Other Ways to Give

Greater Europe Mission offers several opportunities for ministry partners like you to use your finances to help build God's Kingdom. On this page you'll find information about the following stewardship strategies:

Appreciated Stock Gifts

Donating appreciated stock funds to Greater Europe Mission can benefit you. If you have held the security for more than 12 months:

• You can bypass paying capital gains tax on any appreciation.
• You may deduct the full fair market value.
• Your gift is not reduced by sales commissions.

GEM Gift and Estate Design services can help you or your broker transfer securities or mutual funds to GEM through electronic transfer or certificate transfer.

If you had some depreciated securities, your tax advisor may confirm a strategy of selling these securities at a loss and using the losses to offset other gains reportable on your tax return. You can then gift the cash from sale proceeds to GEM.

Appreciated Property Gifts

Appreciated property gifts enhance your giving. Satisfying giving ideas often emerge during an estate inventory review. Our Gift and Estate Design service is available to help you think creatively about your giving plans. Consider the following examples.

Real Estate
Gifts of real estate to are deductible at their fair market value and often bypass capital gains tax. You are responsible for securing an appraisal to substantiate your deduction. GEM can help you follow the IRS-required procedures and internal policies to make such a gift.

Gifts of Business Interests
You may use C-Corporation or S-Corporation transactions as part of an outright gift or estate plan strategy. S-Corporation transfers often involve asset sale strategies or conversion to C-Corporation status to accomplish the gift.

Partnership Gifts
You can use partnership gifts to fund outright gifts or life-income arrangements. You may give these during your lifetime or after your death through your estate. Gifts of partnership interests qualify for a charitable deduction based on (but not necessarily equal to) the difference between your share of the fair market value of the partnership’s assets and your share of the partnership’s liabilities. GEM accepts gifts of general and limited partnership interests in real estate and business-based limited partnerships.

Gifts of Books or Artwork
We welcome gifts of book or artwork if they meet these requirements:

• The donated pieces must be related to GEM's mission.
• The donor must secure an appraisal of the pieces, conducted by an independent appraiser who was not originally involved in selling the pieces to the donor. GEM can assist the donor in following the IRS-required procedures for this appraisal.

Gifts of Life Insurance

Life insurance adds great flexibility to your charitable giving plans. You may have a life insurance policy that you no longer need. Perhaps you have protection for a spouse or child who is now financially independent. Maybe you have protection for a business in which protection is no longer needed.

There are many ways to give unneeded life insurance to GEM.

• Give a paid-up policy that you own by changing the owner and beneficiary to GEM.
• Name GEM as the owner and primary beneficiary of a policy on which you are still paying premiums.
• Name GEM as a charitable recipient of a policy you own—as a primary beneficiary, secondary beneficiary, or final beneficiary.
• Purchase a new policy, naming GEM as the primary beneficiary, or transfer ownership to GEM.

Making a life-insurance gift offers many benefits. While the gift and related tax benefits are immediate, your confidentiality is assured. Also, future premiums can be deductible when ownership of a policy is transferred to GEM.

Donor Advised Funds

The GEM Donor Advised Fund program makes it easy to set up one gift account to make regular charitable distributions for missionaries, programs, and ministries. The fund provides an alternative to commercial gift funds and to the legal and tax complexities of establishing and operating a private foundation. It offers administrative support, experienced grant-making counsel, and careful financial management.

GEM’s Office of Gift Planning coordinates the Donor Advised Fund program and our ministry partner, The Christian Community Foundation, manages it. Here's how a Donor Advised Fund Works:

• You make a minimum initial gift of $10,000 to The Christian Community Foundation, referencing the Greater Europe Mission Charitable Fund.
• You can make additional contributions to the fund at any time; we encourage a minimum annual distribution of 10% of the fund.
• You suggest the grant recipients, and after approving your recommendation, the distributions are made to the named ministries, identifying the grants as coming from your Donor Advised Fund. (Placing this ultimate grant-making authority in our hands ensures that your gift establishing the Donor Advised Fund is complete in the eyes of the IRS and therefore deductible.)

The Christian Community Foundation will charge a reasonable management fee to the principal of a Donor Advised Fund. The minimum set-up fee is $1,000. Annual fees range between .75% and 1.25%. You may suggest the name for your fund.

Making Grants
We encourage that a minimum of 25% of the annual grants from the Donor Advised Fund be distributed to Greater Europe Mission. Similarly, on termination of the Donor Advised Fund, we encourage that 25% of the assets remaining in the fund be distributed to Greater Europe Mission. Due to requirements and standards, we could not approve a grant that would benefit the donor or an advisor, go to a private foundation, support political activities, or be used for any purpose that is not wholly charitable and consistent with our Christian mission.

Your Will

Gifts made through a will or revocable living trust may be the most significant act of stewardship you accomplish in your lifetime. Our Gift and Estate Design services team is available to assist you in this process. We can help you consider the people, property, and your plans and priorities, and work closely with your planning team (legal counsel, financial advisors, trust officers, insurance staff, and others).

A charitable bequest is extremely flexible. Because it is not payable until death occurs, you can modify it to reflect your current commitments and goals. It does not affect your assets or cash flow. At your death, a charitable bequest or trust distribution reduces the taxable value of your estate for both federal estate tax and state inheritance tax (in most states).

We hope you will include Greater Europe Mission in your estate plan. We would be honored to invest your gift to continue reaching the peoples of Europe for Christ. We suggest the following examples to help you consider how best to word your intent:

• Leaving a Percentage of Your Estate: “I bequeath ten percent (10%) of my estate to Greater Europe Mission, to be used for the general purposes of the organization at the discretion of its board. Greater Europe Mission is located at 18950 Base Camp Road, Monument, Colorado 80132. The Federal Tax ID Number is 36-2345199.”
• Leaving a Percentage of the Residue [amount for ministry after taking care of family and friends] of Your Estate: “I bequeath twenty percent (20%) of the residue of my estate to Greater Europe Mission, to be used for the general purposes of the organization at the discretion of its board. Greater Europe Mission is located at 18950 Base Camp Road, Monument, Colorado 80132. The Federal Tax ID Number is 36-2345199.”
• A Fixed-Dollar Gift: “I bequeath Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) of my estate to Greater Europe Mission, to be used for the general purposes of the organization at the discretion of its board. Greater Europe Mission is located at 18950 Base Camp Road, Monument, Colorado 80132. The Federal Tax ID Number is 36-2345199.”
• We suggest using percentage wording for your will or trust to ensure that your plans remain in balance regardless of increases or decreases in the size of your estate. If you are considering designating your bequest to the ministry of a specific missionary or project, please contact us for advice.

Do you need additional information? The following brochures or workbooks are available from Greater Europe Mission:

• An Estate Planning Quiz
• Better Estate Planning
• Making A Will That Works
• Giving Through Your Will
• Giving Through Your Trust
• Estate Inventory Workbook

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Your Pension Funds

Pension plans and IRAs frequently grow more rapidly than any other asset we own. The plans are funded with pre-tax dollars; there is tax-free growth until retirement, and the size of many accounts are expected to continue growing through retirement, in spite of minimum distribution requirements.

One of the best estate-planning strategies is to use these assets to accomplish your charitable goals. Even with the phase-out of estate taxes, individual recipients of pension and IRA assets will continue to pay income taxes when they receive these funds. As you create your estate plan, evaluate whether there may be other no-tax assets (such as appreciated securities or real estate that step up in basis) that you can provide for family and friends and then use your IRA and pension assets for ministry.

• You can make your bequest from either the total amount or from a percentage of the IRA or pension account. This distribution can be made directly to ministry from the account Trustee or through your will.
• Establish direct transfers from your IRA or pension account Trustee by using a Beneficiary Designation Form and naming ministry or ministries as your primary beneficiary(ies).
• Be sure to use the right wording in your will - To ensure that your goal to first use IRA and pension account assets for charitable gifts is accomplished, including wording similar to the following: “All charitable gifts will first be funded with the right to receive any property which would be taxed as income in respect of a decedent if any such right is received by the Estate/Trust.”

• List the spouse on a beneficiary designation form as the primary beneficiary and a ministry as a contingent beneficiary.
• The spouse may choose to remain the designated beneficiary and receive payments when the deceased spouse would have been 70˝ or to roll the balances over into an IRA. (If the spouse rolls the balance to his or her account, a new beneficiary designation form must be completed to designate the ministry as a beneficiary).
• Upon the death of the spouse, the remaining IRA balances may then be distributed to the designated ministry(ies).

Other strategies are available; please contact us for information about:

• Insurance plus Testamentary Unitrust
• QTIP and Charity
• Insurance Plus Bequest
• Withdrawal Plus Two Trusts
• Stretch Unitrust

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Gift Annuities

A Gift Annuity gives you flexibility, helping you plan for retirement or for special future needs such as assisting your family or missionaries with future education. By establishing a Gift Annuity, you accomplish a larger current charitable deduction and an increase in the payment rate. Three types of Deferred Annuities provide maximum flexibility in your charitable planning:

• Deferred Annuity—The future payment start date is fixed when you sign the annuity agreement.
• Flexible Deferred Annuity—You select a deferred payment date, reserving the right to start payments in a range of dates, earlier or later. This flexibility can help if, for example, you have not decided when you will retire, or if the ministry needs extra time to sell property that you are gifting to fund the annuity.
• College Annuity—You arrange the future payment start date to coincide with an identified term of school years. The usual annuity lifetime payments are grouped and paid during this period of education. Grouped annuity payments can also be used in other ways. For example, it could be used to provide payments in years when special project funding is needed.

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Charitable Trusts

The Charitable Trust option is straightforward: you and the ministry that issues trusts on behalf of GEM sign an agreement that guides the payment of lifetime income and assures the gift portion for GEM.

The small minimum gift size of $10,000 makes participation possible. Annuity payments are guaranteed, and careful compliance with appropriate state regulations is maintained.

Often, income payments include non-taxable return of principal. When a trust is funded with appreciated assets, another part of the payment qualifies for lower capital gains tax rates. One or two individuals can be included on each trust. You may arrange quarterly, semi-annual, or annual payments. The current rates for single-life gift annuities depend on age:

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Estate Plan Tune-Up

Our free Estate Plan Review service will evaluate your plan and your charitable goals in light of the new tax law. The general/formula wording in many estate plans was designed to accomplish a significant estate tax reduction through charitable giving. Now that many more estates may become exempt, existing plan wording could reduce charitable giving because tax-offsetting donations are no longer needed. In other cases, because the tax law is being implemented over a period of 10 years, certain estates need to develop new wording to manage remaining exposure to estate taxes.

A skilled team of gift-planning attorneys support our review process. Since we do not practice law or offer formal tax counsel, we will carefully communicate with you and the legal and financial advisors whom you have retained to implement your charitable and estate plans. If you do not have a planning team of professional advisors, we can recommend several in your area. As you establish or update your estate plan, consider these building blocks:

• People: family, friends, and ministries you have cared for.
• Property: assets and future income streams over which you are a steward.
• Plans: for the careful disposition of your assets, during and after your life.
• Planners: the team of professional advisors who will help you implement your plans.

As you seek to allocate your estate assets in ways that are helpful to your beneficiaries, consider one or more of these building blocks:

• Early Principal: Provide an initial, but smaller, amount of principal that communicates your care for your beneficiaries. Consider using your Annual Gift Tax Exclusions during your lifetime.
• Income Stream: Provide a helpful amount of income for a term or for the lifetimes of your beneficiaries. Consider charitable tools such as Current and Deferred Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Trusts, and a combination of Stretch IRAs and Stretch Unitrusts.
• Later Principal: Provide additional principal for your beneficiaries during their years of financial maturity. Consider wealth transfer tools such as Charitable Lead Trusts.
• Stewardship Encouragement: Provide opportunities for your beneficiaries to develop as stewards through participation as advisors for a Donor Advised Fund, Supporting Organization, or Private Foundation.

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Annual Gifts

Using the Annual Gift Tax Exclusion can maximize ministry opportunities whether you use it purely as a generous gesture, with no thought of estate planning, or as a deliberate strategy to manage your estate.

When the gift tax was created, Congress created an annual exclusion to avoid receiving so many gift tax returns every year. Each person may make annual, tax-free gifts of $11,000 per recipient.

There is an additional exclusion for educational and medical expenses. A payment made directly to a school or healthcare provider is not included in the $11,000 limit.

Making gifts on behalf of family members or friends can open up rewarding ministry opportunities for supporting missionaries. Their ministry accounts may not cover advanced education, supplements for retirement, and other special needs. Consider using your annual exclusion by:

• Funding a series of deferred gift annuities with cash to provide future retirement income.
• Funding college annuities to help cover the costs of advanced education.
• Gifting cash for missionaries to purchase vehicles, make emergency trips home, or cover significant uninsured medical costs.

Providing support in this way can maximize the impact of your gift because no taxes or other charges reduce the gift.

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Family Limited Partnership

You may use a Double Discount Lead Trust—a combination of a Family Limited Partnership and a Lead Trust—to accomplish ministry and estate-planning objectives. The first step is to transfer assets to a Family Limited Partnership (FLP). Normally there is a 1% general partnership interest and 99% limited partnership interest. In some cases the limited partnership interests are gifted to family members. However, it’s possible to get a second benefit by transferring the FLP units to a Lead Trust and subsequently to family members.

The double discount is first for the FLP and second for the Lead Trust. The value of the FLP units is reduced because of lower marketability and lack of control. There is a second discount in the Lead Trust for the present value of the distributions to charity. The Double Discount Lead Trust enables transfers of assets to family at minimal gift or estate tax cost.

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Supporting Organizations

In determining how to make major gifts, you probably want to exercise great influence or control. You may want to involve family in the stewardship responsibilities for fund distribution. Thus, individuals with large estates—who presumably will make most of the larger charitable gifts and who desire to be more involved with their gifted funds—need to examine the alternatives. Three frequently used options are:

• Donor Advised Funds
• Supporting Organizations
• Private Foundations

Supporting Organizations
You may also create a subsidiary of a ministry that is entitled to the same charitable deduction and gift and estate tax benefits realized with a Donor Advised Fund. This organization is “controlled by” or “operated for the benefit of” the ministry. Through their service on the Board of Directors, the donor and family members have a stronger influence. A Supporting Organization is more expensive to operate but can be economically administered if the founding gift is $1-5 million or more.

Private Foundations
If you have a large estate, a private foundation is a way to create long-lasting legacies for your values. However, this option carries with it full responsibility for providing all expertise needed for investment, grant making, and administration.

When you contemplate creating a Private Foundation, consider several issues. Perhaps the greatest myth is that the donor’s children can receive large salaries from the foundation. Self-dealing rules make it difficult to benefit family. Where professional members of the family qualify to provide services, compensation must be reasonable.

Private Foundations are subject to minimum distribution requirements, excess business holding requirements, and expenditure responsibility. Compliance with these requirements can take a considerable amount of time, effort, and expense. Forming a Private Foundation with $20 million or higher makes the most economic sense.

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