loveland, CO
Working with the LCMS Foundation has not only been stress-free but immensely beneficial for our congregation. We are thankful to have a partner in our investing that cares deeply about the proclamation of the Word of God, the administration of Christ’s sacraments, and the congregations of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. The endowment we have started is meant to support these important things in Montana no and for future generations.
Rev. Ryan Wendt
Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church
Billings, MT
If you're a ministry leader, current donor or account holder, 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.